#tamariku interview translation

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation compilation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer

This series of interviews is from the interview booklet in the TamaRiku album. There are six parts, according to the bold headings in the booklet. 

1. The things that can be seen from handwritten chord scores

2. Fukuyama Masaharu and his history of “singing with self-accompaniment”

3. A special musical instrument, meeting Martin OM-45

4. “That one song” in everyone’s hearts

5. “Purify” black history

6. What was Tamaradi, and what was Tamariku?

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer (6)

The final part is here! Thanks for reading through everything. It’s been a joy to translate this. As usual, Masha’s monologue at the end is insightful. Hard to translate, but I hope I captured the gist of what he said.

ANN timeline

TamaRiku interview translation

Credits to Mashaism for original Chinese translation.

M: Fukuyama Masaharu

S: Souguchi Akihisa

O: Ohara Shinji

What was Tamaradi, and what was Tamariku? (「魂ラジ」とは、「魂リク」とはなんだったのか )

O: Excuse me if this seems a little off-topic. I became a writer for Fukuyama-san’s All Night Nippon in 1994, and there were many female listeners back then. Perhaps this is not a good way of putting it, but there was an idol-like popularity…

M: I’m still an idol now! (lol)

O: Ah, I see. (lol) Although it felt like that, because I am a man and the staff are male, plus you speak in a masculine way, we wanted to change the broadcast into one that would receive many postcards from male listeners. The staff discussed amongst ourselves and thought of many male-oriented segments. From last year’s first male-exclusive concert to this year’s Dai Totei Sai (Virgin Festival), we gathered a group of virgin listeners and did many things. The ‘Male Plan’ was passionately received. There are many male listeners now, and virgins too (lol). I feel that we have reached a point where there's no need to think about increasing the number of male listeners. While listening to the guys singing Fukuyama-san’s song at this year’s Dai Totei Sai, I felt a sense of completion.

S: Eh, where? (lol)

M: You cried? (lol)

O: Just like during the male-exclusive concert, I saw many male listeners gathered together singing Fukuyama-san's song. This powerful image gave me the feeling of saying goodbye to something. It’s a bit different from a sense of accomplishment. When I reminisce about Tamaradi, this [image] is what I initially think of. But the real reason I remember the male listeners so well is not because of the plan we came up with to attract male listeners. It’s the singing with self-accompaniment that Fukuyama-san has done for 23 years. After listening to that mass singalong, I changed my thinking.

M: I see.

S: Because of Tamaradi, my life has really changed. I’m one of the people who has been changed for the better. I started helping a little [in Tamaradi] before I resigned from the Nippon Broadcasting System. After leaving the company, I was idling around aimlessly. While going through that time, I thought, “What should I do in the future, now that I have no work?”. Then, I was invited on this programme again. It made me realise, “Ah, radio is really interesting”. And, although to say this again sounds a little…, I worked with a DJ who is excellent, and most importantly, has personality. Also, that person who is a perfectionist in other things, who often pushes himself to do his best in performances - in contrast, this was a place where he came to without doing any preparation. I think a place like this cannot be found anywhere else. Along with such a DJ for so many years, it’s just like ‘kumite’ (means sparring, referring to freely being able to do what one wants in this context) in karate. I was able to host a show freely. As a radio host, I really feel very happy. So, looking at the reactions of listeners after the announcement of the end of the show, of course the end of Tamaradi makes me feel lonely. There are many voices saying it makes them feel lonely that they will never listen to Tamaradi again. Somewhere in Japan, there are people enjoying that same moment while listening to this programme, thinking, “Ah, what a nice song” or “Fukuyama-san is singing live now”. When I leave the broadcast studio to somewhere further to listen to Tamariku, perhaps it’s because I too want to be part of the listeners. Right up till that moment, I was part of the discussion with Fukuyama-san, but I felt like I want to listen to Tamariku as a listener. So I’ve always left the studio to go to somewhere a bit further, and listened to the speaker playing the song. To think that I won’t be able to listen [to Tamariku] anymore makes me feel lonely. I can’t listen to Tamariku anymore… uwa, I feel like crying again. (lol) I’m really scared of the last episode. This is dangerous.

