ひばりの佐渡情話・哀愁波止場・哀愁出船
As a result of the Funamura's "war" against Hibari, he wrote Hibari n
ひばりの佐渡情話・哀愁波止場・哀愁出船
As a result of the Funamura's "war" against Hibari, he wrote Hibari no Sado Jouwa. This songs difficulty is that the first note to the singer is G and de second one is G again but in a higher octave, then a descendant and ascendant scale ending in C. At first Hibari sung this song such as it was in the score but after her divorce, aware then of Funamura's thoughts, she made some changes to this song singing G G higher G and added a lot of grupettos (kobushi) of her own here and there and, of course, that extremely self-hurting and painful way of singing before arriving to the C.
These three songs made more than clear that Hibari was not a child anymore. She was at the peak of her career surviving among hundreds of child and teenager stars. She was in rout of becoming the Queen of Japanese popular music, though once, when she was called "Her Majesty" on a TV show she answered: "You are wrong. I'm the daughter of a fish-monger."
THE LEGEND OF SADO OF THE SKYLARK
Why did the island girl cry while she picked up the lilies that blossom (grow) between the rocks being slashed by the wild waves of Sado? Why did she cry?
She said: "Because love is bitter" and cried.
(Even the gulls chased by the waves, when they fell in love fly two by two (in pairs). Why did the island girl cry watching the open sea? Why did she cry?
She said: "There´s a person I can't meet with" and cried.)
There is an isolated island all alone at a distance of 49 RI (one RI=3927mts) in the violent sea of Sado.
Why did the island girl cry holding her kimono´s long sleeve? Why did she cry?
She said: "Because I'm lonely (alone) too" and cried.
*I want to thank my friend chumu04chumu13 who helped me with the translation of this song.
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黄昏
THE DUSK
When Hibari decided to accept the invitation to sing at the Tokyo Stadium,
黄昏
THE DUSK
When Hibari decided to accept the invitation to sing at the Tokyo Stadium, she was still very weak but she said then: "I want to show my fans that I can walk". So she suggested the construction of a 花道 (Hanamichi- a road o flowers, a long platform used in Japanese traditional theaters. It is the road from where actors came on to scene). This Hanamichi was hidden during the whole concert and only appeared at the end of it after Hibari sung Jinsei Ichiro. It had a length of 100 meters. The previous day, during the rehearsal, though it was calculated that Hibari would walk through this Hanamichi in 2 minutes, it took to her more than five minutes so they had to make an arrangement of the song in order to adapt it to Hibari's speed of walking. We can see her expression of pain at some times but hiding it at once with a smile. We can also see that Hibari is wearing red soft slippers and not shoes. At the beginning of the video it can be appreciated the shadow of a person running in the left side of the screen along the Hanamichi. That's Kazuya, Hibari's adopted son (nephew) who ran in order to be at time of holding Hibari in his arms when she almost collapsed at the end of the Hanamichi. The song was composed specially for this concert. The lyrics are from the author of Kawano nagare no youni.
黄昏
秋元 康作詞/見岳 章作曲
歌って 不死鳥
愛のその歌を
歌って 不死鳥
いのちの限り 聴かせて
永遠に・・・
人生という 旅路を
立ち止まることなく
いくつもの 峠を越えて
ここまで来たけれど
ふと 路傍の 石に腰かけて
ああ 息をつく この瞬間に
振り向けば 黄昏
もういちど 不死鳥
夢は終わらない
もういちど 不死鳥
両手をそっと広げて 空へ
もういちど 不死鳥
夢は終わらない
もういちど 不死鳥
両手をそっと広げて 空へ
Sing, immortal bird, the songs of love.
Sing, immortal bird, let me hear them while there is life, for ever...
I came to this place across so many mountains (mountain passes).
When all of a sudden I sit in a rock by the side of the road,
At the moment I breath I look back and there's (I see) the dusk.
