Ryūkōka
Ryūkōka (流行歌, literally "Popular Song") is a Japanese musical genre.[1] The term originally denoted any kind of "popular music" in Japanese, and is the sinic reading of hayariuta, used for commercial music of Edo Period.[2] Therefore, imayō, which was promoted by Emperor Go-Shirakawa in the Heian period, was a kind of ryūkōka.[3] Today, however, ryūkōka refers specifically to Japanese popular music from the late 1920s through the early 1960s.[4] Some of the roots of ryūkōka were developed from Western classical music.[5] Ryūkōka ultimately split into two genres: enka and poppusu.[6] Unlike enka, archetypal ryūkōka songs did not use the kobushi method of singing.[7] Ryūkōka used legato. Bin Uehara and Yoshio Tabata are considered to be among the founders of the modern style of kobushi singing.[8]
Many composers and singers of ryūkōka went on to earn official distinctions; Ichiro Fujiyama and composers Masao Koga and Ryoichi Hattori received the People's Honour Award in later years.
Although enka branched off from ryūkōka, many singers of the latter genre proclaimed strong disdain for its stylistic descendant. In a 1981 interview, Noriko Awaya said "Whenever I hear enka, I have to get away from the music because I feel like vomiting."[9][fn 1]
Legacy[edit]
A part of Ryoichi Hattori's Western-style music during that period remained in Western-style classical music of Japan and was transvalued in 2000s.[48] His tribute album was released on October 17, 2007.[49] Various musicians such as Hideaki Tokunaga (for "Wakare no Blues"), Kazumasa Oda (for "Suzhou Nocturne"), Masaharu Fukuyama (for "Tokyo Boogie-woogie") and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (for "Aoi Sanmyaku") took part in the album. The tribute album debuted at the number-ten position on the Japanese Oricon weekly album charts.[50]