M: Wait, wait. (lol) Can you please stop?

S: Because I’m filled with the mood to make Fukuyama-san cry along with me. (lol)

M: I’ll wear an eye mask during the last show. I’ll be like the listeners, only listening. I won’t see anything. (lol)

—Then, please let Fukuyama-san conclude.

M: The presence of these two people is more important than anything else. The show is only made possible because of them, this is of no doubt. Because this is truly a show that is hosted freely, and on some leve,l it is wilful and based on what we please. When Tamaradi first started, the show was based on the frame of the manuscript and progression plan that Ohara-san prepared for me. But after some time, we started to use events that happened from moment to moment and emotional things in the show. Although I don’t know when exactly it started, the thought, ‘an adult of a certain age is hosting a late night radio show’ made me feel uncomfortable. Perhaps that was when Souguchi joined. I’ve talked about this to Ohara-san before.

O: That’s right. Around your mid 30s.

M: At that time, I thought it was no longer whether ‘What should the content of the show be?” or “What kind of segments should be included?” if I continued to host late night radio shows,  If I continued, I felt that only a mature adult who had surpassed 30 years of age could speak more comfortably. I think I’ve said this before.

O: Yes, you did.

M: I think it started to slowly change from there, and shifted towards freestyle radio. And then it really became this sort of a show. To be able to accomplish this, it was all dependent on Ohara-san and Souguchi-san, who understood my intentions, and the staff at Nippon Broadcasting System. This show is only here because of this reason. Another point is important too: I was happy hosting the show. It’s only because of this that I was able to use interesting moments [in the show], and both laughter and emotion followed one after another. Once I understood this, I wanted to use it in other aspects. For example, in drama and movie production. Unexpectedly, it became as such at filming sites, with ‘Ryomaden’ and ‘Soshite Chichi ni Naru’. Although it was a different approach, but the filming progress was freestyle too. To explain it using radio, when they say, “There’s a show called Tamaradi on Saturday, come.” On that day, “Is everyone gathered here? Let’s start. Please say something.” It’s this feeling. I hope to try this approach in music and concerts next time. Because I can’t prepare anything beforehand, although there are preparations for PA (abbreviation for Public Address, referring to the sound system), stage design, performance list, I won’t prepare the most important part. The most important part can refer to the excitement I want to convey to the audience or the emotional part, the part that touches people’s hearts. Even if these things are prepared beforehand, it will not be present. I learnt this through Tamaradi. On some level, it can be said that I understand the essence of entertainment.

When I watched the Sydney Olympics live in 2000, I was in crisis and despair, thinking that music was unable to surpass sports. Language, countries, whether one had any knowledge of competition did not matter. The whole stadium was moved purely by the performance of the athletes. Before that moment, I felt that entertainment meant always preparing performances beforehand. As long as I constantly brushed up on what I had decided beforehand without caring about other things, I could improve. I believed in this performance-wise. But after watching the Olympics, I had a fear, “I can never move people with entertainment as much as sports does”. From then on, it was a new topic and challenge for me, to find out how to stand out in entertainment and to move people in unpredictable ways, like in sports. One approach was to produce a freestyle radio show like Tamaradi. What happens is unpredictable and unknown, but it definitely makes people laugh or become emotional. That was my goal for the talk on the show. The experiment and the place of experiment was this show. To me, “enjoying radio”=“bringing happiness to the listeners”, to make listeners happy, I have to enjoy myself first. To phrase it in another way, if I don’t enjoy it, I would be unable to do this job. For me to pour myself into this, production staff that have the same goal, aim, direction as me are necessary no matter what. Although it’s not easy, but for me to have done this for so many years, I feel very lucky too. I am often searching for good happenings day by day. To me, it was a precious time too. Honestly.

(End)

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer (5)

I’m on a roll... looks like the last part will be up tomorrow.

ANN timeline

TamaRiku interview translation

Credits to Mashaism for original Chinese translation.

M: Fukuyama Masaharu

S: Souguchi Akihisa

O: Ohara Shinji

“Purify” black history (黒歴史を「浄化」する)

—Did any projects in Tamaradi leave an impression on you?

