[Gentle & elegant]
No.135 "La Rosa" by Yukihiro Takahashi
Hi. Today's song is "La Rosa" (The rose) by "Yukihiro Takahashi".
It is a relaxing, and elegant Euro-pop ballad offered for the rose.
A bit early for rose season. But if you like, please listen.
Some links to the music shops offering song samples are located on the bottom of this page.
Few contents have been put away in a " ▼Memo " tab in each section, so please click it to read.
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Thank you.
Song data
| Title | La Rosa |
|---|---|
| Artist | Yukihiro Takahashi |
| Album Title | |
| Catalog Number | KICS-1140 |
| Track No. | 4 |
| Duration | 5:01 |
| Released | 1978 |
| Publisher | |
| Lyricist | |
| Composer | |
| Arranger |
About the creators
Yukihiro TakahashiLyricist
"Yukihiro Takahashi" is the main character for today.
So, we would like to come back to him later in "About the artist" section.
Kazuhiko KatōComposer
"Kazuhiko Katō" was a competent composer, arranger, guitarist singer-songwriter, and a music producer in the J-pop.
Because he was a great musician in the modern J-pop history, there were many topics.
So, we would like cover just an overview of him at here.
Early days
He started his professional career by debuting in 1967 as a member of a folk group, "The folk crusaders".
The band was fairly successful, and "Katō" began to be recognized as an up-and-coming musician.
But, in 1969, the band broke up, then he got going as a solo artist.
In 1971, "Katō" teamed up a brand-new progressive rock group, "Sadistic Mika Band", with 4 other members.
The band became very popular among rock, and pops fans. And particularly notable thing is it's rare success in the UK as a Japanese rock band.
"Kato" completely established his name as a talented musician.
With "Kazumi Yasui"
After a break-up of "Mika Band", he started solo activity again.
In 1977, "Kato" married with a successful, and visible lyricist, "Kazumi Yasui".
Since then, "Yasui" & "Kato" set up a team, and began to offer excellent pop songs to various artists including "Kato" himself.
On the other hand, because of their stylish & refined life style, living magazines or weeklies were often interviewed with them, and published articles about their modern, and chic way of living.
As a consequence, "Yasui" & "Kato" became icons for the young couples longing for a fashionable lifestyle.
"Yasui" & "Kato" had been an excellent creative team for music, and celebrities. But the both of them have already departed this life in 1994, and 2009 respectively.
Additional information
For more information about "Kazuhiko Katō", please check with Wikipedia.
We have written some more about "Kazuhiko Katō" and "Kazumi Yasui" in our post No.107.
If you like, please also have a look.
Ryūichi SakamotoArranger
"Ryūichi Sakamoto" is a composer, arranger, producer and pianist active since 1975.
He is the most well-known as a member of a legendary electro pop band "Yellow Magic Orchestra", or an award winning screen composer.
Because "Sakamoto" is an active musician, it is not easy to write about him in brief.
So, we would like to introduce minimum topics in here, then if you need more details, please check with Wikipedia.
Early time
"Sakamoto" started learning piano, and music composition when he was 3.
He was grown up with music, and in 1970, he entered a University of Arts in Tokyo, and studied music composition and theory.
After graduated the University, he went onto a graduate school for further study.
That is why his nickname has been "Kyōju (Professor)" for more than 4 decades.
Around 1975, he started his professional career as a studio musician, or a music producer.
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO)
In 1978, he participated with a new experimental Electro pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra as a founding member.
The band became extremely popular, and achieved a world wide success.
Through this successful outcome, he was recognized as a world class musician.
Film music
In parallel in 1983, "Sakamoto" wrote a screen music for a unique war movie "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", which was stared by "David Bowie", "Takeshi Kitano", and "Sakamoto" himself.
On this movie, "Sakamoto" received a British Academy Film Awards, Best Film Music award in the same year.
In 1987, he also wrote a score for a historical movie, "The Last Emperor".
And this time, he earned a "Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score", and "Academy Award for Best Original Score"
Recent
Now, "Ryūichi Sakamoto" is one of the most prominent, and influential musician in the Japanese popular music scene.
He has been active in many field of music, in both domestically, and internationally.
For instance, in 2009, The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) was awarded from France.
In 2018, he was chosen as a judge for the Competition Category at Berlin International Film Festival.
For more details, please check with Wikipedia.
We have written a little about "Ryūichi Sakamoto" in our earlier post No.86.
