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Matsuri
Kitajima Saburo Passionately Sings Japanese Minds
Date:18, Mar, 2013
Investigated and Written by Misaka Youhei
About our introductory articles


Boss: With an assistant A, I will talk about Matsuri the representative song of Kitajima Saburo this time. Here we go!

A: Now, come on, boss!


B: Kitajima is a Japanese enka singer who made his debut in 1962, and he released Matsuri on November 5. 1984. That was his 22nd year as an enka singer.

A: Please stop copying Wikipedia, boss.

B: In fact, he passionately expresses several kinds of Japanese maturi which means a festival, in the song. Striplings cannot perform like that. He might have judged it was the time to perform enough at his 22nd year.

A: On his stage of Kohaku Utagassen to close the year 2009, Kitajima sang Matsuri. And he performed with passionate and great direction.

B: Oh really?

A: Yeah, the opposite was Dreams Come True.

B: That's like you, boss!

A: Boss is you, boss.

B: The song deserves a finale of national programs like Kohaku Utagassen, I think. He has taken crowning glory of the program with singing Matsuri several times. By the way, the song was composed by Hara Johji that was an alias of Kitajima Saburo.

A: Kitajima would have profit a lot by its royalty, you know, boss.

B: (Ignoring) They sometimes say Enka is Japanese minds. I don't know whether the phrase is right or wrong. Matsuri surely, however, shows a Japanese idea in singing Japanese celebrations. Maturi is originally a word from Matsuru which means deifying. That is from shamanism or primitive religion and so on. We have several subjects to worship and deify. It tells Japan is a nation of polytheism. Japanese have a religious idea different from monotheism like worshiping God or Allah and so on. Matsuri indirectly says so. And then, I can say it exhibits Japanese minds.

A: Indeed. It is different from monotheism festivals, isn't it?

B: Yes it is, very simply to say. Okuda Tamio performed Matsuri at his concert in 1997 and it is said he thought Matsuri was a funk song.


A: That's boss all over recycling information you collected for Matatabi.

B: They used to have the word Funk as a slung to mean a local custom. In a different country, he used the style for singing a Japanese custom. We can feel very interesting because it might show music crosses borderlines.

A: I see. Now, it is time to finish. See you.


about Matsuri

・Written by Nakanishi Rei
・Composed by Hara Johji a.k.a. Kitajima Saburo
・Performed by Kitajima Saburo
・Published by Nippon Crown
・Released on November 5. 1984






 

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