[Relaxing & Chic]
No.246 "Weekend" by Harumi Ohzora
Hi. The song we would like to introduce to you today is, "WEEKEND" by "Harumi Ohzora".
"Weekend" is a slow swing Jazz taste, elegant & mellow pop song contained in the album titled "Harumi-no moonlight serenade", which is the 4th album of an excellent pop singer "Harumi Ohzora", released in 1982.
You might not be very familiar with the name of this singer.
But if you are a fan of Japanese Fusion or crossover music of the '70-80s, and have ever listened to the earlier albums of "Masayoshi Takanaka", or "The Square", you might remember a singer named "Tan Tan" who were performing a unique and energetic vocal in their albums.
Yes. that was "Tan Tan", and later "Harumi Ohzora".
"Tan Tan" reshaped her music from light rock & pops to Smooth pops & Vocal Jazz in around 1978, So albums of "Harumi Ohzora" also go into this category, and might meet with your preference.
If you like, please listen to.
Links to the music shops, offering song samples, are located on the bottom of this page.
Some contents have been put away in tabs with "▶" mark in each section, so please click it to see.
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Thank you.
Cover art today
Song data
| Title | WEEKEND |
|---|---|
| Artist | Harumi Ohzora |
| Album Title | Harumi No Moonlight Serenade(Harumi’s Moonlight Serenade) |
| Catalog Number | UPCY-90147 |
| Track No. | 5 |
| Duration | 3:07 |
| Released | 1982 |
| Publisher | London Records |
| Lyricist | Taeko Ohnuki |
| Composer | Taeko Ohnuki |
| Arranger | Nobuyuki Shimizu |
About the creators
Taeko Ohnuki Lyricist & Composer
"Taeko Ohnuki" is a singer-songwriter, lyricist, and composer active since around 1971.
She is one of the pioneering, and most well known female music artist, who is particularly prominent in a modern, refined, and stylish category of Japanese popular music.
"Ohnuki" wrote two lovely songs exclusively for this album, (The other one is "Romancer", in Charleston!),
And they are adding extra value to this album.
References
For more details on "Taeko Ohnuki", please have a look at the references linked below.
Nobuyuki Shimizu Arranger
"Nobuyuki Shimizu" is a composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist active since around 1976.
"Shimizu" is particularly well known as an arranger who continuously, and powerfully supported the leading pop singers like, "EPO", "Senri Ōe", "Eri Hiramatsu", or "Misato Watanabe".
He has arranged hundreds of very good light & mellow pops since the '80s.
Then, "Nobuyuki Shimizu" has been one of the most frequently appearing names in our blog.
References
For more details on "Nobuyuki Shimizu", please have a look at the references linked below.
Song image & Lyrics
Open
Link to the lyrics
Some notes on the lyrics link
Sound impression
Strolling slow
This seems to be a relaxing, and luxurious pop song in a slow swing rhythm, in strolling speed.
Jazz Trio?
The strings, acoustic piano, and Vocoder (or synthesizer) begin an inspiring introduction, then main part starts.
In the main part, Jazz trio like ensemble of the acoustic piano, bass, and drums play an accompaniment for "Harumi Ohzora" singing in a nice & relaxing voice.
In the bridge, a bigger string section and horn synthesizer also join, and make the sound more gorgeous like a performance of a big band.
Musicians
The names of musicians participated in the recording of this album are as follows.
Simply, it is gorgeous.
- Bass
- Kenji Takamizu
- Chorus
- Time Five
- Drums
- Shūichi Murakami
- Guitar
- Kenji Ōmura
- Shigeru Suzuki
- Takayuki Hijikata
- Keyboards
- Nobuyuki Shimizu
- Percussion
- Masato Hashida
- Motoya Hamaguchi
- Saxophone
- Ichirō Mimori
- Jake H. Concepcion
- Kiyoshi Saitō
- Kōsuke Ichihara
- Shunzō Sunahara
- Takeru Muraoka
- Strings
- Tokyo Royal Strings
- Trombone
- Eiji Arai Group
- Trumpet
- Susumu Kazuhara
- Voice
- Chris Mosdell
- Producer
- Kazuhiko Katō
Reference
About Google translate
About the artist
Harumi OhzoraTan tan, a pioneering professional vocalist
"Harumi Ohzora" was a pop and Jazz singer active from around 1967 to 1998.
She debuted in 1968 as a member of an illusion-like short lived (but a gorgeous) GS(Group sounds) band "The White Kicks" under her first stage name "Taeko Morino".
From 1971 to 1981, she used her 2nd stage name "Tan Tan", and had not just been releasing her albums, but also actively participated in the recordings of other artists, like "Masayoshi Takanaka", or "The Square", as main vocalist or chorus.
