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Kayōkyoku ( 歌 謡 曲, lit. 'Pop Tune') is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. The Japan Times described kayōkyoku as "standard Japanese pop" [2] or " Shōwa-era pop". [3] Kayōkyoku represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. [1] Music in this genre is extremely varied as a result.
- 1920s, Japan
Kayōkyoku (歌謡曲, literally “Pop Tune”) is a Japanese pop music genre, which became a base of modern J-pop. The Japan Times described kayōkyoku as “standard Japanese pop” or “Shōwa-era pop”. Kayōkyoku represents a blend of Western and Japanese musical scales. Music in this genre is extremely varied as a result.
- The City Pop Revolution. Happy End revolted against the divide between foreign rock ’n’ roll, thought by many to have been unsuitable for singing in the Japanese language, and kayokyoku, a sentimental style of Showa-era pop deemed more appropriate for the structure and tone of the Japanese language.
- Sugar Babe, ‘Songs’ (1975) (Niagara) Happy End opened the floodgates in terms of the potential of foreign music styles in the Japanese language but, until the mid-Seventies, that potential was mostly limited to blues rock and hard rock (sometimes termed the beginning of “New Music”).
- Haruomi Hosono / Shigeru Suzuki / Tatsuro Yamashita, ‘Pacific’ (1978) (CBS/Sony) The “New Music” and city pop artists of the 1970s and ’80s were the first generation of Japanese musicians to mature in a post-war Japan that was significantly under the influence of American pop culture.
- Tatsuro Yamashita, ‘For You’ (1982) (Air) Concerning the style of city pop informed by funk, boogie, doo wop and soul – that is, the strain left largely undriven by synthesizers- the early Eighties saw both its popular peak and some of its greatest works.
On one end Kayokyoku is rooted in traditional Japanese music from 20s-60s Enka where the sound is melodramatic, theatrical, melancholy with melodic minor scale (on a piano it’s played with the ‘black keys’). Western equivalent sound is like euro pop, that song ‘Final countdown’.
May 22, 2019 · Japanese kids went wild for this new sound, dubbed ereki bûmu (‘elec boom’). Post-British Invasion, it became gurûpu saunzu (‘group sounds’), with vocal harmony and beats taking center stage.
Here is a list of kayokyoku artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the kayokyoku genre. You can find out what kayokyoku genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.
Kayōkyoku. AKA: Kayō Kayou Kayoukyoku Shōwa Era Pop Standard Japanese Pop 歌謡曲 かようきょく • 3,552 releases. Japanese popular music prominent during the later period of the Shōwa era (early 1950s to late 1980s). Read more.