M: Occasionally I’ve mentioned it in the show, it’s the “GNP” project. “‘Good night’ Promotion Plan”. That was in 1992.

S: It was when [Tamaradi] just started.

M: To me, ‘Good night’ is my first smash hit. Around 100,000 copies were sold. At this time, I had the opportunity to write an insert song for the drama “Ai wa douda” [Masha’s second drama], it was a huge opportunity for me. It’s true that the song became popular because it was broadcasted on TV. But compared to this, I personally think that it was the contribution of the radio listeners who bought the album and helped me to promote, so I have a stronger impression in this aspect. Even now, I still feel that ‘Good night’ was really dependent on the strength of radio, the strength of listeners, to climb onto the hit charts. It was a plan that made me feel the strength of radio.

S: There’s also one plan that left many memories for me… Fukuyama-san provided the theme song, 'Tokyo ni mo Attanda’ for the movie “Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad”. In a corner that spanned several weeks, Fukuyama-san’s story of going to Tokyo was recounted in detail. In other words, it’s the events that happened [when Fukuyama travelled] from Nagasaki to Tokyo, until now. It’s a life filled with ups and downs.

(Note: English translations of the above segment can be found here.)

M: So this can be linked to “Ryomaden” afterwards. It’s “Masaharu-den”. [literally translated to Masaharu-legend] (lol)

S: It’s really “Masaharu-den”, yes. It’s similar to lower level samurai from the country going to the city.

O: That’s really interesting.

S: As one of the segments every week, [the story] was explained in detail. The good thing about Tamaradi is that a segment can be as flexible as one wants it to be. (lol) Sometimes one segment can take 20 minutes. A sizeable amount accumulates after broadcasting every week.

M: It was originally supposed to be 3-4 weeks long.

O: Yes.

M: But in the end, it took about 3 months. (lol)

O: It felt like, “Eh, he still hasn’t debuted yet?”

S: In the end it became, “Please speed up a little more”.

O: The debut was supposed to be mentioned around the second week, but the debut didn’t get mentioned for a long time.

S: The story all the way until debut was especially long.

M: But in truth, I really didn’t debut immediately. After I auditioned, it was 3 years before I debuted.

O: Yet, the story till the point of going to Tokyo was very long. The high school era was very long too. (lol)

S: There was also a segment called “When Fukuyama Masaharu was really an idiot”, when some of Masha’s debut interviews were picked. (lol)

M: Yes, yes.

S: It was a time when your answers were a bit funny. (lol) That segment was done quickly in a week after it was revealed.

M: It would be better to produce a collection of improper remarks.

S: Interesting.

M: I feel that actually making a collection of Fukuyama Masaharu’s improper remarks would be better. It’s the best. (lol)

S: But won’t normal people dislike it? Digging up those words.

O: Most would pretend they’ve never said it before.

S: Conversely, to actively seek to dig up those words, I think that’s really awesome.

M: That’s because it’s still kept in the office. (lol) The interviews from the past. It’s a mountain of treasure.

O: That’s true.

S: No, most people wouldn’t think that’s treasure, to most celebrities. (lol)

O: More than anyone, Fukuyama-san would probably find it the most interesting, seeing those reports.

M: Because I spoke those unbelievable words in a normal way.

O: You said it yourself. (lol)

S: And those were official interviews that went through agency checks.

M: That’s why I’m really an idiot. Of course I’m also an idiot, and a bad one at that, but honestly Amuse was terrible too. (lol) That can’t be good management.

S: That’s why it’s interesting, thinking about that aspect too. “This actually went through checks!”

M: Yeah, that’s right.

S: I think it’s a way to find out what Fukuyama-san lacks, so I often think it should be preserved in some form.

M: Including this aspect, turning it into a conversation topic on radio, making it entertaining, how should I say this… it gets purified, I guess. (lol) Does it get purified, or sublimated? Even if I pretend that I never said those things, it might get dug up somewhere, “He said those things (lol)”, and copied around the web as Fukuyama’s embarrassing sayings.

S: That looks even worse on you.

M: But if we turn it into a joke on our own radio show and treat it as entertainment, it doesn’t hurt anyone and becomes an interesting topic. When we laugh, it gets purified.

