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

In 1907, the year of Noriko Awatani's birth, Japan was trying to establish itself as a modern nation by promoting imperialism with the aspiration of becoming a wealthy country with a strong military, while the gap between urban and rural areas was widening. She was born into the family of the wealthy Aomori merchant "Daigo Awaya," but when she was only three years old, the family was destroyed by a great fire. She moved to Tokyo with her mother and sister and eventually entered the Toyo School of Music, graduating at the top of her class while working as a nude model. Her music teacher praised her as "one of the best sopranos of the decade.

However, it was a time of social prejudice for women to become independent musicians. In the early Showa period (1926-1989), radio broadcasting and record culture began in Japan, and the appreciation of music by the general public was budding, but classical music remained the "orthodox" music, and "foreign" music such as blues and jazz were neglected.

She left the classical music path herself and began singing as an attraction singer at a movie theater in Asakusa. This was a choice that could be seen as corrupt according to the common sense of the time. In 1937, she became a top star with "Farewell Blues" composed by Ryoichi Hattori with lyrics by Kou Fujiura. Although she was a soprano, her low-pitched, whispery voice took the world by surprise. Her singing style, in which she sang into the microphone after her voice had been silenced by heavy drinking and smoking, had a great influence on later blues singers.

When the Sino-Japanese War broke out and blues music was censored as "enemy music," she donned a dress and went to the war zone to sing "Farewell Blues. The soldiers were deeply moved by her singing "Farewell Blues," but this was not a national policy. However, this was not a national policy of cooperation, but rather an act of risking her "dignity as a woman.

After the war, jazz and blues music were reevaluated, and she also made a comeback. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, she was quick to criticize young singers who had become stars without vocal training, saying, "They are not singers. Hibari Misora, Haruo Sanba, and others were also labeled as "singers.

At the same time, however, he lavished praise on those with talent. In his later years, he added Mayumi Gotowa's "Koibito yo" to his repertoire and sang it with all his heart. His rigorous self-discipline is reflected in the anecdote that he never missed a single day of daily vocal practice.

In 1993, she suffered a stroke and left the stage. However, in 1996, at a concert held to commemorate his 88th birthday, he gave "Farewell Blues" to Shinichi Mori and "Ame no Blues" to Kenichi Mikawa as a "memento," demonstrating his will to pass on his songs from one generation to the next.

She passed away in 1999 at the age of 92. She was the first woman to be made an honorary citizen of Aomori City. --Her "blues that floats like a whisper through the smoke" was the very shadow of the Showa era. She was not just a singer, but a "solitary expressive person" who carried the melancholy of the Showa era and the pride of women in her voice.