[Lounge & Bossa]
No.76 "L'Homme Que J'Aimais" by Mari Natsuki
Hi. Today's song is "L'Homme Que J'Aimais" (The man I once loved) by "Mari Natsuki".
This song has an equivalent Japanese sub title (Mukashi watashi-ga ai-shita hito). But as long as we see, "French" is the main concept for this album, and therefore we maintain the French title of the song as the title of this post.
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Index
1. Song data
| Title | L'Homme Que J'Aimais (The man I once loved) |
|---|---|
| Artist | Mari Natsuki |
| Album Title | La Marie En Septembre |
| Catalog Number | TKCA-72709 |
| Track No. | 4 |
| Duration | 3:16 |
| Released | 1995 |
| Publisher | Tokuma Japan |
| Lyricist | Yasuhiro Konishi |
| Composer | Yasuhiro Konishi |
| Arranger | Yasuhiro Konishi |
About the creators
This song is written and arranged by Yasuhiro Konishi.
Yasuhiro Konishi is a talented composer and an arranger. He was a core member of a star pop-rock group "Pizzicato five".
"Pizzicato five" was a band of 4 members, but they were somewhat like a music creators rather than musicians who love to play the instruments.
It might be coming from the music style of "Yasuhiro Konishi". He does not stick to play his music by himself, but always looking for someone who can perform the best.
In other words, he creates lyrics and melodies by himself, but it is not for him to play.
So, he looks more like a producer than a musician as far as he is concerned.
Collaboration
The produce of this album was offered from him to Mari Natsuki.
She had released an incredibly interesting album "Fujin club"(Women's club) one before in 1986. It was certaily proving her potential to sing tasteful songs for adults.
We have no idea whether he has listened the album or not, but we imagine he surely felt something good from her and send an offer.
Here is our earlier post of Pizzicato five. Please have a look if you like.
Cover art
- Sound impressions
Jazzy Bossa nova
This is a relaxed acoustic Jazz in Bossa nova rhythm.
A Latin classical guitar solo starts the introduction, and the percussion(Shaker) quickly joins.
After the lead-in by the vocal, the acoustic, piano, double bass, drums, and the vibraphone participate, then start an ensemble.
All the instruments play a demanding melody like this very naturally and elegantly. And its harmony is so beautiful.
Mari Natsuki's vocal around that time, had already been calm and matured, which would perfectly fit for singing a chilled music like this.
- Reference
- About the artist
Wearing two hats
Mari Natsuki debuted as a singer in 1971 with a single "Chiisana Koi"(Little love). Since then, 29 singles, and 16 original, plus 3 best albums has been released until now.
(Wikipedia, Mari Natsuki)
She is one of the very rare singer maintaining her popularity for more than 40 years since 1971. It seems it wasn't an easy road though.
As a whole, her life wasn't easy in the '70s. In spite of the 2 big hit songs in 1973 and 1974, sudden upset on her health came in the way of her further showing.
But after she started working as an actor in just before the '80s, the environment began to be improved.
To be an performer
In 1979, she was selected as a regular cast of a popular TV suspense "G-men '75". She acted very well on the series, and this actually opened a new horizon for her as an performer(*).
(* According to wikipedia, she prefers not to be called as an "actress".)
She had been a frequent traveler to New york since 1970s. In 1990, she crossed the pacific ocean again, but this time, she spent half a year for studying dance and show business.
During the stay, she had an inspiration and began to think if she can deliver something creative through her voice and body movement.
"Impression group"
And in 1993, she finally started a self-produced performacne theater titled "Inshō-ha (Impression group)", which the series No.12 was just peformed in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Paris in 2017.
They say "Inshō-ha" is a kind of "avant-garde" theater, and a bit dense to the audience.
Here is an interesting sample clip of her performance in dedication at a historic Buddhist temple "Kiyomizu-dera" in Kyoto.
This might not be exactly the same, but you can catch a rough idea about what she is doing at the "Impression group".
* Mari Natsuki Performance
Full bloom
Around 2000, after she waltzed through her 50, it seems she has been more shining, possibly the brightest in her long life as a singer and a performer.
Here is a short movie clip about the recent Mari Natsuki.
* Recent Mari Natsuki
We would like to talk a bit more about her in the next opportunity. Thank you for reading a long article.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.4.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
recochoku.jp
music.oricon.co.jp
music.apple.com (Track No.4)
4
7. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | むかし私が愛した人 (Mukashi Watashi-ga ai-shita hito) |
|---|---|
| Artist | 夏木マリ (Mari Natsuki) |
| Album Title | 九月のマリー (Ku-gatsu no Marie) |
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