Blues is not a Lament: Noriko Awatani's Resistance and Pride" - Prewar to Postwar Showa Period

Blues is not a Lament: Noriko Awatani's Resistance and Pride" - Prewar to Postwar Showa Period

Noriko Awatani was born in 1907 to a wealthy merchant in Aomori, but when her family was destroyed by a large fire, she moved to Tokyo with her mother and sister. After graduating at the top of her class from the Toyo Music School, she was originally a soprano classical singer, but began singing at a movie theater in Asakusa and became a top star with "Farewell Blues" in 1937. Her low-pitched, whispery singing style opened up new horizons in Japanese song.

During the Sino-Japanese War, blues music was considered "enemy music," but she went to the South in a dress and impressed the soldiers. After the war, while jazz and blues music were making a comeback, she was known for her strict artistic stance and harshly criticized young singers such as Hibari Misora as "uta-ya" (singer). However, he recognized talent and added Mayumi Itowa's "Koibito yo" to his repertoire.

She collapsed in 1993 and died in 1999. She became the first woman to become an honorary citizen of Aomori City. In her life, Awatani embodied classical and popular music, war and art, female pride and blues melancholy, and was a solitary diva.