If you like, please check it also.
(Ref: Wikipedia, Ryūichi Sakamoto)
(Ref: amazon.co.jp, Miruku yugafu)🇯🇵
Video clip
In 2015, "Ryūichi Sakamoto" collaborated with an Okinawan 4 piece chorus unit "Unai-gumi" (originated from Nēnēs), and created a beautiful vocal song, which let us feel like it is an old traditional Ryūkyū folk music, even it is a recent creation.
The song title is "Miruku yugafu" (弥勒世果報).
But its melody comes from Sakamoto's song, "undercooled" in 2004.
(Nēnē = Elder sister, Ryūkyū dialect, but perhaps understood in all over Japan.)
According to some sites, "Miruku" (弥勒) originally means a deity in Buddhism who controls the "future". But it has been localized by combining with an ancient local belief "Nirai Kanai".
And "Yugafu"(世果報) means the harmonious world, or simply a year of good harvest, which the "Miruku" deity will promise to us,
In fact, this song is celebrating the nature of Okinawa in its local dialect, and praying for peace in an elegant way.
It has a beautiful, and almost sacred kind of melody, but calm, and relaxing nice vocal music.
If you like, please listen.
Controversy
On this video, a controversial "Okinawa's Military Base issue" related pictures, (like helicopters, or a public protest), will appear, though it is only 20 seconds in a video of 6 minutes duration.
Because it is a serious, and important issue for us Japanese. The creators might therefore have put a silent message into here.
Otherwise, it is a very beautiful movie clip featuring scenic views of Okinawa.
But, we are just informing the fact before you play the video.
So, if you like, please click & watch. If not, we are sorry, but please proceed to the next section.
Thank you for your attention.
* "Miruku yugafu" by "Unai-gumi" & "Ryuichi Sakamoto"
Cover art today
Song image & Lyrics
Open
Link to the lyrics
Copyright notice on the lyrics link
Sound impression
Gentle & elegant
This is a gentle and elegant Euro-pop ballad in a lounge music like shuffle, soft-rock rhythm.
Wonderful sound
The bass, acoustic piano, Hammond Organ, percussion, and electric guitar join, and start a slow and melodious introduction.
In the A-melody of the main part, the ensemble keeps this elegant atmosphere, and the vocalist sings in a cool voice.
From the B-melody and bridge, the drums joins, and the sound changes into more pop.
In the bridge, "Haruomi Hosono"s bass, and "Ryūichi Sakamoto"s Hammond organ are showing excellent performances.
It is another point of this song, or this album.
Musicians
The best musicians were gathered to create this song.
- Keyboards
- Ryūichi Sakamoto
- Drums, Percussions
- Tatsuo Hayashi
- Yū Imai
- Motoya Hamaguchi
- E.Bass
- Haruomi Hosono
- E.Guitar
- Shigeru Suzuki
- Kenji Ōmura
- Tsunehide Matsuki
- A.Guitar
- Kazuhiko Katō
Reference
About Google translate
About the artist
Yukihiro TakahashiMulti talented
"Yukihiro Takahashi" is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, fashion designer, essayist, TV character, radio personality, and a drummer of a legendary Electronic (we call it "Techno-pop") band "Yellow Magic Orchestra".
"Takahashi" debuted in 1978 with a single "Ç'est si bon" (unique cover of a French song of the same title). Since then, 25 singles, and 22 original, 6 live, and 9 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Yukihiro Takahashi)
(Rosy tomorrow) Yukihiro Takahashi (1983) [Digital music]
Early times
"Yukihiro Takahashi" is particularly well-known with his incredibly accurate rhythm keeping on drums.
According to Wikipedia, he was already playing the drums when he was 11.
In 1969, he became a backing musician to a very popular folk song group "Garo", even he was still a high school student of age 17.
And this is virtually the beginning of his professional career.
Sadistic Mika band
During working with "Garo", "Takahashi" went on to a College of art for farther education, and had been balancing band activity and the study.
In 1972, due to the direction of music, "Takahashi" and his band mate "Rei Ohara" who will be a super bassist later, left the band "Garo".
Soon afterward, a talented band leader "Kazuhiko Katō" who was running a "Sadistic Mika Band", which will achieve a big success later, invited "Takahashi" & "Ohara".
"Sadistic Mika band" played out revolutionary unique pop, hard rock until they broke up in 1975.
And, became a historic rock band.