S: When you were asked where you wanted to go with your lover, you answered “the river bank!” “Eh, river bank? What river bank?” (lol)

M: The Tamagawa river bank! I just forgot to say Tamagawa!

S: This is how it gets purified, after we laugh at it.

M: That’s right.

S: I see, I understand now! The reason Fukuyama-san feels happy from the depth of his heart.

M: But I really am happy. [These words] can only be purified when I think I'm happy. Using these things that I feel happy about in the show makes everyone and myself happy. Everyone’s happy. That’s a win-win. Though I don’t know if it really is a win-win. (lol) What left an impression on Ohara-san?

O: Until then, I had more jobs on TV, and spent most of the time working at a studio in Tokyo. Afterwards, Fukuyama-san’s radio show was the first artiste broadcast I participated in. I travelled to many areas around the country for the nationwide tour, and hosted broadcasts in those places. That was the first time I went to those places, seeing the sea together with Fukuyama-san…

M: Was it Tottori? Yonago?

O: It was Yonago. That was in ’95.

M: We went to the photographer Shoji Ueda’s art gallery opening, and held a radio broadcast there. Ohara-san went too.

(Note: For new readers who don’t know Shoji Ueda’s influence on Masha, the last few paragraphs here briefly explains why he’s credited on all of Masha’s albums. Also, his photos of Masha are some of the best photos of Masha, ever.)

O: Yes. Because there was some time… I remember walking freely along the sea for a very long time. The cars were travelling alongside the sea.

M: The Ohara-san then was amazing. When a dog sits in a car, it constantly stretches its head out of the window. You were like that. (lol)

O: The scent of the tide! The sea! Freedom! These feelings.

M: Ohara-san's feelings towards travelling started from there?

O: Because Fukuyama-san is someone who enjoys travelling outside, the staff got motorbike licenses too and everyone went on a tour together… in my heart, the meaning of “travel” follows Tamaradi wherever it goes. Sometimes I think of the smell of the sea.

M: Travelling while touring… it’s Yonago right? The rural scenery while travelling through Hiroshima. It happened to be raining, and the smell of the countryside that seemed like tears made me really feel that this is “Japan”. Watching Ohara-san there made me smile, I felt very happy. (lol) Although whenever Ohara-san is in Tokyo, his mental state easily turns bleak unintentionally, but once travelling begins, Ohara-san’s true personality of gentleness and purity shows on his face. He softens. It feels good.

O: We used to do local broadcasts while travelling, and the atmosphere is always a little different. I really like the feeling of travelling.

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer (4)

The next translation a year later... don’t worry, it won’t take months for the next one again! I’m on a long break now. Masha and his friends talk about crying on broadcasts instead of music in this, it’s quite refreshing.

ANN timeline

TamaRiku interview translation

Credits to Mashaism for original Chinese translation.

M: Fukuyama Masaharu

S: Souguchi Akihisa

O: Ohara Shinji

“That one song” in everyone’s hearts (それぞれにとっての「あの１曲」)

— To both Ohara-san and Souguchi-san, are there any songs with self-accompaniment that left an impression on you?

O: Whenever it’s December, Fukuyama-san sings SION’s 12 Gatsu. I didn’t know this song at first, and I only came to know it because Fukuyama-san sang it. Actually, I came to know of many songs because of him. I think the listeners are the same too, they know more songs from Fukuyama-san’s covers on Studio Live Request. When Fukuyama-san sings an unknown song in front of me, I look at the card with the lyrics while listening at the same time, thinking, “Wow, there’s actually such a good song.” Every time I listen to this song in December, I get a more thorough understanding of the feelings depicted in the lyrics. (lol) …this song has left an impression in this aspect.

S: I’ve mentioned this a few times on Tamaradi in the past. I joined Tamaradi officially in 2004. The year before, I often participated in programmes. Thinking of those times, why did I originally join Tamaradi? It’s because at the end of 2002, there was a plan to present a gravure idol calendar to Fukuyama-san as a gift. The production stuff asked me to help, and I did a one-off appearance on the show.

M: Oh really?