And from 1982 to 1998, she performed as a Jazz and Pop singer, and also served as a lecturer of a music college.
So, she showed the charms of her singing through different styles of music, in relatively short her active period.
As a solo singer, Harumi Ohzora, or "Tan Tan" debuted in 1973 with a single, "Ai-ha omokage-no naka-ni" (The first time ever I saw your face). Since then, 4 singles, and 5 original albums have been released until now.
(Ref: ja-m-wikipedia-org, Harumi Ohzora)
Early times & The White Kicks
Thanks to new generation music fans and fans in overseas, the modern & stylish Japanese pops in the '70s-'80s, so-called "City-pop" has recently recaptured the spotlight, and long forgotten albums of our heroine "Harumi Ohzora" have also been reissued in the modern format of the media.
However, it has been a quarter century since the singer passed away in 1998, and therefore there aren't many references referring to her.
So, what we can talk about her to you is limited. Please allow us.
We are not sure about the early life of "Ohzora", but according to Wikipedia, "Ohzora" (or "Taeko Morino" at that time ) took part in a famous & prestigious music contest, "NHK Kei-ongaku audition" in 1967, and luckily, she passed the stringent & competitive audition.
Presumably as a reward for her winning in the contest last year, she appeared on an NHK-TV's popular music program "Uta-no saiten" (The music festival) as a performer in 1968.
And sang two songs, namely "The Girl from Ipanema", and "Sunny" (Bobby Hebb) in Portuguese and English respectively, with self accompaniment on guitar.
She gathered some attention from the music industry in Japan as a result of this fine performance on TV.
And at the same time, "Morino" formed a 3-piece folk & pop group "Le Petit trois", and began to perform as an aspiring professional singer in various music venues in Tokyo.
And as it turned out later, this led her to debut as a professional singer, since she was scouted as the vocalist of a GS(Group sounds) band "The White Kicks", by a known musician, actor, and the leader of the group, "Keitarō Miho", who saw her performance in a music place.
Then she finally started her professional career together with five other members of "The White Kicks" in 1968.
Study in America & Solo debut
Very much unexpectedly, "The White Kicks" broke up soon after released their debut single "Alligator Boogaloo" (Boogaloo) in May 1968.
Then after a while in 1971, "Morino" decided to go to the United States to have a music training journey in San Francisco, Los Angels, and also in some countries in South East Asia.
She came back safely to Japan, and in 1973, she made a debut as a solo singer "Tan Tan" this time, with her first album "Ai-ha omokage-no naka-ni" (The first time ever I saw your face) featuring the covers of western pops mainly.
Then in 1974, "Tan Tan" released another cover album "Tan Tan sings Simon & Garfunkel" as her second album.
This one was also a very good album, and proving a thrillingly high her potential as a pop vocalist.
There is no doubt about the fact that Her debut album and second album were really excellent. Because a really excellent singer, namely "Tan Tan" performed all those songs.
But honestly speaking, we feel these kind of rather ordinary works were not worth enough for a super excellent singer like "Tan Tan", who will shine further more when performing suitable music like funky Latin, blues, or Jazz.
Although, we can understand that it was a safe, and commercially justifiable approach for the management.
Since around 1975, "Tan Tan" began to participate in the recordings of the other musicians or bands as a guest vocalist.
And soon, she became one of the most popular vocalists, particularly among the Crossover, or Fusion instrumental bands which does not usually have a vocalist as a regular member.
Takanaka, Corgen, and Inui
In 1975, "Tan Tan" took part in the recording of a popular folk & pops singer "Itsurō Shimoda" as a chorus.
There were many of first-call musicians participated in this album, and not knowingly "Tan Tan" acquainted oneself with those first class musicians.
And interestingly, a super guitarist "Masayoshi Takanaka" was also involving in this album as an arranger.
And since around this timing, "Tan Tan" began to join the recordings of other musicians increasingly more.
In 1976, "Tan Tan" was asked to join a debut album of "Masayoshi Takanaka" titled "Seychelles" as a vocalist, since it was basically a guitar instrumental album.
On this album, "Tan Tan" showed an excellent performance as a lead vocal and chorus,
"Tan Tan" also became one of the recording musicians in "Takanaka"'s second album "Takanaka", and delivered her impressive vocal.
And she completely established her name as no ordinary singer.
In addition to "Takanaka"'s, "Tan Tan" took part in the albums of Rock, Fusinon bands like, "Count Buffalos" (led by Akira Ishikawa), "Zerosen", "Sadistics", "Prism", "Hiroki Inui & Fly Friends", or "The Square" from 1976 to the early '80s, and became a became a preferred vocalist for the band in this category. "
And through the work with them, she became a true first-call musician.
Trying To Get To You
Maybe in 1977, "Tan Tan" was suggested from the management to start recording a new album, however not in Japan, but in Los Angels, the United States.
