[Romantic & mellow]
No.12 "Umi ni Ukabu Piano" by Nanako Satō
Hi. Today's song is "Umi ni ukabu piano" (A piano floats on the sea) by "Nanako Satō".
This is a romantic, and mellow slow ballad performed by "Nanako Satō".
"Nanako", is one of the earliest singer-songwriters in stylish urban pop category arose in the late '70s, and well-known with her captivating whispering voice.
If you like, please listen.
Links to the music shops, offering song samples, are located on the bottom of this page.
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Cover art today
Song data
| Title | Umi ni ukabu piano |
|---|---|
| Artist | Nanako Satō |
| Album Title | |
| Catalog Number | COCP-39997 |
| Track No. | 8 |
| Duration | 3:31 |
| Released | 1977 |
| Publisher | |
| Lyricist | |
| Composers | |
| Arranger |
About the creators
Nanako Satō Lyricist
The lyricist, Nanako Satō is also the composer & singer of this song.
Then we would like to come back to her later in "About the artist" section.
Nanako Satō & Motoharu Sano Composer
The composers of this track are Nanako Satō, & Motoharu Sano.
In the mid '70s, "Nanako" & Sano were working like a team.
So, the most of thee melodies, from 1st to the 3rd albums, were written by "Nanako" & Sano.
As mentioned, we are going to cover Nanako Satō in the artist section later.
So here, we would like to introduce "Motoharu Sano" just a bit.
Before debut
Now, "Motoharu Sano", or "Moto" is a prominent leader in the Japanese rock scene.
But in the mid '70s, when he first met with Nanako Satō in 1975, "Sano" was not yet debuted, but a semi-professional musician seeking for opportunities to make a debut.
Early age
In the early '70s, "Motoharu Sano" was a teenager, and already a rock enthusiast.
He frequently went to a place with live music, and soon he formed his first amateur band in high school.
Meeting with "Nanako"
"Sano" became more active after enrolled in a university.
He eagerly participated in various amateur concerts, and through those activities, he got to know "Nanako Satō".
Made her debut
"Sano" found "Nanako Satō" interesting, and began to teach song writing to her.
"Nanako" quickly absorbed his method, and soon afterward, she entered a major amateur music contest for women students in colleges.
Surprisingly, "Nanako" made it to the final of the contest, and received a lyric award at the end of the day.
And eventually, this led her to debut as a professional singer.
Collaboration
"Sano", and "Nanako" formed a team, and began to write songs for "Nanako"'s album together.
They continued this collaboration up to the 4th album released in 1979.
In other word, until the end of the first period of Nanako's solo carrier, virtually.
"Moto Sano"'s debut
Finally in 1980, "Motoharu Sano" made a debut as a rock singer & songwriter, with his first single "Angelina".
Since then, "Sano" started to create a history as one of Japan's most prominent rock singer.
Detailed his history after debut, can be therefore found in the references linked below.
If you like, please check.
Video clip
We found some of "Sano"'s official music videos on Youtube, and would like to share a pleasant & stylish pop rock "Kyokai-sen" (The boundary) from them.
The song was originally released as a single in 2015, and included in his 16th studio album "Blood Moon" became on-sale also in 2015.
We reckon that "Moto" (Sano) is actually good at singing a warm pop rock like this, though he only rarely writes such.
If you like, please listen.
Shōji Yokouchi Arranger
"Shōji Yokouchi" was a Jazz guitarist, arranger, composer, and a leader of "Shōji Yokouchi & Blue dreamers", active from late '40s to 1996.
"Yokouchi" was known by his skillful guitar play, but also popular as a competent arranger.
Actually, the arrangement of a 1971 big hit song, "Shūchaku-eki" (A train terminal) sung by a popular singer "Chiyo Okumura", was a work of "Yokouchi".
Made it a masterpiece
The arranger for "Nanako"'s first album, "Funny Walkin'", was a famous composer & Jazz pianist, "Yūji Ohno".
He designed the sound of album into a light, bright, and stylish ones, and successfully made it an attractive first album.
For the 2nd album "Sweet swingin'", a talented Jazz guitarist, "Shōji Yokouchi" was invited as an arranger.
"Yokouchi" arranged the 2nd album, into more Jazzy, and mellower taste.
Not only writing scores, but "Yokouchi" also portrayed his sound image by actually playing the guitar by himself.
"Yokouchi"'s tuneful sound creation drew a new charm of "Nanako", and contributed to establish the sound style of her.
References
We couldn't find many references about "Yokouchi" so far, but will add a new link if we discover any.
Song image & Lyrics
Open
Link to the lyrics
Copyright notice on the lyrics link
Sound impression
Elegant & romantic
It is a romantic, and elegant moderated ballad.
Classy
A twinkling sound of the bar chimes, and the acoustic grand piano mark the start of introduction, then the drums, bass, strings, and concert grand harp join.
