Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Thank You, Shigeichi Negishi!

 

In the last few days, I saw reports that the inventor of karaoke (there have been a couple of theories on that), Shigeichi Negishi(根岸重一), who had come up with something called a Sparko Box in 1967 for those who wanted to sing their favourite kayo kyoku, passed away on January 26th at the age of 100. First off, my condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Secondly, although I've already posted some of my own personal choices when it comes to karaoke such as my five go-to karaoke tunes, I still would like to provide my own tribute to the man and his invention by putting up another five songs. However, these are songs that I didn't personally try out but are those entries that my friends and other customers tackled quite often at our karaoke haunt of Kuri back in our university years.

Ah, by the way, as of this writing, we're getting close to 7 million views since we got started back in 2012. Maybe by the time I get back here tomorrow, we'll have reached it! Thanks to all of you!

Anri -- Kanashimi ga Tomaranai (悲しみがとまらない)


Checkers -- Namida no Request (涙のリクエスト)


Seiko Matsuda -- Akai Sweet Pea (赤いスイートピー)


Akina Nakamori -- Shojo A (少女A)


Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru (昴)

Akari Yamanishi -- Kinokawa yo(紀ノ川よ)

 

The above video comes from YouTube's Hidaka Channel and it's a short presentation of Hidaka Town in Wakayama Prefecture which is basically where my ancestors hail from. I haven't been there in a few decades but my grandparents used to run a minshuku by the coast. It was in a very remote area where in all likelihood, the insects and reptiles (including the dangerous habu snake) far outnumbered the citizens living there.

I'm not sure whether it was TV Japan's way of making amends to the especially senior citizen group of viewers as the broadcasting service approaches its end on March 31st, but for some reason last Friday afternoon, my parents got two solid hours of kayo kyoku and enka as the 90-minute "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"(新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit) and then 30-minute "Hayauta"(はやウタ)were shown back to back. 

On "Hayauta", we all got to meet an enka singer from Wakayama Prefecture, Akari Yamanishi(山西アカリ), who released her newest single last October. "Kinokawa yo" (The Kino River). It's quite the boisterous enka go-touchi song from her home province, delivered in those lower tones by Yamanishi. What really makes her stand out is that she doesn't quite sing in the usual way for female enka singers: basically standing still in a conservative dress or kimono while making graceful and sweeping arm gestures. She follows the upbeat rhythm with some sharp arm slashes almost on the level of an aidoru and in the music video at least, she's even doing some high jumps as if she were in an ancient Toyota commercial. Lastly, she's not in any traditional dress; Yamanishi is in a matching tartan blazer and slacks.

"Kinokawa yo" was written by Chisato Sakura(さくらちさと)and composed by Hideo Mizumori(水森英夫). According to her biography on the Tokuma Japan Communications website, Yamanishi got her start in the music industry by winning the weekly NHK "Nodo Jiman"(のど自慢)episode when it was taking place in Tanabe City in Wakayama in 2008 and even participating in the grand championship episode. Then she was placed under Mizumori's wing to be trained as a professional singer. She made her official debut in 2017 with "MIZMO"(水雲).

QUBIT -- Fast Life

 

Welcome to Monday! Spring is literally around the corner here and yet the temps in Toronto for much of this week will be hovering merely around the 0-degree Celsius mark. It's rather ironic since this past winter has been called by one of the chief meteorologists in the nation as a non-winter. Ailing ski resort managers may have to agree.

Anyways, singer-songwriter and rapper DAOKO has been someone that I finally posted an article about just last fall; notably, her "ShibuyaK" from 2015. She's done her solo work and collaborated with other artists but last year, she actually got together with four other musicians to form the band QUBIT.

Mind you, it's just the one song so far that I've heard, but it sounds like QUBIT may be more into the cute and bubbly technopop in comparison with DAOKO's rap and dance beats. Still, her "Fast Life" from July 2023 has the singer providing the rap amidst all of the fast-moving bleeps and bloops. There's even some piano jazz percolating away in the last half of "Fast Life". In a way, the song does remind me of the helter-skelter nature of navigating Shibuya on a Friday afternoon or night.

The rest of QUBIT is Seiichi Nagai on guitar, Masato Suzuki on bass, Shohei Arimori on keyboards and Kazuya Oi on drums. DAOKO and Arimori were the creators behind "Fast Life" which I assume is also part of their first album "9BIT" which came out in November 2023.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Misa Misaki -- Taiwa Shitai wa(対話したいわ)

 

A couple of months ago, I posted an article for a song, "CHOKO", by soul singer Misa Misaki(美咲ミサ). Near the end, I noted that I had discovered another tune by her that I would cover the following month. Well, February has passed and we are now in March so my apologies on that. However, we are all somewhat lucky this time around since whenever I have overshot a promise to write a song, I've often neglected that promise by a few years! Two months is nothing.