S: I felt really happy [on Tamaradi], and I thought that it was a enjoyable experience too. After a while, the company told me to join the programme from the next year onwards.

M: So, the gravure [photos] really bonded us.

S: Tamaradi was formed through gravure.

M: Because we actually continued doing this afterwards [referring to Tamaradi], we are talking about gravure now.

S: As fans of gravure, we discussed, “This year’s gravure is…”. (lol) I became an assistant on this show like this, but after a while, I wilfully resigned and left Tamaradi. Fukuyama-san sang “友よ” on my last broadcast.

M: Yeah, I sang it.

S: Yes. Afterwards, and even now, I leave the recording studio to somewhere nearby during Tamariku. But if I did this that time, I knew I would absolutely cry out loud, so I went to somewhere further from the recording studio. Even though I was listening from afar, that song “友よ” was unforgettable. If I listened to it nearby, it would be dangerous for me. I still had to go back for the ending of the show.

M: So you were crying far away. So cute. (lol)

S: It would be dangerous for me to listen to this song, face-to-face.

O: Talking about this, I was in danger [of crying] too. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, “Sakurazaka” was sung at the Radio Charity Musicthon SP: I’m with U: Kimi to, 24 Jikan Radio…. [referring to the 9/4/11 radio broadcast where Masha was on radio broadcast for 24 hours]

M: That’s because this person [referring to Souguchi] suddenly cried! (lol)

S: No no, that’s because, as expected, in front of me…

M: Why did you cry then!? All of a sudden. Please tell me now.

S: No, that was because during the Tohoku earthquake, even if it was a little, if there were some things that I could help a little, if there was something I could help, I really wanted to help. Because of Fukuyama’s intentions, many people participated in giving to charity, and we received many messages.

M: Yeah.

S: Afterwards, Fukuyama-san sang “Sakurazaka” at the end, and now that I’m saying this my tears are flowing again… (rubs corner of eye)

M: Eh? What’s that? Why are you crying?

O: He already started crying before you sang. In the middle of reading the messages, he said “I can’t read anymore”  and gave the messages to Fukuyama-san.

M: Yes, while reading the messages, you suddenly cried.

S: Yes, it was like that.

M: What was the reason? In my heart, I think that’s because the kids from the affected areas were singing before that? I think after Souguchi listened to it, that feeling [of crying] was aroused.

S: Until then, I had many feelings in my heart and till the last moment, I thought, “Wow, I can’t do it. I can’t stand it. I can’t hold it in.” While I had this feelings, “Sakurazaka” gave me a final push.

M: While reading the messages, Souguchi was choked up and couldn’t talk, and gave the half-read messages to me without speaking. I thought, “Hey, don’t be like that.”

O: He gave it to you halfway through.

S: Well, if I was hosting my own show, I suppose I could have held it in. But while hosting with Fukuyama-san, perhaps I was dependent on him…When I was at a loss, I could say, “Excuse me”.

M: What was the actual feeling that you felt then?

S: Rather than say it was the actual feeling, I should say it was because my feelings escalated. For me, when I’m hosting alone, no matter what happens, my feelings don’t escalate.

O: Really?

S: When I’m alone, even if it’s the last show, I wouldn’t cry. So I’m very scared about the final taping for Tamariku. (lol)

M: Hey! Don’t cry!

S: No no no.

M: Like that time, I might end up crying with you!

S: Yeah. So, even though I’ve gone through many show finales, it was mostly people around me saying, “Eh?” while I would normally think, “Let’s meet again somewhere”.

M: If it’s like this, we should bring sunglasses during the last broadcast.

O: That’s right.

S: How odd, wearing sunglasses in the recording studio. I don’t even usually wear them.

M: You could hurry and wear it if you can’t hold it in.

S: It seems like my feelings will intensify if I do that.

M: And then you should cry out loud when you do cry!

O: Yes, if you silently cry, listeners won’t know what’s going on.

M: Because it’s radio, we should cry out loud, “Uwaa!” Let’s set that as our goal for the last broadcast.

S: The “Sakurazaka” I heard then was one of the best “Sakurazaka” I’ve ever heard.

M: That’s because you were crying.

