Shinichi Iwahashi came over for a visit, but Sakai Masatori grabbed him and asked him questions.
However, he didn't mind being led by this veteran producer at all. Or should I say, this was the result of his acquiescence.
Within the scope of tacit consent, Masato Sakai and I exchanged opinions by discussing enka singers and idols who are about to debut, and at the same time, we also got to know each other about their respective working styles.
Now is the "testing" stage before talking about the main topic.
Sakai Masatoshi is also an interesting person. He is not the kind of person who sits there and chats seriously. He is a bit chatty and talks about whatever comes to mind.
Shinichi Iwahashi felt confident, so he waited patiently for Sakai Masatoshi to rummage around. He took the piece of paper he handed over, and there were many names listed in a mess on the paper.
Harumi Mizumi, Yoko Kishi, Aki Yashiro... the names of well-known female enka singers were written on the paper. In addition, there are also some female names that look quite dignified and classical, such as Kiyoko, Masako and so on.
.
"They are all representative enka singers."
Iwahashi Shinichi's eyes fell on the name "Yashiro Aki" and he casually mentioned, "Yashiro Aki-san is also quite good as a jazz singer."
"Yashiro-san is the master of pop music."
Masatoshi Sakai praised Aki Yashiro, a hexagon warrior in the enka world. Following Shinichi Iwahashi's words, he pointed at Sayuri Ishikawa, "Sayuri is still one of the three girls in Hohi Pro."
The three Hori pro girls are Yamaguchi Momoe, Mori Masako, and Ishikawa Sayuri.
Three people debuted as idols at the same time. Ishikawa Sayuri, who transitioned to singing enka in the middle, is now active, while the other two idols have gotten married and retired.
Masatoshi Sakai is the producer of Momoe Yamaguchi, and he is quite familiar with the other two girls of Hori Pro.
"When I was working as an agent for Mori Shinichi-san, I met Masako-san several times." As for Yamaguchi Momoe, it is really rare to see her. Unless she works as a teacher for her two sons or becomes Miura Yuka's close friend.
Friend, otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to get into her house.
Sakai Masatoshi said casually, "Masuko-chan is still in contact with Momoe. The two of them are similar people. She and Sayuri are not the same person."
Yamaguchi Momoe and Mori Masako either yearned for or chose to get married, retire, and return to their families. Ishikawa Sayuri was just the opposite. In order to avoid getting married and retiring, she specifically chose to marry her agent.
As a result, the relationship with her husband's family became tense after she got married. Her husband, who originally married her because she could continue to sing, changed his mind and persuaded her to go home to be a husband and raise children. They separated for a while, and when Heisei came into this year, in February, Sayuri Ishikawa cut the knot quickly,
Announcement of divorce.
Not only did he get divorced happily, but he also ridiculed himself generously, saying that he was "the first celebrity to get divorced in Heisei." This kind of behavior is quite free and easy.
Moreover, Sayuri Ishikawa was not only unsatisfied with being a housewife, she also took advantage of the bubble era and invested in a karaoke company to make huge profits.
Although he had never met her, after hearing about her deeds, Iwahashi Shinichi first had a clear-minded and calm impression of her.
"Sayuri's life experience is now rich enough. Enka is music that brings joy after hardship. For an enka singer, rich experience is a good thing. Marriage and divorce can make her reach a higher level."
Masatoshi Sakai said, "In the past, singing and enka singers often had the experience of singing in bars and other places and seeing the world. But nowadays, people are forced to sing to make a living, and then they are forced to work in music production stores.
Humanly speaking, this kind of thing will almost never happen again.”
Sakai Masatoshi's words about enka made Iwahashi Shinichi thoughtful.
Singing brings joy out of hardships, so singers with rich life experiences can sing with flavor.
On the contrary, it is the selection of idols. The basic requirement for idols is purity, so the idols are required to be a blank piece of paper when they are discovered. A piece of white paper, and then the adults decide what to put on it.
"I seem to have said before that I have never dealt with a singer like Fujimura."
Sakai Masatoshi mentioned Murase Manami again, "Can Iwahashi-kun see it? Fujimura has a seven-year-old daughter."
"ah."
Iwahashi Shinichi really didn't see it.
Masatoshi Sakai looked at his astonished expression and was quite satisfied, "I was shocked when I found out. Fujimura is now twenty-seven years old. Before his debut, he had been working as a folk singer in Akita Prefecture."
