Top 5 Enka Songs
We’re big fans of Japanese music as you may have noticed. At Nakama, we’ve promoted Japanese Ongaku Yoru in London and always swap tracks with each other on new finds from contemporary and past artists. One genre of Japanese music has always spoken to me is Enka.
Enka is music from Japan that was created between the ’50s and ’70s. It is usually related to love or perhaps even to drinking and follows a sad theme typically. It’s not a very popular genre of music among the younger generation in Japan, but some aspects of it make it accessible in foreign countries due to its representation in popular movies like Kill Bill or in Anime series’. People also find it somewhat relaxing, and it is often compared with Soul Music. Below you will find 5 Enka songs that I really like, they are in no particular order because they are all great in their own way.
Jero — Umi Yuki
Starting with Jero, an African American with a Japanese grandmother. He merged Rap style dancing with Enka and became very popular in Japan amongst the older women. He has since made his mark singing with some of the best Enka singers and produced many worthy songs. His debut song was Umi Yuki:
