Nakamori Akina's home phone number didn't go through.
The phone rang for a while and went to voicemail. Shinichi Iwahashi put down the receiver and dialed a page again. Thinking that there would be no call back for a while, he went into the bathroom.
After washing up, changing clothes, he went to get a beer again. After relaxing for a while, he saw a message on the pager. He picked up the receiver again and called back.
It was Watanabe Manyumi calling.
"The call back is pretty quick," Watanabe Manyumi said.
Iwahashi Shinichi told her, "He has already returned to the hotel."
After hearing this, she joked, "I thought you wanted to go shopping in Osaka after the show."
"Spare me." Iwahashi Shinichi smiled bitterly, "I was just mocked by Miwa-chan like this."
Watanabe Manyumi couldn't help laughing when she heard his plea for mercy. But when she opened her mouth, she said: "Yoshida-san is so interesting."
"..." You said almost the same thing, which is quite interesting.
Iwahashi Shinichi thought about it secretly in his heart, but he didn't say anything out loud.
"How was today's performance?" After a few words, Watanabe Wan Yumi changed the subject in time and asked him.
Iwahashi Shinichi seized the opportunity to change the topic and blurted out, "It's quite good." Half-jokingly and half-seriously, he told her, "Such a wonderful performance should be seen by Wan Yumi-san."
"It feels like bragging." Watanabe Manyumi also laughed.
However, I know in my heart what kind of strength this DREAMS COME TRUE has. It was after watching the band's performance at the music festival that Watanabe Manyumi found the goal to strive for and took this step
.
It seems like it was a long time ago, even though it wasn't actually a few years ago.
There was silence on the phone. Watanabe Mayumi didn't speak, and Iwahashi Shinichi didn't speak either. He knew in his heart that she wouldn't make such a call just to ask how the performance was going.
It was Watanabe Manyumi who started a new topic, "I just left Misora Hibari-san's house with my sister and brother-in-law."
Iwahashi Shinichi listened silently, waiting for her next words.
"I went to express condolences to Misora-san's adopted son, Kazuya-kun." Watanabe Manyumi paused, "Mikora-san has passed away."
Iwahashi Shinichi said "Ah" unexpectedly.
In the past four or five years, there have been news about Misora Hibari's poor health. A few months ago, she was critically ill. Shinichi Iwahashi was reminded by Watanabe Manyumi to send a condolence flower basket to Juntendo Hospital where she was staying.
The flower basket was delivered, and afterward, someone from Misora Hibari Office made a special phone call to say thank you.
It is said that it was Misora Hibari's intention. When she was critically ill, she ordered the staff around her to call back to express their gratitude when receiving flower baskets of condolences.
Although she is a generational singing queen with a first-class status in the industry, she is very considerate and kind to others.
Although I had known that the enga queen was just trying to survive the day, when I suddenly heard the news of her death, I still felt like something unexpected had happened.
"It seems that as early as a week ago, Misora-san lost consciousness and relied on a ventilator to maintain his life. He passed away early this morning after rescue efforts failed."
There was a hint of fatigue in Watanabe Wan Yumi's voice, "The news has not been announced to the public yet. It will be reported tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
"Kazuya-kun is not yet eighteen years old, and is currently being taken care of by Misora-san's sister. My mother asked me and my sister and brother-in-law to come to express condolences. In addition to us, people in the industry who had close contacts with Misora-san during his lifetime also came to visit one after another."
Hibari Misora's family has withered away. His father died young and his mother died eight years ago. His two brothers died in 1983 and 1986 respectively. Only a sister who is one year younger is still alive.
In his early years, he married the movie star Kobayashi Asahi, but Misora Hibari's mother was dissatisfied with the marriage and claimed that "the greatest misfortune in her daughter's life was to marry Kobayashi Asahi." With her mother's unremitting efforts, her daughter's marriage was finally broken up two years later.
marriage.
The whole family relied on Misora Hibari as a money tree. The last thing her mother could bear to see was that her daughter would marry off and become a housewife, and from then on she would never be able to make big money as a big star.
After that, Misora Hibari adopted his younger brother Tetsuya Kato's son as his adopted son and devoted his life to music.
The mother only knows how to suck blood and manipulate her daughter, and the younger brother takes advantage of his sister's reputation to do whatever he wants. As a result, Misora Hibari was once boycotted by the people and banned by NHK. It is quite sad to look at the family of this generation of singing queen.