Iwahashi Shinichi was a little puzzled when he received this information.
The Japanese have a strong sense of geographical attachment. In places outside of Tokyo, local TV stations will select and cultivate their own stars, and local people will support them with pride.
A popular singer from Tokyo travels to a certain place, and it happens to coincide with a performance by a popular local singer. There will even be cases where the singer from Tokyo is put aside and fully supports the local singer.
Many celebrities first become household names in the local area, and then go to Beijing to work hard with the support of their hometown elders.
Iwahashi Shinichi was wondering, although Akita is a famous backwater in Japan, Manami Murase has been a folk singer there for so long, and now she has gone to Beijing and her debut has not received any support from the elders in her hometown?
Sakai Masatoshi guessed his thoughts, and his expression showed a bit of weirdness, "Fujimura is somewhat famous in Akita, but it is a bit special."
special?
Sakai Masatoshi told him, "When she was in Akita, she married a local and gave birth to a daughter. She later got divorced... It is not surprising that a divorced single mother wanted to get back together with her. However, after the divorce, the man wanted to get back together with her.
If you refuse, you will commit suicide.”
"..."
She already has a seven-year-old daughter at the age of twenty-seven. Her divorced ex-husband committed suicide after they failed to get back together. She is somewhat of a celebrity in the local area.
Iwahashi Shinichi could almost imagine how people in Akita, a remote country where big news rarely came out, would view her and such a piece of news.
No wonder Masatoshi Sakai said he had never dealt with such a singer.
He was speechless for a moment. While silent, he subconsciously recalled the appearance of Manami Murase that he had just seen.
Probably because of the association he had after hearing this incident, he recalled Manami Murase and felt that there was a subtle calmness about her.
"In a place like Tokyo, committing suicide for love is a trivial matter that will be swept into the trash can in just three days. But in Akita, it is enough for Fujimura to withstand curious eyes from all directions."
Masato Sakai was half joking, half serious when he said, "A man will not easily give up his life for a woman, so once he learned that she had such an experience, she seemed to become mysterious and full of magical charm.
"
Iwahashi Shinichi didn't answer, but he agreed in his heart.
While agreeing, he put together Sakai Masatoshi's words, the production creed that "Enka singers have richer life experiences and better experiences", and Murase Manami's personal experience, thoughtfully.
For a moment of confusion, Sakai Masatoshi dropped the topic and talked about something else, "It's still about Fujimura. It just so happens that I want to invite Iwahashi-kun to take a look."
Masato Sakai pointed to the piece of paper with the name of the enka singer written all over it, "It's about giving her a new stage name."
Shinichi Iwahashi looked at this pile of names, and then imagined the overwhelming sales of Manami Murase and the situation of being sent to Masatoshi Sakai for re-production, and he knew in his mind, "Should we let Fujimura-san change his stage name and start over?"
"That's right." Sakai Masatoshi replied.
It is standard practice in the industry for artists who have failed to debut to change their stage names and come back.
For those who have gained a bit of fame before, there are advantages to keeping their original stage names. However, for a singer like Manami Murase, who has not been found to be such a person, using her success in the past two years, there are disadvantages rather than advantages.
You can change your name and start again, pretending to be a new person.
"Enka singers have several fixed reference patterns when choosing stage names."
For example, if you use the place name of your hometown as your surname, the "Yashiro" in Yatsushiro Aki means Yatsushiro City in your hometown, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Manami Murasee was born in Senhoku County, Akita Prefecture. However, her reputation in her hometown is weird. It is difficult to use a stage name that is based on the place name of her hometown. Mainly because using it will not bring any benefits.
"In addition, there is also the practice of following the seniors who are already well-known in the entertainment industry and naming them after them."
For example, let's take one character from each of the names of four well-known enka singers. In comparison, this approach is more feasible for Manami Murase.
"The stage name should be simple and easy to write, 'Muraze Manami'. Maybe many people will not be able to read it when they see this name."
Rather than asking for Iwahashi Shinichi's opinion, Sakai Masatoshi was asking him to help use the process of elimination to eliminate unworkable names.
In front of him was a piece of paper filled with the names of enka singers. The topic of conversation was the names of enka singers. Shinichi Iwahashi was just right and calmly moved the topic closer to the large-scale project he was planning.
