My enka journey

ysocks

Hi All

When I was a teenager I was a die-hard fan of 柏原芳恵 (Kashiwabara Yoshie). I used to pay anything for everything Yoshie's. including her photo collections, videos and posters. I'm very happy she's again become active, with the release of several studio albums and singles.

I've only started to listen to enka a few years ago even though I learnt about it from the annual 紅白歌合戰 when I was very young.  It was when 中森明菜 released 艷華 in 2007 that I started to really like enka.

I was initially attracted to 八代亜紀 (Yashiro Aki) for her husky voice, versatility and very alluring stage performance. Her songs like 舟唄 and 雨の慕情 or the more recent 花束. Although it seems that her career is going downhill and her voice slowly deteriorating, I wasn't the least disappointed with her latest single 一枚のLP盤 because she still has the vibe and everything that makes her a living legend.  Her other more recent works are just as beautiful, like あなたの背中に and 鰻谷.

Another of my favourite enka singer is the one and only 石川さゆり (Ishikawa Sayuri). Of her 100+ singles, I like 朝花 the most. Her other works like 天城越え and 津軽海峡・冬景色 are of course on top of my song list, and my most loved album of Ishikawa san's had to be 歌芝居. As an enka singer, she is as versatile as Aki san, but I favor her more "traditional" songs.

Over the year I've also developed a liking for 都はるみ (Miyako Harumi). Harumi san is my favorite enka singer and she had a powerful voice and quite a number of all time hits, such as 北の宿から, 好きになった人, 涙の連絡船 and 夫婦坂. Her rendering of 北の宿から is perfect and when she sang it live, it was "mind blowing". I'm surprised not many people shared views on her songs here but if you like high quality enka, you should try and listen to her works, particularly early ones.

Some of the younger or contemporary enka sings are OK but I find them a bit too commercial to my taste. For instance, I quite like 水森かおり but some of her songs are very similar, I guess, owing to market demand.

Anyway, enka is about quality - of the songs, the voices and the performances. Akina's 艷華 was I believe a commercial success. The musical arrangement was excellent and I hope more people will grow to appreciate enka for its beauty.