Anyways, that song I was talking about it is "Taiwa Shitai wa" (I Want to Have a Conversation) which first saw the light of day in May 2022. Compared to "CHOKO", which has some synthpop mixed in, "Taiwa Shitai wa" is fully into its sweet soul as Misaki sings about her request to have a meaningful talk as in a conversation which lovers would have. We can all use a heart-to-heart like this with our significant others. 

Ichiro Fujiyama & Aiko Anzai -- Midori no Uta(みどりの歌)

 

Well, I did mention yesterday about St. Patrick's Day today and so young Kayo has decided to take part in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade somewhere on Earth. And rest assured, she is old enough to enjoy a pint of Guinness at some Irish pub though the bartender may ask her for ID. She might even be flattered by the request.

It's a bit of a tall ask but I was looking around to see if there were a kayo kyoku associated with the Irish holiday, and sure enough, I couldn't find anything. Then I searched for any Japanese songs that had a connection with Ireland itself. Once again, I got nothing. So, next I made the trek for any song title that had the word "green" or "midori".

Happily, it was there that I got the hit. Let me introduce you to "Midori no Uta" (The Green Song or The Greenery Song) which was released in 1948 and it is a duet between the legendary Ichiro Fujiyama(藤山一郎)and children's song vocalist Aiko Anzai(安西愛子). Written by Riki Nakamura(中村利器)and composed by Yuuji Koseki(古関裕而), "Midori no Uta" is a typically Koseki upbeat march, this time celebrating the verdant land surrounding the citizenry. It was still the early days of recovery from the war so I'm not sure whether all involved with the kayo kyoku were reflecting on home and hearth in the regional towns and villages while the younger generations were toiling away in the factories in the big cities. Perhaps Tokyo had some greenery in patches where people could visit and relax.

There's not much of a writeup on Anzai but on J-Wiki, she was born in Tokyo in 1917 and after her singing days, she became a Lower House member for the Liberal Democratic Party for three terms. She also had high status in a few organizations including one as vice-chairperson for the ultra-conservative Japan Conference lobbying group. She passed away in 2017 at the age of 100.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Sheena & The Rokkets -- Baby Maybe

 


It's been a little over a year since the passing of guitarist Makoto Ayukawa(鮎川誠)at the age of 74 while his fellow bandmate and partner in life, Etsuko "Sheena" Ayukawa(鮎川悦子)left this mortal coil a little over nine years ago. But as cliché as it sounds, I'm sure that the music of Sheena & The Rokkets(シーナ&ザ・ロケッツ)has been living on within the survivors of the band and their fans.

Recently, I found this follow-up single to their 1980 hit "You May Dream". "Baby Maybe", which was written and arranged by Sheena and Makoto respectively with Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi(高橋幸宏), was released in October 1980, a little over ten months following the release of "You May Dream". To me at least, "Baby Maybe" sounds like a 1950s rock n' roller given that New Wave sheen with the synths and what also makes it work is Sheena's cute-as-a-button delivery. No, I'm not saying that she was being an aidoru about it; more like Marilyn Monroe.

The song was also a part of Sheena & The Rokkets' 3rd album "Channel Good"(チャンネル・グー)which came out on the same day as the single. And yep, the video below does have that 1950s look. They sure don't make music videos like those anymore.

Nash Music Library -- SC-4702

 

Happy Weekend to all of you and of course, for those who celebrate it, a Happy St. Patricks' Day although the Irish holiday isn't until the 17th. The weather in my neck of the woods is kinda/sorta: not brilliantly sunny but not overcast either. The temps aren't exactly frigid but they aren't too warm either. 

Anyways, I would like to start off this weekend's edition of KKP with a nice little something from the good folks at Nash Music Library. It comes from the February 2006 album "Resort" but the track itself has been given the very dry title of "SC-4702" which makes it sound like one of the minor starships in Starfleet. Maybe I could rename it into something more homey such as "Sunday Drive" since those are the images that I get. It's about that comfy trip in a British MINI through the countryside perhaps in that kinda/sorta weather I was talking about above. 

Maybe this music wouldn't be City Pop but perhaps it can be called Japanese Countryside Pop. 😉