Top 3 Enka Songs (Japanese Blues) (Notes from Under the Tatami Mats–67 … My Adventures in Japan)

"Enka" is Japanese music, and it is indeed blue. Very blue.

“Enka” is sometimes referred to as Japanese blues music.

When I first heard that, my response was simply, “What nonsense! That aint blues. The blues are American. Enka songs are nothing more than maudlin, sentimental ballads.”    

Bluer than blue

But over time, I came to realize that the characterization is entirely appropriate. Granted, enka is not like American blues, but it is Japanese, and it is indeed blue. Very blue.    

Enka is typically about lost love, lost hopes and dreams, lost lives. Consequently, it’s often as blue as the blues, and sometimes even bluer.

If it’s raw, it’s sushi … and blue

And for those who still refuse to admit that enka is blues music, here’s a cultural bias for you.

Throughout the US, Canada, and beyond, you can find so-called “sushi” restaurants that produce items such as “California rolls” and other strange concoctions that are purported to be sushi. Most of those western foods aint sushi.      

To be clear … the connection between enka and the blues is closer and truer than any purported connection between real sushi and California rolls.     _{(Image source)}

Links to above songs

      _{(right-click on titles to hear on YouTube)}

   Gen Takayama – "Kokoro Korasete"  
   Hibari Misora – "Kawa No Nagare No Yo Ni"  
    (bonus track) Placido Domingo – "Kawa No Nagare No Yo Ni"  
   Jiro Atsumi – "Yume-Oi Zake"  
    (bonus track) Keiko Fuji – "Onna No Blues"  

   Introduction to – “Notes from Under the Tatami Mats”  _{(right-click on title)}

Top 4 Alternative, Trad-Rad Music

Top 3 Concerts

Top 3 in-Bar Live Music

... and more

Links to my Other Series …

      Introduction – "Intro to Vocab-ability"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Guide – "Guide to Entries"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Index– "Index" to all Chapters and Sections   _{(right-click on title)}

      Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 1"   _{(right-click on title)}
      Lou Reed – "Anthology of Memorable Lyrics, Part 2"   _{(right-click on title)
Images sourced from Google Images, unless otherwise indicated or unless my own.}