Kayōkyoku

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Kayōkyoku
Stylistic origins Ryūkōka
Jazz
Cultural origins 1950s Japan: Formerly refers to ryūkōka
Typical instruments Vocal • Electric guitar • Bass guitar • Drum kit • Flute • Fiddle • Saxophone • Ukulele • Clarinet
Mainstream popularity Mainstream in Japan from 1950s to 1980s: Mostly merged into enka and J-pop in 1990s, but partly remained

Kayōkyoku (歌謡曲 literally "Lyric Singing Music"?) is a genre of Japanese music. The Japan Times's articles translated kayōkyoku as "standard Japanese pop"[1] or "Showa era pop".[2]

Famous kayōkyoku singers included Kyu Sakamoto, The Peanuts, The Tigers, Momoe Yamaguchi, Candies, Pink Lady, Seiko Matsuda, The Checkers and Onyanko Club.[3] Kayōkyoku is Western-style music of Japan and music in this genre is extremely varied. Kayōkyoku in the narrower and more practical sense, however, also excludes J-pop and enka.[4] Unlike "J-pop" singers such as Southern All Stars's Keisuke Kuwata, the singers of the genre does not basically use the special pronunciation like english.[5] However, kayōkyoku singer Momoe Yamaguchi in fact adopted this special pronunciation.[5]

Unlike enka, kayōkyoku is not limited to the sentimental style.[6]

Contents

[edit] Relation with "Ryūkōka", "J-pop" and "Enka"

See also: Ryūkōka, J-pop, and Enka

The term kayōkyoku originally referred to Western classical "lied" in Japan.[7] However, NHK radio began to use the term as another name of ryūkōka around 1927 and the term became known as popular another name of ryūkōka in Showa 10s (1935 – 1944).[7] However, the songs during the war have been sometimes considered taboo since the end of the war because those songs may have responsibility for the war.[8]

The term also refers to a specific musical genre different from ryūkōka. For example, Kenji Yamamoto (山本健治?) said that the popular genre of Showa 20s (1945 – 1954) was ryūkōka and the popular genre of Showa 30s (1955 – 1964) was kayōkyoku.[9]

In Showa 30s, Frank Nagai, inspired by jazz, sang new Japanese popular songs called "Mood Kayō".[10] On the other hand, in Showa 30s, modern enka began to be formed and rock and roll began to have an influence on Japanese popular singers such as Kyu Sakamoto.[10]

Kayōkyoku is regarded as a base of "J-pop".[3] In 1980s, a part of Japanese idol was independent from kayōkyoku and associated with Japanese rock musicians.[6] Late 80s' popular band Onyanko Club was a band of borderline era between "kayōkyoku" and "J-pop".[11] Although Japanese popular music after Hikaru Genji and Dreams Come True was called "J-pop", several people claimed that "J-pop" and kayōkyoku were the same music genre.[12]

In 1980s, remained kayōkyoku music except Japanese idol's music became regarded as enka.[6] However, Shinichi Mori and Kiyoshi Maekawa considered themselves to be not enka singers but kayōkyoku singers.[13] Maekawa claimed that an example of true enka singers was Saburō Kitajima, who could use a lot of kobushi (a kind of vocalism) for singing.[13]

[edit] History

In 1950s, Hibari Misora, Chiemi Eri and Izumi Yukimura were called "Sannin Musume" (lit. "Three Girls"). Hachiro Kasuga, Michiya Mihashi and Hideo Murata were called "Three crows". During the Japanese post-war economic miracle, "Mood Kayō" (ムード歌謡?) like Frank Nagai became one of most popular genres in Japan.[14] "Mood Kayō" was influenced by Latin and jazz music. In the early 1960s, Kyu Sakamoto and The Peanuts became famous. Shinichi Mori debuted in 1966. Linda Yamamoto also debuted in 1966. In the late 1960, Group Sounds became famous. Teruhiko Saigo, Yukio Hashi and Kazuo Funaki were called "Gosanke" in 1960s. Keiko Fuji debuted in 1969 and the music like her was called enka.