It can only be said that in the early years, the status of artists was too low, and 80% of those working in this industry came from poor families. After becoming famous, their family members would suck their blood, and the probability of being cheated would be extremely high.
From another perspective, in the conservative era, a family that was willing to let its eight-year-old daughter perform in public to make money was less likely to love its daughter very much.
"There will be a performance tomorrow at DREAMS COME TRUE." Shinichi Iwahashi thought quickly and thought of something, "If the news comes out tomorrow, I will temporarily add a link to commemorate Misora-san."
The so-called "commemoration" is to take the initiative to mention the incident before a certain song starts and convey the band's sorrow to the audience. It will neither burst into tears nor sing a song by Skylark on the spot.
The matter was urgent and there was no time to obtain permission from Columbia Records to perform. It was impossible for the band to cover an unauthorized song on stage.
In the final analysis, adding a temporary commemorative link is just to show attitude.
"Yeah." Watanabe Wan Yumi listened, "That's fine."
"Look, after a while, memorial services and commemorative activities will also be prepared." Iwahashi Shinichi said.
However, who will be invited to attend and who will be sent funeral postcards depends on how Misora Hibari & Associates arranges it. If you are a small shrimp in the industry, you will not have the opportunity to offer an incense stick.
Watanabe Wan Yumi said "hmm" again and said nothing.
Iwahashi Shinichi then asked her, "Why do you sound so tired?"
"fine."
Watanabe Mayumi paused, "I remembered what happened during the day."
"What?"
"When I went back to see my mother, after learning that Misora-san passed away, she said, 'The era is over.'"
Misora Hibari's singing career spanned from the postwar period to the end of the Showa era. When the Yuan Dynasty changed to Heisei, her life also came to an end.
To the general public, her passing may mean more that the Showa era has ended than the change in era name.
For Misa Watanabe, who co-founded Watanabe Productions with Susumu Watanabe, her husband passed away a few years ago, and the Enka Queen who symbolized the Showa era also passed away after Heisei. Compared with others, she probably felt it more deeply——
What ended was not only the Showa era, but also the glory of Watanabe Productions.
Of course, Watanabe Productions had lost its former glory many years ago, but when we really felt that "the era was over", there was a subtle feeling that the past glory had also been buried in the old era.
Misora Watanabe's sentimentality does not come from the end of an era, nor from the passing of Misora Hibari, nor even from the decline of Watanabe Productions. It is precisely because Watanabe Manyumi understands why her mother is sentimental that she feels heavy.
Iwahashi Shinichi tasted her emotions to some extent, and rarely said something silly in front of her, "The era is over. A new era has begun, and people in the new era must think about what to create in this era and give new people
What does the times bring?"
Watanabe Wan Yumi made him laugh, "I only heard you talking about 'era, era' one after another, but I didn't hear anything else clearly."
But silly words are silly words. When she listened, she seemed to be cheered up by Iwahashi Shinichi. The depression in her heart after going to see her mother and the slight haze after visiting Misora Hibari's adopted son disappeared for a moment.
It was precisely in order to start a new era and bring new things that I decided to take this step.
Now, the fire is in the hands of Watanabe Wan Yumi.
"Manyumi-san," Iwahashi Shinichi's tone was joking, but his words were sincere, "The next step is up to us."
When he said "we", Watanabe Wanyumi felt that she was not fighting alone in the new era, but walking side by side. A warm current flowed through her heart.
"I should go see your show next time." Watanabe Manyumi said.
Shinichi Iwahashi smiled after hearing this, "You can go to any show if you want, right?"
"It sounds pretty awesome."
"Of course you are awesome. After all, you are the boss of the band." Shin Iwahashi called her that 120% deliberately.
Watanabe Mayumi smiled, "I'm still waiting to see the Tokyo show...it's the same place as the music festival venue."
"Yes, they are all Wangan Plaza. Therefore, I would like to ask you to 'review' again." Shinichi Iwahashi said.
It was not the style of the two of them to hang up the phone here. So, the two parties took advantage of the situation and chatted about work for a while on the phone, roughly discussing some of the next arrangements, and then hung up the phone.
Putting the receiver back, Shinichi Iwahashi sat there for a while, digesting the phone call he had just had with Wanyumi Watanabe.