Once more, immortal bird,
The dream won't be over (still don't finish),
Once more, immortal bird,
Spread your arms sweetly to the sky,
Misora Hibari, Japanese singer (May 29, 1937 - June 24, 1989)
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哀愁波止場 Aishuu Hatoba.
1971/1/2
Hibari and her mother were so similar to each other, that
哀愁波止場 Aishuu Hatoba.
1971/1/2
Hibari and her mother were so similar to each other, that they were called twins many times. They even said that there was a kind of telepathy between them. Kimie, Hibari's mother, created the image of an always present companion to Hibari, who was always there to protect her, but the truth is that she leaved her alone many times creating in Hibari a very deep feeling of loneliness. The best example of this is the story behind this song.
The author of the lyrics is Ishimoto Miyuki (aslo author of the lyrics of Kanashii sake); the music was composed by Funamura Touru. Funamura has a formal education as a musician; he has a University degree as a pianist. When he was asked to give one of his songs to Hibari he felt offended because he considered that Hibari's music was cheap and vulgar. But, he said once, that he was surprised of the way Hibari sung his song (I think it was "Hatoba dayo, ototsuan"), so he declared war against her within his heart. He decided to make the songs so difficult to sing that not even Hibari were capable to sing them. This song's main difficulty is that the first tone is Hibari's highest tone. This is a very difficult thing to do even to an opera singer. Hibari, not knowing this, in a naïve way, she arrived at the studio and proceeded to the recording in the usual way. They give her the music sheet of the song, someone played the melody for her on the piano, the second time, she sung the song in a very small voice, the third time at full voice and the final version was ready after only 15 or 20 minutes. Hibari liked so much this song that she asked them to make a copy of the record to her because she wanted her mother to hear the song at once, that same night. She was sure her mother would love it as much as she did. But, a few days latter, Kimie called the Columbia Records director. She was furious. She yelled to him: "Who is making my daughter to sing like a hen to which they are strangling?" She wanted to stop the release of the single but fortunately she couldn't. The song sold more than 700,000 copies becoming the biggest hit to Hibari to that time after Ringo oiwake. Kimie accepted, after this, that she knew nothing about music. Kimie said many times that she was Misora Hibari No. 1 fan, but perhaps she wasn´t.
It was the year of 1960. Hibari was 23.
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The Tokyo Kid sings Kanashiki kuchibue.
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Many things have being told about Hibari's origin. In the year of 1976, (a year before the
Many things have being told about Hibari's origin. In the year of 1976, (a year before the boycott against her ended), she wrote and recorded this song that talks about herself. She published this song with her real name, Kazue Katou. With this song, Hibari made more than clear she was Japanese. I think we all should respect Hibari's own words.
THE SONG OF THE WEED
1. Is there someone who can understand (know) these tears (emerged) from all I had to endure since I was born to this day?I became a strong, strong woman as strong as the weed that grows by the side of the row surviving no matter that all the time is trodden down.
2. "One may not wither without blooming"、I scold (lash) myself in this way. I became a strong, strong woman as strong as the weed that grows by the side of the row
surviving in this bitter world.
3. Inside this body of mine, flows the ancient (old) blood that had its birth in Japan. Human beings such as we, have became very few up to this day, and only Otento-sama* shines (kindly) on me.
4. I became a strong, strong woman
as strong as the weed that grows by the side of the row surviving in this bitter world.
*NOTE- In a very, very free translation, we can interpret the word Otento-sama (the honorable Mr. Heaven), as the "God/Sun" of the Shinto religion, that gave birth to the Japan islands and Japan's first emperor. In accord of some books, it would be the same one that shines right in the middle of Japan's flag. As we can see, Hibari's song is very simple but with a very deep meaning.
