浅川マキ

I feel like posting, but I have nothing to post about in particular, so I am going to post about the artist who is my most played during the past week.



Asakawa Maki (浅川マキ) was a Japanese jazz and blues singer who was active from 1967 until she died in 2010. She has the perfect voice for dimly-lit, smoky bars--deep and husky. It's hard to say what her style is, because it varies from groovy, to more straight-up jazz, to blues so steeped in old fashioned sleaze that you expect a jaded private detective to step out of the shadows at any moment.

Here she is covering "House of the Rising Sun":

I prefer her earlier recordings for the most part. Here are a few of my favorites, including the above song.

夜が明けたら / Yo ga Aketara / When Dawn Breaks
ちっちゃな時から / Chicchana Toki Kara / Since I was Little
朝日のあたる家 / Asahi no Ataru Ie / House of the Rising Sun
ゴビンダ / Govinda
セント・ジェームス病院 / Saint James Infirmary
ちょっと長い関係のブルース / Chotto Nagai Kankei no Blues / Kinda Long Relationship Blues
あの男(ひと)が死んだら / Ano Hito ga Shindara / If He Dies
眠るのがこわい / Nemuruno ga Kowai / Scared to Sleep

Thank sudaki for translating the song titles so you don't have to deal with my terrible terrible attempts.