To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the debut of Mr. City Pop, gorgeous musicians like Anri, S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe will gather.

A man who composed more city pop songs than anyone else; Tetsuji Hayashi, a hitmaker has unnoticeably drawn such an impression. The city pop boom is still buzzing without a question. We must say it is a valuable movement in that activates the function of surfacing messages that the person concerned; artists and composers wanted to tell. As a Michael Masser in Japan, Hayashi’s career in pursuing a never-disposable melody seemingly had begun to be varied since city pop was applied as a concept. The process that curious contemporary music freaks who like such music as future funk found so many songs to give them new contexts, has been very exciting and piquant to me. It is all the more interesting current situation that listeners outside Japan have better and correct recognition of how songs he wrote for Miki Matsubara, “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)” – an iconic song of this boom that ranked in the top 10 songs of Apple Music J-Pop chart of 92 countries, or for such idol singers as Momoko Kikuchi and Iyo Matsumoto has highly sophisticated song structure, than listeners in Japan. It is a widely known fact that his melodies in expanding his sympathy firstly from AOR to foreign music sound keep a shiny atmosphere of that time together with a forever romantic mood and extraordinary imagination. However, I wish listeners who want to plan to dig up his past songs, would bear in mind that his additional design to bring Japanese touchy and sad phrasing there achieves his unique world of Testuji Hayashi, which you can not find anywhere else.

A big event titled “The City Pop Chronicle: The World of Tetsuji Hayashi in Concert – Tetsuji Hayashi 50th Anniversary Commemoration Official Project”, giving us a good chance to understand such things mentioned above will take place at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A, November 5.

This is the one-night premium concert to celebrate one of the best melody-makers and enjoy his songs retrospectively. Yet, I am impressed by the list of guest singers. Listing up names of singers starting from Junichi Inagaki, Masaki Ueda, and Kiyotaka Sugiyama who also appeared in the Special Concert of the 35th anniversary, to Anri, Iyo Matsumoto and Momoko Kikuchi, you see so many wonderful artists who have been representing his music, are fully on the list. In addition to the above names, good interpreters like Chikuzen Sato and Yurie Kokubu, and veteran singers like Akira Terao and Yukari Ito are luxuriously to make their appearances. Also, you see young and high-profile girl singers / a band like Ayami Muto, Emiko Suzuki, and Little Black Dress. The list shows old and new maps of his world.

Another remarkable point is that the position of the musical director is shared by both Mitsuo Hagita and Motoki Funayama. Experts who have worked with Hayashi to create many hit songs and bridge between Pop music and Japanese popular songs will fully support the project. Wouldn’t be that fun? Including the performance of Samurai Band with the skillful musicians of Tsuyoshi Kon, Kenji Takamizu, Hal-oh Togashi, and Nobu Saito, we should pay attention to the support of the arrangers and the band.

We already recognized the fact that melodies Hayashi writes acquire international quality since his song “If I Have To Go Away”, sung by the British group Jigsaw known for their hit song “Sky High” was appraised abroad. I expect the songs on the setlist of the coming concert to show not only elegant resurrections in any age and positive power to attract anyone of any race but also the preciousness of their absoluteness and universality. On the current setlist, I see many famous songs of his; on top of “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)”, “September” (Mariya Takeuchi), “Kita Wing (North Wing)” (Akina Nakamori), and “Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Shima (The Closest Island to Heaven)” (Tomoyo Harada). But you may have fresh inspiration beyond just a nostalgic feeling over them and everyone is going to witness the integrity of Japanese Pops on the stage.

According to the updated info, four more; S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Asako Toki, Emmy Mayer, and Yukino Matsuki are announced. For more information, I have heard original members of the Omega Tribe would be gathered. I wonder which song of “Futari no Natsu Monogatari (Never Ending Summer)” or “Summer Suspicion” will be performed by the original band set. Now my imagination vaguely digs around the possibility. Well, Nothing can stop me.

 

LIVE INFORMATION
Tetsuji Hayashi 50th Anniversary Commemoration Official Project
The City Pop Chronicle: The World of Tetsuji Hayashi in Concert
November 5 (Sun.), 2023 at Tokyo International Forum Hall A
Open / Start: 16:00 / 17:00

■Program
Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)
September
Kita Wing
Futari no Natsu Monogatari (Never Ending Summer)
Sotsugyo (Graduation)
Kanashimi ga Tomaranai
Omoide no Beach Club
Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Shima
Kanashii Iro Yane
Summer Suspicion
Debut (Fly Me to Love)
The Stolen Memories
Irie Nite
Tsuyogari
Just a Joke
Shinjikata wo Oshiete
If I Have to Go Away
Kanashimi ga Ippai
Gyakuten no Regina
Koi
and more

■Performers
Anri / Yukari Ito / Junichi Inagaki / Masaki Ueda / Emi Meyer / Momoko Kikuchi / Yurie Kokubu / Chikuzen Sato  / Kiyotaka Sugiyama / S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe / Emiko Suzuki / Akira Terao / Asako Toki / Tetsuji Hayashi / Yukino Matsuki / Iyo Matsumoto / Ayami Muto / Little Black Dress
Musical Dirrection: Mitsuo Hagita / Motoki Funayama

■Band: Samurai Band
Tsuyoshi Kon (Guitar) / Takashi Masuzaki (Guitar) / Hal-oh Togashi (Keyboards) / Jun Abe (Keyboards) / Kenji Takamizu (Bass) / Nobuo Eguchi (Drums) / Nobu Saito (Percussions) / Naoki Takao, Yuko Otaki, Lyn Inaizumi (Chorus) / Luis Valle (Trumpet) / Andy Wulf (Saxophone)

*S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe: Kiyotaka Sugiyama (Vocals) / Shinji Takashima (Guitar) / Kenji Yoshida (Guitar) / Takao Oshima (Bass) / Keiichi Hiroishi (Drums) / Toshitsugu Nishihara (Keyboards) / Tetsuya Osaka (Keyboards) / Juny-a (Percussions)

Tickets: ¥15,000 (Tax in) 

Sponsored by Disk Garage / Promax / The Asahi Shimbun Company / Nippon Broadcasting System / Tokyo FM
Inquiry: Disk Garage

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