The Original Female Singers - Misao Matsubara and "Miss Columbia" 1930s-1980s

The Original Female Singers - Misao Matsubara and "Miss Columbia" 1930s-1980s

Misao Matsubara, born in 1914, was a female singer who was active for a long time before and after World War II. Known affectionately as "Miss Columbia," Misao Matsubara was a pioneer in the field of female singers with her well-groomed appearance and clear voice. Her representative work from the early Showa period, "365 Nights," a song about a woman waiting for her lover, penetrated deeply into the hearts of the common people through her melancholy yet elegant singing. In prewar Japan, urbanization and modern culture were spreading, and records and radios were entering the home, and this work strongly reflected the atmosphere of the times.

Matsubara was also known for songs such as "Samurai Nippon" and "Junjo Nijyuso," which paved the way for female singers to gain popularity on par with their male counterparts. During the war, she was forced to sing songs in line with national policy and responded to the demands of the state by engaging in consolatory activities, a fate that many entertainers of the time could not avoid. After the war, she once again became a signature singer for record companies and maintained a steady popularity.

While her contemporary Noriko Awatani became the queen of blues with "Farewell Blues" and Hamako Watanabe brought exoticism to the fore with "Shina no Yoru," Matsubara was regarded as an orthodox singer who made the most of her pure and neat voice. Her appearance as a "singer who can be listened to at ease" blended into the lives of ordinary people, and she was accepted by a wide range of generations before and after World War II.

Although she died in 1987, her life embodied the origin of female singers in Japan and symbolizes the history of popular music itself, which moved forward with the times.