雑草の歌 （歌詞・加藤和枝 作曲・遠藤実）
生まれて今日まで 耐えてきた
こんな涙を 誰が知る
踏まれながらに 生き抜いて
路ばたにはえる 草のよな
強い 強い 女になりました
咲かずに散っては いけないと
そんな自分に むちを打つ
辛いこの世を 生き抜いて
路ばたにはえる 草のよな
強い 強い 女になりました
私のこの体の中には
日本に生まれた古い血が流れています
そんな人間の少なくなった今日までも
おてんと様だけは
私をてらしてくれました
辛いこの世を 生き抜いて
路ばたにはえる 草のよな
強い 強い 女になりました
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Misora Hibari/ 美空ひばり。
Take the "A" train.
Billy Strayhorn
Org. Duke Ellington and his b
Misora Hibari/ 美空ひばり。
Take the "A" train.
Billy Strayhorn
Org. Duke Ellington and his band.
After their stay and great success in Hawaii, Hibari, Kawata and their companions moved to San Francisco. Unfortunately they met here with a very sad reality, discrimination. Being Japanese they were given mainly Chinese food and they rejected from many places by the message: Not yellows allowed. Only five years have passed after the end of the War. Definitively talking about Misora Hibari is talking about History. In that time Japanese were not allowed to leave the country and they received a special pass singed personally by McArthur. Kawata's diary is filled with bitter words when referring to this part of the trip. In Hawaii they were welcomed by all the Japanese and they had a daily amount of money for their expenses, but in San Francisco and the rest of the places they visited, they hardly received this economic help. As a result the most of the times they had to work without having their meals. Needless to say that the one who was suffering the most because of this situation was our little Hibari. But, to everybody's surprise, was always Hibari the one who was encouraging all in the hardest times. When they were flying in a 5 hour long trip to Portland, when every body was tired, Hibari put on the "Air girl's" hat and began to distribute chewing gum and smiles to everybody in the plane cheering them up.
Things went worst day by day. In Washington the hotel was so dirty that Hibari and her mother cried bitterly. The bands that accompanied were very bad and although they have the chance of singing in a lot of places, these weren't at all the ideal places to sing and they were almost empaty. Yet, Hibari was singing with all her heart where ever they went. Then they were invited to appear in TV. This was the very first time they saw a TV, they swatched a TV show and, the best of all, this was the very first time they appeared on TV even when there wasn't TV in Japan. It was only a 5 minutes appearance but they were happy enough.
In Los Angeles everything changed for the best. They had the chance of meeting Bob Hope and Margaret O'brien among many others. They finally had the chance of eating Japanese food and they played with a very good band. The trip was filled with hardships but they appeared again on the TV news. Thanks to this a lot of people went to hear them. One of the last notes Kawata did in his diary of those days was: I wish I could have more time to stay in the USA and learn a lot more.
When returning to Japan they were received as the big stars they have become with this trip. Kawata began to talk about the difficult times they had. He talked about how one day they were told they should wait for the "jail" to come for them to take them to the place were they were going to sing. When they heard the word "jail" they though it was a joke, but it wasn't. The car was a van that it was used to transport prisoners. It was called the Monkey's car. In that ocassion Hibari didn't say anything, but once the trip was ended and she heard the tale concerning to her self from Kawata's lips telling it to others; she began to cry helplessly making everybody cry with her.
Hibari always said that the Hawaii (USA) trip was of a great value in her life and career. That she understood who Misora Hibari might be during this trip. She never mentioned about the discriminations or hardships, nor in her diary or in her two books of memories. There's no doubt that the 12 year old child who arrived to Hawaii holding her favorite doll, changed during this trip becoming the great Misora Hibari, though she was only 13 years old when she went back to Japan.