For more details about "Sadistic Mika band", please check with the linked Wikipedia page.
The Wiki page also contains some more information about "Yukihiro Takahashi".
Solo debut
After the break-up of "Mika band", "Takahashi" and 3 other members (including Masayoshi Takanaka) teamed up "Sadistics" as a next rock band in 1975.
In parallel, "Takahashi" started a solo activity.
In 1978, he debuted as a solo artist, with his first album "Saravah!", and a single record "Ç'est si bon".
For the production of this album, very talented musicians like "Kazuhiko Katō", "Masayoshi Takanaka", "Haruomi Hosono", "Minako Yoshida", "Rajie", "Buzz", "Tatsuro Yamashita"...etc were gathered for supporting "Takahashi".
And his close friend, "Ryūichi Sakamoto", who were going bar-hopping every night with "Takahashi" at that time, covered all the song arrangement, playing keyboards, and controlled the orchestration of the strings & the brass as well.
In fact, it is a miraculous album.
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO)
Also in parallel, "Takahashi", and 2 other members, namely "Haruomi Hosono", and "Ryūichi Sakamoto", teamed up a new experimental synth pop group "Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO)".
The band became a very popular Electro pop group, not only in Japan, but in all over the world too.
And now, they are regarded as a pioneer in its category.
"YMO" is too great to summarize its history in short. Please check with Wikipedia page for more details.
After YMO
While "YMO" was ongoing, "Takahashi" was also active for solo, and other band activities.
In 1981, he formed a new-wave rock band "The Beantiks", with "Kei-ichi Suzuki" who is a leader of an old-line progressive rock band, "moonriders". .
And "The Beantiks" is still going on in 2019.
After the "fan out" of "Yellow Magic Orchestra" in 1983, "Takahashi" accelerated solo activities again, and released solo albums next by next, or concentrated on the music producer's job.
And he has produced dozens of artists, or offered hundreds of songs.
In 2002, "Takahashi" and "Haruomi Hosono" of former YMO formed a new unit "Sketch show".
And in 2004, "Ryūichi Sakamoto" participated as a guest, and they named this 3 members group "Human Audio Sponge (HAS)". It is active even today.
In 2005, "Sadistic Mika Band" revived as "Sadistic Mikaera Band" by inviting a popular singer, "Kaera Kimura" as a vocalist.
And in 2006, "Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO)" was restarted.
Recent
In 2008, "Takahashi" formed a new pop band, "Pupa" by featuring a popular actor and singer, "Tomoyo Harada" as a main vocal. And released the 1st album "floating pupa".
On the other hand, in 2014, "Takahashi" teamed up a new pop-rock band "Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive" (now METAFIVE), with powerful musicians like,
- Keigo Oyamada (Cornelius)
- Yoshinori Sunahara
- TOWA TEI
- Tomohiko Gondo and,
- LEO Imai
The band is pretty active, but they are controlling their pace depending on the individual activities.
And, in 2018,"Takahashi" released a self cover album "Saravah! saravah", which he replaced only the vocal part of his debut album "Saravah!" with a present matured voice of him.
And else, Takahashi's band, "The Beatniks" launched a new album "Exitentialist a Xie Xie" (word for word).
(exitentialism →
On the advertising of the album, it says "出口主義 (Deguchi-shugi)" as a corresponding Japanese word, and it means "Exit-ism".
So, it cannot be a misspelling.)
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Yukihiro Takahashi)
(Ref: arban-mag.com, THE BEATNIKS)🇯🇵
(Ref: stereo.jp,
Saravah!, Yukihiro Takahashi)🇯🇵
(Ref: J-wave, Radio Sakamoto,
04-11-2018, Guest: Yukihiro Takahashi)
Video clip
Finally, here is a video clip of a cool pop-rock, "Don't Move" performed by "METAFIVE" in 2015.
As referred in the above, "METAFIVE" is a band, or a special unit formed by "Yukihiro Takahashi" and 5 other powerful musicians, to play a modern progressive rock.
On this video, "Takahashi" is playing the Keyboard Drum(?), and the real drum. For your information, the main vocalist is "LEO Imai".
If you like, please have look.
* "Don't Move" by "METAFIVE"
Music Samples
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Amazon JP(en)
Tower records online
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Japanese Letters
| Song Title | La Rosa |
|---|---|
| Artist | 高橋幸宏(Yukihiro Takahashi) |
| Album Title | Saravah |
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