The Prophet in Black: Maki Asakawa and the Shadow of the 1970s Singing of Solitude

The Prophet in Black: Maki Asakawa and the Shadow of the 1970s Singing of Solitude

In the 1970s, there was a singer who sang about the loneliness and anger that sank into people's hearts behind the glitz and glamour of television. With her black costume and quiet music based on jazz and blues, Maki Asakawa turned her back on the clamor of the times and confronted the shadowy presence that inhabited the city.

She was angered by a magazine article in which it was claimed that she "hated the Kohaku Uta Gassen," a gomazari (a song contest in which the participants are asked to perform a song they have never heard of). She was also linked to the "Tears of Ignorance" performance, even though she did not mention the Norio Nagayama incident in the article.

Even so, she did not voice her anger, but remained silent on stage and defied the media with her music. She kept her distance from show business, which competed for showiness, and continued to sing as if she were gouging out the desolation of the city and the sorrows of women. The presence of Maki Asakawa's black melodies illuminated another side of Japan that was obscured by the popular culture of the time.