Songs in Black--Maki Asakawa and Music in the Shadows of the 1970s (1970s)

Songs in Black--Maki Asakawa and Music in the Shadows of the 1970s (1970s)

In the 1970s, Japanese society was in the throes of rapid economic growth, while young people were acutely aware of the emptiness and alienation that lurked in material wealth. In such an era, Maki Asakawa's music quietly but powerfully shook people's hearts.

Her songs were filled with the loneliness of street corners, the trembling of lonely souls, and inexpressible anger. But these expressions were often misunderstood and twisted by the media. For example, one reporter wrote as if she had said, "I hate the Kohaku Uta Gassen," but she never actually said such words.

Also, in connection with the Norio Nagayama incident, it was once written that she "tried to make his heart understood on stage at a concert with the theme of 'Tears of Ignorance. In reality, however, she did not even mention Nagayama at the time of that interview, and she later testified that she herself felt a strong sense of discomfort when she saw the article.

Maki Asakawa calmly accepted the damage caused by such media coverage as "the fate of those who live by music," but tried to maintain a careful distance between art and the public. Her all-black costumes, silent MC, and musical style based on jazz and blues were distinctly different from the glamorous TV productions and idol culture.

During this period, folk and rock music carried the embers of the student movement and spoke of freedom and rebellion, but Maki Asakawa's music was different from these and spoke of a deeper, more submerged layer: urban loneliness, female sorrow, and love that no one can reach. --in her music.

Maki Asakawa was one of those rare individuals who, while turning her back on the mainstream of the times, took on its shadows. Her silence and anger were the condensed sound of the excessive and unstable atmosphere of the 1970s, and its lingering echoes still ring deep in our ears.