"Planning an album?"
Sakai Masatoshi responded to Iwahashi Shinichi's words while combining names.
Jumping from an enka singer to an idol, and then from an idol back to an enka singer, the two parties have almost finished the "testing" session. Iwahashi Shinichi started to talk about his business, and Sakai Masatoshi also listened carefully.
"It's just an interesting stage right now."
Iwahashi Shinichi told him, "The enka market has been squeezed out by idols, but the idols themselves have also gone downhill, followed closely by the wave of bands."
"The band trend was led by Iwahashi-kun." Masatoshi Sakai smiled and spelled out a name again, "Tachibana Kaori..." He shook his head first, "Sony currently has a 'Kanishika' who debuted a little later than Fujimura.
'Woolen cloth."
Xiangzhi and "香" are both pronounced as "Kaori".
It's not impossible to collide with names, but you can collide with seniors from decades ago, but you can't collide with younger generations.
"Although the edge of idols has weakened, they are still a strong force in the industry. Even if the market share of enka is squeezed out again, it is still the mainstream music form. Although the band is fierce, it cannot dominate the world."
Iwahashi Shinichi pretended that he didn't hear "香西香" and said his own.
"That's right." Sakai Masatoshi nodded, "In the Warring States Period, it happened to be a time of great chaos." He even seriously thought about which forces should correspond.
As long as you can tolerate his unconventional and unconventional style, everything will be fine.
"At this stage, the generational transition has not stopped, but the old style still has a broad audience." Shinichi Iwahashi explained his thoughts, "So, I somewhat came up with the idea of tying these three together."
He pulled out Tsutumi Kyohei's tiger skin and used it as a banner, "I came up with this idea. The source of inspiration was when I visited Tsutsumi Kyohei-san in the past. Kyohei-san mentioned, 'Various music forms are perfectly integrated.
when'."
"Well."
Masatoshi Sakai was about to ask Shinichi Iwahashi about another name he had chosen. When the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back when he heard these words.
"So, we want to make an album with a 'perfect fusion'?" Sakai Masatoshi became interested in this planned album.
"To be precise, it is based on the assumption that we want to create a highly complete and integrated album, and then consider how to collaborate and how to arrange it." Iwahashi Shinichi.
To achieve a large-scale multi-party cooperation project, you cannot just rely on one momentum, but you must first consider the overall situation, and then build on this foundation.
Therefore, Shinichi Iwahashi simply prepared to plan an album first. However, the song selection meeting that was supposed to be handled internally turned into an external negotiation.
If the integrity is not taken into consideration, this kind of front and timeline will inevitably be stretched out into a very long plan, and it is very easy for problems to occur in the middle, or simply to end hastily due to lack of stamina.
Although it is necessary to find ways to connect people from all walks of life, it is not to go here and there and find one to settle down, but to contact the right person after having a goal.
Because of this, we need the help of a producer like Sakai Masatoshi who has a lot of experience.
"There are precedents for bands to collaborate with idols, and I've also seen idols collaborate with enka... However, I really can't imagine what the effect will be if they are put on the same line."
Sakai Masatoshi mentioned it, "Iwahashi-kun, if there are any new trends next, can you tell me in more detail?"
"Of course." Iwahashi Shinichi agreed.
Masatoshi Sakai nodded and pointed the pen in his hand at a name on the paper, "Keiko Fuji... Fujimura's name also has 'vine' in it."
Next, Iwahashi Shinichi accompanied Sakai Masatori to combine stage names and spelled out several names such as "Tachibana Masako Fujiaiko".
While giving Manami Murase a new stage name, she was chatting about the planned album.
I have come up with several stage names, just waiting to be brought to the meeting to make the final decision. On the other hand, the talks about planning an album are getting more and more speculative.
…
Keiko Fuji became popular in the 1970s. She is a female singer famous for singing "songs of resentment".
Her song style is quite dark, and her personality is not cheerful either. Her marriage to enka singer Maekawa Kiyomi broke out, and then she married music producer Terumi Utada, moved to the United States, and raised a daughter together.
Utada Teru's real name is a music producer. In fact, he has no outstanding works. His greatest fame and achievement is that he married Fuji Keiko, the queen of resentment songs at that time.
After moving to the United States, Utada Terumi returned to Tokyo this year with his wife and daughter.
