SaburÅ Kitajima (å島 ä¸é, Kitajima SaburÅ, born October 4, 1936) is a well-known Japanese enka singer, lyricist and composer.
He was born Minoru Åno (大é ç©£), in a little town in HokkaidÅ to a fisherman. He was very poor because of the effects of World War II, and he was forced to work while he studied.
When he was about to graduate from high school, he decided to become a singer. His debut single was called "Bungacha-Bushi," which was released in 1962.
He has many famous songs, including "Namida Bune" (1962), "KyÅdai Jingi" (1965), "Yosaku" (1978) and "Kita no RyÅba" (1986). His 1965 song "Kaerokana" was written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. He is very popular in Japan partly due to his looks of a physical laborer, and he mostly sings in the spirit of Japan's working class and rural laborers.
Kitajima regularly appeared on KÅhaku Uta Gassen, an annual end-of-year TV program where many major Japanese singers gather to perform, before announcing his retirement from the show in 2013. He participated a record 50 times, was the "anchor" (final solo performer) 13 times and led the grand finale 11 times.
Kitajima released single "FÅ«fu IsshÅ" (夫婦ä¸ç", lit. "Couple in a Lifetime") on January 1, 2010 at the age of 73. It debuted at No. 10 on the Japanese Oricon weekly single charts. It became the first single to reach Top 10 by a solo artist in his 70s in Oricon charts history.
Although Enka is becoming less popular with the younger generation, he is still Japan's most famous singer. He does a lot of concerts overseas as well, and he is contributing a lot of work to the culture of Japanese music.
In addition to his singing career, Kitajima acted in the role of TatsugorÅ on the television series AbarenbÅ ShÅgun. During the quarter-century life of the series, he also sang its theme songs.
References
- ^ "Profile: Saburo Kitajima" (in Japanese). Kitajima Music Office. Retrieved 2010-01-15.Â
- ^ Daisuke Kikuchi (2014-12-30). "âKohakuâ rallies the J-pop acts, but donât count enka out just yet". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2015-01-02.Â
- ^ "å島ä¸éã73æ³3ãæãã§æå¹´é·TOP10å ¥ãã19å¹´ã¶ãã«æ´ä»£è¨é²æã" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2010-01-12. Retrieved 2010-01-12.Â
External links
- Official homepage (Japanese)