There was a discerning music producer in the management, and he was evaluating the singer "Tan Tan" very highly.
The producer contacted with his business counterpart in the United States, and suggested if they are interested in producing this brilliant Japanese singer together, or not.
It seems the offer was fine with them. Soon, the concept of new album was discussed, and decided to go with the covers of American hit songs, but in totally new arrangement and new ensemble.
Songs were selected, and powerful musicians (All American - You can see the list of musicians on this page.) were booked.
And finally, the singer "Tan Tan" flew to Los Angels from Japan alone.
The finished album was a fair American pops album as expected, but the music quality was high in both backing side and vocal side.
So, in a sense this is a listenable album for wide range of music fans.
Perhaps because of that, only this album is available in digital format among all of her albums, and is on the shelf of all the online music shops.
Music sample is also available on Youtube, so please search for the words "Tan Tan, Trying To Get To You" on its site.
Collaborating with Kazuhiko Katō
In 1982, "Tan Tan" moved the record company she belonged to from "Colombia" to "London Record" to start a collaboration work with a talented music producer "Kazuhiko Katō".
And in this rare occasion, she changed her stage name from "Tan Tan" to "Harumi Ohzora" to take this opportunity as a reborn of herself as a singer.
Selected first-call musicians were gathered to provide a fine backing sounds to the first original album of a talented vocalist "Harumi Ohzora".
Naturally, the output was a well balanced high quality album, and it was released as her 4th studio album, or the debut album of "Harumi Ohzora" titled "Harumi-no Moonlight serenade".
Obviously, it was well accepted by both Pop music fans and Light & mellow fans equally.
And therefore, we felt that the album like this had to be released 10 years ago, when she was debuting.
In 1983, just within a year from the last album, the 2nd collaboration album with Kato was released under the album title of "VIVA".
On this album, a kind of pop sound were emphasized more, and there are less songs with mellow and melodious atmosphere.
However, this was still a fine album, and the difference between the last one was within a personal preference.
Honestly, we wanted to listen to more of her albums in this line though it has already been an impossible dream.
Things were all a bit too late.
As a music college lecturer
Since around 1990, "Harumi Ohzora" began to teach the singing of popular music at a reputed music college specialized for educating musicians wishing to be active in popular music field.
Because, she had been requested from the college, namely "Mesar House music college" in Tokyo, to take this role soon since sometime ago.
The music college was known as one of highest level schools for the students aspiring popular musicians.
So, the teacher of this college was in fact a right profession for the person "Ohzora" who was really talented in this area.
According to the blogs of her students or colleagues in the school, "Ohzora" taught not just the singing skills in various music styles, but also ardently explained, how to communicate with musicians playing instruments, how to crate an attractive stage, and how to face with music.
And more essentially, she advised the student the importance of delivering the passion of oneself, and how to convey them to the audience.
The students and the colleagues in the school learned a lot from her, and soon became fans of her.
Because "Ohzora" was loved and respected by many students, some of them are still visiting her grave once a year even it's been 25 years since she passed away.
Too early
As mentioned in the last section, "Harumi Ohzora" departed this world in 1998 from illness. She was 50.
Even a great musician like a super drummer "Shūichi 'Ponta' Murakaimi" still mentions about her as an impressive singer in his book issued in 2010.
Real recognize real.
References
For more details about "Harumi Ohzora", please have a look at the references linked below.
Video clip
Lastly, we would like to report our findings about the music clips of today's song "WEEKEND" by "Harumi Ohzora" on Youtube.
There seems to be only one video available, and you might be able to find it by searching with the keywords like, "大空はるみ weekend 05".
Interestingly, it does not allow you to use "Harumi Ohzora", the singer's name in English, but require local language "大空はるみ".
Please note that point, and if you like, please listen to.
Due to copyright concerns, we would like to hold back putting the link on this page.
Instead of the above, we would like to introduce a music clip of a nice Fusion guitar instrumental, "Oh! Tengo Suerte" (Oh I am lucky!) from Masayohi Takanaka's album "Seychelles" (1976).
In this track, a very funky, and dynamic female vocal in Spanish is appearing in the middle of song, and that is "Tan Tan".
Interestingly, our writer "Satsuma" says that he had never doubted the singer was a Latino woman because of her good Spanish & powerful singing.
So, he was very surprised when he realised the fact that the singer showing this high performance was "Tan Tan", a well known Japanese singer in crossover category.
If you are curious, please listen to.
Music Samples
5
(試聴する)
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www.hmv.co.jp
tower.jp
diskunion.net
Japanese Letters
| Song Title | WEEKEND |
|---|---|
| Artist | 大空はるみ(Harumi Ohzora) |
| Album Title | はるみのムーンライトセレナーデ(Harumi No Moonlight Serenade) |
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