[Light & smooth]
No.86 "Tokai" by Taeko Ohnuki
Hi. Today's song is "Tokai" (The city) by "Taeko Ohnuki".
Some articles have been put away in a "Memo" tab in each section, so please click it to read.
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Thank you.
By the way, today 5th May is Children's day in Japan. Many "Koinobori"s (Carp streamer) are displayed on here and there to pray for the growth of children.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Koinobori)
Actually, now is a good travel season, yet the hotel booking might not be easy though.
Please come and see the beautiful country side during this nice season if you like.
Index
1. Song data
| Title | Tokai (The city) |
|---|---|
| Artist | Taeko Ohnuki |
| Album Title | Sunshower |
| Catalog Number | CRCP-20409 |
| Track No. | 4 |
| Duration | 5:10 |
| Released | 1977 |
| Publisher | PANAM CROWN |
| Lyricist | Taeko Ohnuki |
| Composer | Taeko Ohnuki |
| Arranger | Ryūichi Sakamoto |
- About the creators
Taeko Ohnuki
Taeko Ohnuki is a singer and songwriter of this track.
So, we would like to cover her in the later section.
Ryūichi Sakamoto
Ryūichi Sakamoto is a composer, arranger, producer and pianist active since 1975.
He is well known as a member of the '80s pioneering electro pop band "Yellow Magic Orchestra"
Film music
He is also a famed screen music composer now a days.
In 1983, he wrote the first film music for a British-Japanese movie, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", directed by "Nagisa Ōshima". And it was given a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music of 1983.
In 1987, he became a music producer for a Italian-Chinese-British collaborative movie "The last emperor".
The music for this movie was highly acclaimed, and received the 60th Academy Award for Best Original Score(1987).
Here is a sample clip of his music for the above mentioned movie, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence".
* Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
(Ref: Wikipedia, Ryuichi Sakamoto)
Support for Taeko Ohnuki
In 1976, Sakamoto participated with her debut album "Grey skies" as a keyboardist and arranger.
From this time, he has been one of the most important creative partner for her even now.
According to the interview for Taeko Ohnuki, she and Sakamoto can speak the same language on the music creation since beginning.
And, it seems they can share more views on the various things, just an impression though.
Cover art
- Sound impressions
Light & smooth
This is a light & smooth pop music in moderated middle speed.
This is a good vocal song, but at the same time, a pretty nice instrumental music as well.
The bass, drums, electric guitar, electric piano, soprano sax and the percussion are participated with the ensemble.
Everyone seems to be playing very easily, but actually they are all good play, especially the performance of the drums is incredible.
Chorus work is also a point to listen. It sounds casual, but fitting well.
Velvet voice
Taeko Ohnuki has a natural and velvety unique voice, which is possibly mystically charming.
So, the people need to be mindful when listening her songs, otherwise everyone can quickly get addicted, like we did.
Musicians
The musicians are as follows.
- Fender Rhodes, Yamaha PolySynth CS-80
- Ryūichi Sakamoto
- Electric Guitar
- Kenji Ohmura
- E.Bass
- Haruomi Hosono
- Drums
- Chiristopher Parker
- Soprano Saxophone
- Yasuaki Shimizu
- Background Vocals
- Taeko Ohnuki
- Tatsuro Yamashita
Chiristopher Parker, used to be a drummer of the American instrumental band "Stuff", was invited for this album.... Amazing.
- Reference
- About the artist
Elegant and Natural
As a solo artist, Taeko Ohnuki debuted in 1976 with single "Grey Skies". Since then, 28 singles, and 27 original, 2 live, and 16 best albums has been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia, Taeko Ohnuki)
Sugar babe
She started her professional career as a member of the legendary band Sugar babe.
In 1973, now famous pop star, Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Ohnuki and 3 other members teamed up a pop music band, and named it as "Sugar babe".
Their music was highly pop and melodious due to the frequent use of maj7, maj9 chords or modulations. Therefore, the sound was particularly unique among the domestic bands in its day.
Since their songs were too ahead of times, the number of fans couldn't be many. So, from the sales point of view, the achievement of the band wasn't great.
Here is a sample of their song.
Show - Sugar babe
(music.apple.com)
Solo debut
In June 1976, Sugar babe finally broke up. And in September the same year, Taeko Ohnuki released her first solo album "Grey skies" from Panam crown, with having supports from the people like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tatsuro Yamashita, Makoto Yano and Haruomi Hosono.
Different from Sugar babe period, her music became Crossover like fusion like tone more.
Such sound attracted the quick listeners a lot, then she could gradually gain her position through releasing 3 fine albums until 1978.
European elegance
In 1980, she started to release the new concept of albums focusing on European sound by receiving powerful support from its specialists "Ryuichi Sakamoto" and "Kazuhiko Kato".
These albums were very well accepted by wide range of fans, as a kind of the coolest pop music in the latest formula. As a result, Taeko Ohnuki became a top class artist in the J-pop.
Since then, she is continuously releasing quality albums until now.
Elegant & natural
Around the mid '80s, her music began to evolve to more natural, acoustic, and cosmopolitan direction.
They are sometimes African, sometimes Latin, and occasionally nursery rhymes. It is really exciting to see what comes next.
We feel some sense of fulfillment from her songs in this period, though the expression of it is always modest.
That might be coming from the confidence she attained through a long time activity as a leading artist.
It is getting too long as usual. Please allow us to continue talking about her for the next time. Thank you.
- 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
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp) (Track No.4)
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | 都会 (Tokai) |
|---|---|
| Artist | 大貫妙子 (Taeko Ohnuki) |
| Album Title | Sunshower |
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