58th Kouhaku Utagassen

• 03/07/2008 - 00:00
• Author: Yuki Sakuma
• Movies n Music
• 0 Comments
• Read in IT

Hi everybody! With the New Year the 58th edition of Kouhaku Utagassen has finally come to an end. This edition has been rich and full of surprises. In fact, the secret Kobayashi Sachiko didn’t want to say in the video that the last article has been revealed. The famous cloth she partly showed was no other than a spectacular cloth she used in her performance to represent a “Sakura Mangekyou”, that is, to draw cherry blossoms falling in the air. In fact her performance was quite theatrical. Also the song KoiZakura has been appreciated a lot, I have put the video of it below.

    

The absence of Fuji Ayako has been noticed, because the singer had entertained everybody with Yuki ShinShin in the last edition. This year there was again Kawanaka Miyuki and Nagayama Yoko who presented Jonkura no Onnabushi accompanied by the Shamisen. They had very simple stage designing but it was of great impact.
Gackt was the special guest, and he presented a wonderful song with a long title: Returner Yami no Shuuen kieiku samuraitachi e no Requiem. The video is below. The prizewinner of this year was the Shirogumi (male team). The Tokyo tower has shown the winner to the audience, choosing the colours red or white. It was an amazing experience to see the Tokyo Tower lit up with white and I have put the video of this event in this page.
Mikawa Kenichi sang the same song of last year: “Sasoriza no Onna”, presented in the 2007 version. And also this year he uses the Hikinuki technique.
Sakamoto Fuyumi attended the show also this year, with her wonderful song Yozakura Oshichi, accompanied by the beautiful Onnagata dance of Saotome Taichi (Onnagata= man who plays a female in kabuki theatre).
But now let’s watch the wonderful videos of the performances.

Singer: Kobayashi Sachiko
Song title: Koizakura

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In this video finally Kobayashi Sachiko reveals the use of the mysterious cloth she has shown before in the video of a previous article. The cloth had to represent cherry blossoms falling in the air, helped by true ones which has enriched the scene of the performance.

Singer: Nagayama Yoko
Song: Jonkara OnnaBushi

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Nagayama Yoko accompanies herself on her Shamisen during her performance, her clean and brilliant voice make her seem a person completely different from her performance in the last edition where she sang the song Kizuna and seemed more calm and sad. A group of players of shamisen plays along with her to give deepness to the melody.

Singer: Kawanaka Miyuki
Song title: Kanazawa no ame

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Kawanaka Miyuki presents herself with the song “Kanazawa no Ame”, which refers to the “aiaigasa”, that is, walking together under one umbrella. In Japan, writing the names of lovers on the stick of an umbrella has the same meaning that writing them on a tree surrounded by a heart has in other parts of the world.

Singer: Gackt
Song Title: Returner Yami no Shuuen kieiku samuraitachi and no Requiem

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A wonderful presentation, which has never been seen with a lot of special appearances for the special guest of the Kouhaku Utagassen of this year. Gackt is the idol of many Japanese youngsters and here he performs this song with intensity and drama. It’s really a great video, don’t miss it.

Singer: Mikawa Kenichi
Song Title: Sasoriza no Onna

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Also this year Kenichi offers a new version of the song “Sasoriza no onna”, presented with a more techno style. At the end the dancer on his right asks him if he is one of the shirogumi (white team) why the stage designing was so red. He answers back on the pink colour of their clothes.

Singer: Sakamoto Fuyumi
Song Title: Yozakura oshichi

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In this edition Sakamoto Fuyumi presents the song “Yozakura oshichi”. Her performance was amazing as the last year. But maybe I’m partial since she is one of my favourite enka singers. Here she is accompanied by the beautiful dance of Saotome Taichi (Onnagata) and also the stage designing is richer than the last year. Outstanding performance.

Singer: Kouzai Kaori
Song Title: Mugonzaka

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Kouzai Kaori is present also at the 2007 edition to sing “Mugonzaka”, a nostalgic song which I like very much.

Final of 58th Kouhaku Utagassen with prizegiving to Shirogumi
Song Title: Hotaru no Hikari (Japanese version of Walzer of Candles)

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The 58th edition of Kouhaku Utagassen ends with the song Hotaru no Hikari.
The tower of Tokyo shows the winners of Kouhaku Utagassen, turning up or down the light according to the colour of the winner team. Brilliant!