Ryo Kagawa

Ryō Kagawa
Born (1947-11-21)November 21, 1947
Hikone, Shiga, Japan
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active 1970–present
Website http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~twins/

Ryo Kagawa (加川 良 Kagawa Ryō, born on November 21, 1947 in Hikone, Japan) is a Japanese folk singer and singer-songwriter. Kagawa is known as a central figure in the Kansai folk-music boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Japan,[1][2] and was a key influence on the early musical development of such major Japanese artists as Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi.[3]

Life and career

Kagawa was born in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan anchored by the major centers of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. As a student at Kyoto Sangyo University, Kagawa was active in the school's popular music club, singing in Beatles and Rolling Stones cover bands.[4] At the start of the 1970s, Kagawa was employed with Art Music Publishers, which handled copyright matters for the Underground Record Club (URC), a record label and distribution company that played a central role in the Kansai folk music boom of the late-1960s and early 1970s.[5] While working with URC, Kagawa developed a relationship with prominent Kansai folk artist Wataru Takada, and, influenced by Takada and other artists such as Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Hiroshi Iwai, Nobuyasu Okabayashi, and others, Kagawa began singing and composing folk himself.[6] In 1970 he put in an unscheduled appearance at the 2nd Nakatsugawa Folk Jamboree, where he debuted the anti-war anthem "Kyokun I" ["Lesson I"] that catapulted him into folk's mainstream. "Kyokun I" would become Kagawa's signature song, and would go on to form the basis for "parody" tunes such as Kenichi Nagira's "Kyokun II" ["Lesson II"] and Kan Mikami's "Kyokun No. 110" ["Lesson No. 110"].

Kagawa made his official record debut from the URC label in 1971 with the release of his album Kyokun [Lessons], and would follow this with 1972's Shin'ai naru Q ni sasagu [Dedicated to My Dear Q] and the live album Yaa [Hey], which he recorded with Nakagawa Isato in 1973. In addition, folk superstar Takuro Yoshida's 1972 album Genki desu [I'm Fine] featured the song "Kagawa Ryo no tegami" ["A Letter From Kagawa Ryo"], which featured music by Yoshida and lyrics by Kagawa.

In 1974, Kagawa released the album Out of Mind through the Bellwood Records label (ja:ベルウッド・レコード). In 1975, he appeared in the musical Juugatsu ha tasogare no kuni [October, Land of Twilight], produced by musical theatre troupe Tokyo Kid Brothers, composing the music for the production and serving as its sound producer. The same year, he would participate in the recording of Nakagawa Isato's omnibus live album Hanauta to otsuki-san [Hummed Tunes and Mister Moon] with fellow artists Ito Takao, Otsuka Masaji, Kanamori Kosuke, Shiba, Nishioka Kyozo and Osada 'Taco' Kazuyoshi in Kobe. Kagawa would follow these projects with the albums Minami-yuki no haiuei [Southbound Highway], which he recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1976, and Komazawa atari de [Somewhere Around Komazawa], which he recorded with rock band Lazy Hip in 1978. In the 1990s, Kagawa would go on to record more albums, including One (1991) and 2 (1993). Over a four-decade career, Kagawa's eclectic musical style has incorporated elements of folk, rock, and pop; in an interview with the Asahi Newspaper in 2001, the artist expressed a hope that he "might find my own music by the time I reach 120 years of age or so."[7]

Political stance

Despite the artist's roots in Japan's protest folk movement and the highly critical, anti-war sentiment underpinning his signature "Kyokun I," Kagawa has claimed in published interviews to be largely ignorant of "politics."[8] However, he has stated that he senses an ongoing need for politically critical voices in contemporary Japan, and has vowed to continue performing "Kyokun I" "until I die."[9] Kagawa urges anti-patriotism rather than blind faith in the state, and the lyrics of "Kyokun I" call for individuals to reject state demands to sacrifice oneself in war. Kagawa has also noted with unease what he sees as a trend toward emphases on patriotism in Japan in recent years, and suggests that this is precisely the time at which anti-patriotic voices need to be heard. Nonetheless, he advocates a constructive approach that involves rewiring nationalism in order to build a country in which "everyone accepts one another, everyone is loved. That's what a truly 'beautiful country' means to me."[10]

Discography

Singles

References

  1. ↑ Teruyoshi Tanada and Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, Fōku song no keitaiso bunseki: Kansai fōku to in fōku no hikaku [An analysis of folk music morphemes: comparing Kansai folk with standard folk], Jissen Women's University. Accessed online at http://ci.nii.ac.jp/els/110008735845.pdf?id=ART0009813360&type=pdf&lang=en&host=cinii&order_no=&ppv_type=0&lang_sw=&no=1464533881&cp=.
  2. ↑ Mamoru Tōya, review of Kenichi Nagira, "Nihon fōku shiteki kaizen" ["A private encyclopedia of Japanese folk"],in Popyurā ongaku kenkyū [Popular music studies], Vol. 3, 1999. Accessed online at https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jaspmpms1997/3/0/3_0_24/_pdf.
  3. ↑ "Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi: Minshū no ikari to inori no uta" ["Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi: songs of the fury and prayer of the people"], Bungei Bessatsu [Special Edition] (Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2015).
  4. ↑ Kyoto Shinbun [Kyoto Newspaper], evening edition, December 16, 2015, page 2.
  5. ↑ James Dorsey, "Breaking Records: Media, Censorship, and the Folk Song Movement of Japan's 1960s," in Asian Popular Culture: New, Hybrid, and Alternate Media, ed. by John A. Lent and Lorna Fitzsimmons (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013), pgs. 79–107.
  6. ↑ Kyoto Shinbun [The Kyoto Newspaper], evening edition, December 16, 2015, page 2.
  7. ↑ Asahi Shinbun [Asahi Newspaper], November 25, 2001, Osaka edition, page 30.
  8. ↑ Tokyo Shinbun [Tokyo Newspaper], special report, Hikokumin no seishin: fōku singā Kagawa Ryo [The spirit of an anti-patriot: folk singer Kagawa Ryo], January 10, 2007. This article also appeared in the Hokuriku Chunichi Shinbun [Hokuriku Chunichi Newspaper] on the same day.
  9. ↑ Tokyo Shinbun [Tokyo Newspaper], special report, Hikokumin no seishin: fōku singā Kagawa Ryo [The spirit of an anti-patriot: folk singer Kagawa Ryo], January 10, 2007.
  10. ↑ Tokyo Shinbun [Tokyo Newspaper], special report, Hikokumin no seishin: fōku singā Kagawa Ryo [The spirit of an anti-patriot: folk singer Kagawa Ryo], January 10, 2007.
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