I just had to post this.
It’s soooo cool.
This is Jero. An African American kid from Pittsburg that is tearing up the Japanese enka charts. First off, enka is a very traditional form of Japanese music. Very melodramatic with a distinct style that became popular post war. Even I know a few of the songs due to my parent’s influence and my sister LOVES some of the songs as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enka
This kid though, is just amazing. His voice is perfect for this type of music. His grandmother was Japanese and he was influenced by her and her love of enka and so a few years ago he moved to Japan to study this type of singing and started entering contests. I remember seeing an interview with him on TV this past trip and he finally released his first single. But holy crap…it tore through the charts and is either #1 or #2 on the Oricon charts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oricon). Totally rare for a foreigner and utterly unheard of for someone that’s not Asian.
I think this is fantastic. Japan, as many people criticize, LOOOVES foreigners but only when they visit… We are a mono-race culture on an island…so the term “racist” gets tossed around a lot when people talk about the negative side of Japan. But this is proof that you can break through that. Sure, the first single might be bought out of curiosity but his voice is real!!
As proof here is one if his earliest debut on Japanese TV.
He’s not reading the prompter (the words are there for the viewers) and he is spot on. The song he sings at the end (after you get past the talking parts that only a few of you will understand) is a very very VERY famous song called “Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyugeshiki” which sings about the meloncholy view of the winter sea in Hokkaido (I too know the song! Get me drunk enough and I may sing it for you someday….really really drunk…) and he does is amazingly well.
Rock on Jero. Good to see someone totally breaking the mold and taking enka to the next level!!
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