The passing of Hibari Misora is a major event in the entertainment industry. For Shinichi Iwahashi, although his emotions will not be affected at all, as a practitioner in the industry, he still has to consider what may happen due to the passing of the enka queen.
Series of things.
For example, TV stations will definitely have commemorative programs. Various awards at the end of the year will probably have a commemorative segment for Hibari Misora. Including NHK's Red and White Song Contest at the end of the year, there will probably also be a commemorative segment.
Hibari Misora is not only the queen of enka in the eyes of the public, but there is also the power of the enka school behind her, and she is even related to the cadres of the Dero-gumi.
She has passed away now, and it is true that the entertainment group feels sorry for her, but as the most apex jewel in the entertainment world, her appearance after her death also represents the face of the entertainment group.
The Enka sect, which is closely related to the Yakuza, adheres to the same principle as the Yakuza: one must not lose face.
In the next half of the year, what the industry really needs to do is to cooperate with the enka school, make a grand event for Misora Hibari, and give all the enka school the dignity.
Therefore, if you are in the industry, try to avoid the traps of the enka school and make plans in advance.
…
While I was thinking about it, the phone rang again.
Iwahashi Shinichi was lost in thought. Leng Buding was startled and calmed down a little. He stretched out his hand to the receiver and said, "Hey, hey——"
"So serious~" Akina Nakamori teased him on the other end of the phone.
Iwahashi Shin wanted to laugh when he heard her talk like that, so he imitated her words and replied: "It's so relaxing~"
"Haha!" Nakamori Akina laughed, "Yes, it's so easy~" She paused and said, "If you want it too, I'll give you half of it, how about it?"
"Yes, I want it." She had something, and Iwahashi Shinichi also took it.
"Here you go, here you go~ So let's relax together."
While Nakamori Akina was making him happy, she was still worried, "You weren't unhappy just now, were you?"
Iwahashi Shinichi denied, "No."
"Did you call from home?" He changed the subject.
Nakamori Akina may not have done it on purpose. She unconsciously imitated his tone and said, "No." However, when she said the words, she came back to her senses and felt that she seemed to be speaking like this deliberately.
The paper tiger was 100% good at raking the enemy down. He complained to Shinichi Iwahashi, "It's all your fault."
"I didn't do anything." Iwahashi Shin smiled childishly.
Akina Nakamori hummed on the phone and told him a little proudly, "I made an appointment with Kyoko-chan to go dancing together."
After this phone call, I'm going to eat, drink and have fun again.
"That's great. I wish you could share half of this with me. I also want to dance with you." Iwahashi Shinichi said.
Instead of always waiting for Akina Nakamori to take the initiative, he now finally takes a step or two forward from time to time. When Akina Nakamori heard what he said, she felt happy and chuckled.
But the more this happened, the more he changed the topic, "Thank you for your hard work for today's performance."
"Thirty-three thousand people... It's amazing to think about it." She said seriously.
"Indeed. When I was on stage, I looked at the auditorium, and the people in the distance seemed to be connected together." Shinichi Iwahashi recalled. At a large concert, the audience in the back row and the people watching the stage probably looked like a mosaic.
Not much different.
Because of this, special attention must be paid to the atmosphere of the scene.
"Just listening to it is so hard," Nakamori Akina muttered.
It is not impossible for Taopusda to hold a concert with tens of thousands of people at its peak. However, idols focus more on interaction with the audience. This characteristic prevents the industry from arranging large-scale concerts with tens of thousands of people for idols.
A habit of meeting.
In other words, Johnny's idol group can play like this.
In addition, Nakamori Akina herself is quite old-school when it comes to holding concerts. She feels that large-scale performances do not provide a good viewing experience for the audience.
She is Taopu Star. She has the final say, and the agency and record company follow suit.
"If I go to the band's concert, you won't be able to find me," she said.
"Indeed." Shinichi Iwahashi admitted, "If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't even know which show you would go to."
The two people met for the first time at a concert because they didn't like sitting in the relatives' seat and acting like dummies. Akina Nakamori felt that it would be better to call and grab the tickets herself than to get the tickets from Shinichi Iwahashi.
atmosphere.
Well, the atmosphere of grabbing tickets is also the atmosphere.
"Then I really won't tell you." Akina Nakamori laughed again, "Watch it quietly."
