For those not familiar with 演歌 [enka], its a musical style frequently described as a mixture between japanese traditional singing combined with the western music of the XIX and early XX's centuries. As the result of an encounter between various cultures and both America and Europe, it has correlatives in many places in Asia, from Taiwan to Korea, Philippines or China; yet it has maintained such fervor and popularity among the Japanese that, in spite of the rise of Pop, Rock and electronic music, it retains a distinguible market, style and personalities, both men and women. The flavour of the pre and inter-war music period shines in many an album produced way past the 1960's. Many western scholars scratch their heads daily trying to fully understand how such a largue percentage of the aged population of Japan still feel easily draw to such historical icons as 美空ひばり[Hibari Misora], glamurous, low-pitched Japanese singers of old epoque, debuters in the cafe-halls with songs full of grief. Air ensembles, influenced by early jazz and blues, backed their stage singing, remininscent of that of itinerant singers of 浪花節 [naniwa-bushi].
Thus, enka albums still retain the spirit of the long-lost music ball musicals of the 20's and 30's, yet it has also diversified. To a degree became international in scope due to talented, multilingual and highly influential female singers all around the Pacific, such as Teresa Teng. Also, well into the XX century, 吉幾三 [Yoshi Ikuzō] has, among others, created folk-rural oriented enka, using electric guitars and other contemporary equipment to produce really great enka indeed.
Reached this point, I'll just introduce today's artist: 藤 圭子 [Fuji Keiko] was the artistic name of 阿 部 纯 子 [Abe Junko] (1951-2013). Born to two of the most distinctive type of folk musicians in Japan: a reciter of naniwa-bushi and a blind shamisen player, occupations with forbidden and mystic undertones during the Edo Period. These ancestral influences shaped her musical sensibility, as she often went around performing with them; she also learned and listened western music during the roaring sixties, nevertheless. So, as she earned her early popularity singing fairly conventional enka, her voice was already influenced by the superv expressivity and sheer strenght of naniwa-bushi and similar genres. Her own songs came to represent the highly emotional, almost desperate feeling that rang most true than ever when, now a consecrated musician, she unexpectedly commited suicide by jumping off from her apartment's window in 2013. Despite its flawless cover, this Golden Best album actually comprises heart-breaking tracks, almost all of them fairly adequate for drinking to death alone in a Shinjuku pub. The noir feeling is strong, and the saxophone instrumentals are of first order.
Two big reasons to review this compilation album of hers. First, it simply is some of the best music and most representative enka I've personally ever heard, and secondly, its personal and distinctive singing far surpasses most of ready-to-listen enka in Youtube and other browsing sites. Keiko Fuji was an innovator as much as a classic in her musical genre, usually a mark of talent. Divided in two CDs and 20 tracks, this is a nice overview of Keiko's career, and has all the classics, really. Only downside if you get really pesky about it: there are no live tracks here; and yes, that's a shame considering how much better her live performances were.
First track, 新宿の女 [Shinjuku's Woman] is a great opening, considering both the track itself, and the fact that Keiko actually died in Shunjuku. All you really need to know about instrumentals and vocals is fully here, in blues fashion. Exactly as the next track points out: 女のブルース – [Woman's Blues]. A lovely track about solitude and alcohol-fueled tears, really evocates ''Tokyo, the big city of lies'', and has some of the best composing of the entire album if you ask me. The next is the very big deal: 圭子の夢は夜ひらく [roughly Keiko's Opening Night Dream] is a rendition of a classical enka song, and her version topped sales for more than 20 consecutive weeks. No joke, this beats most American blues to shame; really conveys a gut feeling in exemplar rendition. A slow pace builds up a magnificent string chorus as Keiko's voice rings louder, and everything tells about a dark-pitched, rainy street outside. 命預けます [Kemasu life] is just as painful, but offers some different instrumentation, and has a reflexive tempo. Maybe the song in which she uses the lowest tone possible, you get this distinctive singing of most great enka singers, in stark contrast with the high-pitched, almost childlike voice of the Japanese idols in the Pop industry, and modern Japanese music in general.
女は恋に生きてゆく [The woman lives through love] is more uplifting, in a really retro fashion. Compared to most, this one fully resembles early hall music. Believe me, I'm trying to not review all tracks of this album, but this one is damn good, too! Skipping a little you get みちのく小唄 [Kouta Michinoku], as it resembles the oral story-telling tradition from which Keiko and her family came from. It also has a playful tone, contrasting with preceding tracks. And yet, you'll also get tragic inflections. 愛の巡礼 [Pilgrimage of love] is the last great track of this first CD, which I consider to be the best among the two. While the second is also great, it lacks the frontal assault quality of the first one.
Opening with 京都から博多まで [From Kyoto to Fukuoka ] it gives away its own qualities: instrumentals are, in general terms, more complex, tempos slower, songs longer and there is less rage in Keiko's voice all during this second piece. 聞いて下さい私の人生 [Please hear my life] and 蝶よ花よと [Butterfly and flower] are most wonderful tracks and the rest of songs result being pale in comparison, really. Yet, I'd wholeheartedly report that there is not a single bad or mediocre song in the entire album, as its name claims. Sad as it is the fact that Keiko will never release again since she took her own life, there are silver leanings. Her only daughter, 宇多田 ヒカル [Hikaru Utada] also became a music star, as a Jpop
internationally renowed singer (eventually becoming way more famous than her mother). Also, her legacy has nothing but grown, being labeled as the best enka singer of the 60's, just preceding the rise of 梶 芽衣子 [Meiko Kaji] during the 70's. And some aspects of Keiko's singing were rare: no modern musician has been raised by itinerant musicians nor teached to sing by a blind shamisen player (considered a form of religious begging associated with 穢れ [kegare], since shintoism saw such an illness as polluting). Itinerant naniwa-bushi, with all its desperation, has forever dissapeared.
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