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みだれ髪 美空ひばり Misora Hibari
A few comments about this song:
In 1986 Hibari recorded the
みだれ髪 美空ひばり Misora Hibari
A few comments about this song:
In 1986 Hibari recorded the now so loved Ai sansan, but we must remember that to Hibari this was her biggest failure as a singer. The melody and rhythm was too modern for her traditional fans and her voice was too old for the new generation. The record sold less than 20, 000 copies. The once called "Baby Shizuko", "the Genius Girl", "The Princess of the song", "The Queen of popular song" and finally "The Queen of enka", was not capable of selling more than 20,000 copies of a single, being that she once sold 1,800,000 copies of Yawara (1964), 1,450,000 of Kanashii Sake (1966) and 1,400,000 of Makkana Taiyou (1967). To Hibari's detractors was clear that Hibari was nothing without her mother who died in 1981. Hibari, feeling that her fans had already forgotten her, she decided to do something different, she, the one who many times said that the most important thing in her life were her fans, decided to sing opera, regardless her fans or spetialists critics. I comment this because even nowadays there's still the idea that Midari gami became a hit because Hibari's fans pitied her, but I think this is quite wrong. Hibari's success as an opera singer was so great that immediately emerged three big proposals of work. The first one, was to be the leading role of a Japanese modern version of Bizet's "Carmen". The second one was to be the very first Japanese singer to sing in Japanese in South Korea. We must to remember that in South Korea was forbidden to sing in Japanese to that time. A rich Korean business man was looking for the best person to be this one. He thought first of a lot of Japanese young male singers, but hearing about Hibari's new face as opera singer he made her an invitation to sing in South Korea. This event would be the opening to the previous celebrations to the Soul Olympic Games. In other words, in a bit different field, this would Hibari's great come hack. This was when Hibari said that she would be delighted of singing in Korea (just as she did in the USA, Brazil and China). Sadly she was hospitalized. The third proposal came little after this. They wanted her to sing at the Tokyo Dome.
She was told that she should be 8 months in hospital but she leaved it in only 4 months. She was a whole month in her own house in the same conditions as in hospital. The first time she appeared in public was in the occasion of the Midare Gami recording.
The author of the lyrics is Hoshino Tetsurou. He was asked for a song for Hibari even before Hibari was hospitalized but time passed and nothing occurred to his mind. Finally he went to Shioyasaki (Fukushima-ken,Iwak-shi) , were Hibari was hospitalized by that time. He says that seeing the old Shioyasaki lighthouse, he thought Hibari was just like that lighthouse, completely alone, with nothing but darkness in her life, giving light to others. (To that time Hibari's parents, Hibari's teacher Haruhisa Kawata, Hibari's two young brothers and Hibari's half sister, had all died.) That's why he included in the last phrase of the song the words: ひとりぽっちに しないでおくれ。 Please, don't leave me alone.
The music of the song was in charge of Funamura Touru, who at first didn't liked Hibari's singing and he said once he felt offended the very first time he was asked to give one of his songs to her. They say that when Hibari first had the Midari Gami music sheet in her hands, she read it carefully in silence and then said- "This is a song for me, not like THAT one", obviously referring to Ai sansan.
Hibari arrived that day to the Studio 1 in Columbia Records Japan, were she recorded most of her songs since she was a child. The orchestra made a very long rehearsal of the song and Hibari listened patently to this. Then, the orchestra took a brake. Hibari sung almost in a whisper the song accompanied by Funamura at the piano, and then again with her full voice. Then, the orchestra came back and there was a rehearsal of the full song, this time with Hibari' voice. At the beginning of this video Hibari appears singing this song dressed in a grey suit with a false pearls necktie. Those are images of that rehearsal. The orchestra director is Funamura. All the media was allowed to be there at that time but before the real recording, they were asked to leave the studio. It was needed only one take for getting the final recording. Hibari, Funamura and all the orchestra members were giving their best.
But Hibari was still very ill and after this she spent again a whole month in rest. Then the requests for singing at the Tokyo Dome and for playing Carmen, came again. Hibari decided to accept first the Tokyo Dome offer. She wanted to be close to her fans that finally had returned to her. The chance for playing Carmen never came, but she left for us this beautiful song.
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