In 1970s, Hiromi Gō, Hideki Saijo and Goro Noguchi were called "New Gosanke". Saori Minami, Mari Amachi and Rumiko Koyanagi were called "Shin Sannin Musume" (lit. "New Three Girls"). Akiko Wada, who came from "Jazz Cafe", also became popular. Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada and Masako Mori were called "Hana no Chūsan Torio" (lit. "Flower Junior High School Three Grade Trio"). Yū Aku became one of most famous lyricists of kayōkyoku. He wrote popular female duo Pink Lady's debut song Pepper Keibu. In 1980s, many female idols such as Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori became popular. Masahiko Kondō also became popular. In 2008, Kondō released "mood kayō" song "Banka: Otoko-tachi no Banka".

After Hibari Misora died in 1989, however, the genre called kayōkyoku has been mostly vanished and several kayōkyoku singers were regarded as enka singers without any change of sounds.[13] As the result, the music of the genre caused some confusion. For example, Kiyoshi Maekawa's song "Himawari", produced by pop singer Masaharu Fukuyama, was regarded as enka for no special reason.[13] When Junko Akimoto became popular in 2008, however, she was said to be a modern example of kayōkyoku singers.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Ventures: still rocking after 50 years". The Japan Times. 2008-08-07. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20080807r1.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-12. 
  2. ^ "Jazz icon Akiko Yano finds her electronic muse". The Japan Times. 2008-04-11. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20080411a1.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-11. 
  3. ^ a b (Japanese) "歌謡曲はどこへ 歌の記憶呼び覚ますうねり". Nippon Keizai Shimbun. 2007-08-09. http://waga.nikkei.co.jp/enjoy/music.aspx?i=MMWAe3046009082007. Retrieved on 2009-01-16. 
  4. ^ a b (Japanese) "「終着駅にて」で新たな引き出し／自信満ちる「ベネチアの雪」". Mainichi Shimbun. 2008-11-05. http://mainichi.jp/enta/music/utabako/news/20081105dde012200025000c.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-02. 
  5. ^ a b (Japanese) "Ｊ-ＰＯＰなぜ聞き取りにくい？　信州大教授、西宮で講演". Kobe Shimbun. 2007-12-20. http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/bunka/0000776953.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-03-03. 
  6. ^ a b c (Japanese) "Special 2. Japanese popular music (final chapter)". Toshiba. November 2006. http://elekitel.jp/elekitel/special/2006/13/sp_02_e.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-12. 
  7. ^ a b (Japanese) "Special 2. Japanese popular music (2)". Toshiba. November 2006. http://elekitel.jp/elekitel/special/2006/13/sp_02_b.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  8. ^ (Japanese) "NHK Kokumin Kayō: Singing Radio Kayō". Yumi Aikawa Official Website. http://www.jade.dti.ne.jp/~onodera/radio.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-27. 
  9. ^ (Japanese) "雑感・戦後日本の世相と流行歌（29）". Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.asahi.co.jp/call3/diary/yamaken/essay_29.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-27. 
  10. ^ a b (Japanese) "Special 2. Japanese popular music (4)". Toshiba. November 2006. http://elekitel.jp/elekitel/special/2006/13/sp_02_d.htm. Retrieved on 2009-05-11. 
  11. ^ (Japanese) "第11回　女性アイドル特集パート2". OnGen. September 2008. http://www.ongen.net/ml/jukebox/20080918.php. Retrieved on 2009-03-07. 
  12. ^ (Japanese) "松岡正剛の千夜千冊『歌謡曲は、死なない。』貴地久好・高橋秀樹". Matsuoka Seigo no Senya Sensatsu. 2002-06-12. http://www.isis.ne.jp/mnn/senya/senya0557.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-06. 
  13. ^ a b c d (Japanese) "第６部・演歌巡礼＜２＞前川清　べたつかぬ距離感で歌う". Nishinippon Shimbun. 2006-12-13. http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/nnp/culture/kayou/20061213/20061213_001.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-01-17. 
  14. ^ (Japanese) "昭和歌謡黄金時代　フランク永井と松尾和子 (Golden Age of Shōwa Kayō: Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo)". NHK. http://archives.nhk.or.jp/chronicle/B10002200090711050030226/. Retrieved on 2009-01-20. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay%C5%8Dkyoku"
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