In the main part, a harmony of the acoustic piano, grand harp, and strings create an elegant & classy atmosphere. And it provides a good contrast with a little tempting "Nanako"'s whispering voice.
In the last 1 minutes, the horn also joins, and performs a mellow & serene instrumental with others.
Reference
About Google translate
About the artist
Nanako SatōWhispering voice sisters
"Nanako Satō", or "Nanako", is a singer, songwriter, and professional photographer active since 1977.
"Nanako" is well known by her mellow & stylish urban pop tracks released mainly from the late '70s to the mid '80s.
She sang them in her charming & coquettish whispering voice, and hugely attracted fans.
And therefore, some J-pop fans call her as a member of "whispering voice sisters", which is consisted of 2 other characteristic singers, namely "Yukako Hayase" & "Kahimi Karie".
Satō is also known as a professional photographer. Quite a few of commercial photos, & several photo books have been published until now.
Nanako Satō debuted in 1977 with a single, "Street corner Betty". Since then, 8 singles, and 11 original, plus 2 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Nanako Satō)
Early times
Under her aunt influence, who was an Olympic gymnast, Nanako Satō dedicated herself to gymnastics from childhood. And certainly, she had been one of the brilliant elite gymnasts.
But in her high school days, she had a serious injury in an accident during practice. And this forced her to give up to be a top gymnast.
As an entirely fresh start, "Nanako" set her eyes on entering top-notch universities.
Luckily, she passed an exam, and started her campus life in Tokyo.
Meeting with Motoharu Sano
In the university, she joined one of the "not-so-serious", and friendly atmosphere music circles just from curiosity. But consequently, it helped her to expand exchanges with music people around there.
Through the activities in the music circle, Nanako Satō first met with "Motoharu Sano", who was known as a talented amateur musician at that time, and now being one of the greatest rock musician in Japan.
"Nanako" & Sano hit it off right away, and Sano began to teach "Nanako" about music creation, since she had no previous experience on that.
One day, on behalf of the music circle she belonged to, "Nanako" entered a major music contest for collegiate women.
"Strangely", (according to her), she survived a competition, and reached the final contest.
"Nanako", Sano & one of their friend formed a tentative band for the final event, and performed their original song.
The band could not win the contest, but "Nanako" was given a lyric award. And she further attracted attention from music producers, or talent-scouts of record companies.
And eventually, this led to a debut of "Nanako Satō" as a professional pop singer, and songwriter.
Debut
In June 1977, "Nanako Satō" finally debuted with her 1st album, "Funny walkin'".
It was a fine & fashionable pop album. The songs were written by "Nanako" by having active participation of "Motoharu Sano" as a collaborator.
It already contained an excellent mellow pop track like, "Subterranean futari-bocchi" (Only two of us on the bottom of the night sky), or nice mellow ballad, "Yoru-no Isadora" (Isadora in the night), which hinted "Nanako"'s later direction.
The team of "Nanako" & "Motoharu Sano" continued to produce 3 more impressive albums on behalf of "Nanako" until 1979.
Whispering voice
"Nanako"'s series of excellent light & mellow tracks, released in the follow-on albums, remarkably appealed to fans for cool & stylish pop songs.
But what equally captivated fans was her very unique, and healing whispering voice.
"Nanako" soon became a symbol of an attractive whispering voice singer, and created a tradition by unintentionally brought up charming successors, like "Yukako Hayase", or "Kahimi Karie".
Then, some fans call them "Whispering sisters" now a days.
Photographer
In 1980, "Nanako" newly formed a 4-piece new-wave band "SPY", and set out to perform live hungrily.
But while "Nanako" was participating in the band, she found her interest and competence in taking pictures, and soon began to work as a professional photographer.
"Nanako" stopped her activity in music, and gradually came to focus on photography.
Since then, "Nanako" spent 15 years as a pro-photographer, and lived mostly in overseas.
Recent
In mid '90s, she came back to Japan, and resumed her life as a musician.
And currently, "Nanako" is balancing both of her career, singer & photographer in her own pace.
Video clip
Finally, we would like to introduce a trailer video of "Light & mellow Nanako Satō", which is one the best albums of of Nanako Satō, released in 2014.
The album contains the finest selection of Nanako Satō's light & mellow tracks mainly from her albums of the '70s.
We think this is one of the "Must-have" items, if you are a fan of the Japanese light & mellow.
If you like, please listen.
Music Samples
8
(試聴する)
recochoku.jp
music.oricon.co.jp
Amazon.co.jp
Apple Music(jp)
8
Japanese Letters
| Song Title | 海にうかぶピアノ(Umi ni ukabu piano) |
|---|---|
| Artist | 佐藤奈々子(Nanako Satō) |
| Album Title | SWEET SWINGIN’ |
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