S: Without mentioning the fact that you cried along with me, you did have a different feeling while singing “Sakurazaka” then, right….

M: I cried because you did! I did seriously consider the feelings of the listeners, then sang the song… it would be weird to sing while crying. No, even if I was crying while singing, as long as my pitch was stable, my voice was stable, it would be alright. If it was like this, it would be ok to cry. But once I cry, I can’t sing!

O: Only the guitar would continue.

M: During last year’s NHK song festival, Tendo Yoshimi said, “ With thanks towards Takajin Yashiki, please let me sing this song” and with Osaka Castle in the background, she sang “Yappa Sukiyanen”. Then, of course Tendo-san cried, but her voice did not tremble with tears in her eyes. It was an awesome performance.

S: It was great.

M: I was moved by this. While soaking in the bath, I cried out loud in the toilet. (lol) But I can’t do that. If I cry, I won’t be able to sing.

S: I could sense that Fukuyama-san was feeling confused. “Oi oi, I’ll cry if you cry too!” Until then, there were several times I wanted to cry too and I held it back, but I failed in the end.

M: I did feel weird beforehand. It was so sudden, I got surprised.

S: That version of “Sakurazaka” is in my list of best songs with self-accompaniment.

M: Really? Thank you.

S: Also to me personally, when you suddenly said AKB48’s Heavy Rotation was a very good song and spontaneously wrote down the chords, then sang it in the show, that was an interesting performance.

M: Yes, that was interesting. I also received requests to include these songs in Tamariku, but that’s a little… (lol) I don’t know, if this Tamariku gets positive reception and sells 1 million copies, I’ll produce a second one.

S: This is a promise.

M: A promise. I’ll definitely release it if sales reach 1 million copies.

S: When you release it then, please follow everyone’s requests.

M: Of course! But, I guess I’ll still choose some songs myself. (lol)

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer (3)

Finally, half a year later: here’s the next part! Masha’s love story with his guitar, haha. Also features a metaphor about drifting, I thought it was pretty hilarious (and adorable).

ANN timeline

TamaRiku interview translation

Credits to Mashaism for original Chinese translation.

M: Fukuyama Masaharu

S: Souguchi Akihisa

O: Ohara Shinji

A special musical instrument, meeting Martin OM-45 (特別な楽器、Martin OM-45との出会い)

— Until now, how many songs has Masha covered?

M: I’m not certain about the exact number, but according to a recent news report, there has been 800 songs since Tamaradi started.

O: I see.

M: There were 8 years before Tamaradi.

O: And you sang 3 songs every week.

M: So it’s around 1500 songs?

O: It should be about that amount.

M: Even so, I tend to sing the same song several times. The total number of songs should be a smaller number. Every week, I sang with self-accompaniment in some way or another, which formed my foundation as a musician. I always sing with self-accompaniment at my concerts, right?

O: Yeah.

M: I don’t remember when it started. (lol) At the end of my concerts now, most of the time I have double encores. I clearly remember that in 1995, I held my first arena tour in Yokohama Arena. At that time, I had a dream of “wanting to sing alone in front of 10,000 people”. After I said “Please let me sing this song”, I sang “Tooku E”. I feel that I was able to sing with self-accompaniment there because I had the self-confidence from constantly practising in live radio broadcasts for 5 years.

O: On the other hand, to the audience who only know you through radio and have never been to your concerts, when they see you on stage singing with self-accompaniment, maybe they think “Oh! He’s exactly like the way he is on radio.” Because in the beginning, I too only knew of Fukuyama-san’s songs when I heard you live in the studio.

M: You thought it was a person singing folk songs right? (lol) Now that I’m 46, singing with self-accompaniment is the most common way I perform at my concerts. Concert tours aren’t held every week, so I can’t hold thousands of concerts like Sada Masashi. Even though I’m not performing in front of people, even though it’s only in the radio station, I still perform mostly by singing with self-accompaniment.

O: I see.

M: It seems that recently there’s this “10,000 hour rule”.

S: Yeah, there is.

M: Although I don’t know if it’s 10,000 hours, but it’s true that through perseverance, eventually it can be done. In the past, I used to only use the 'jyan jyaka jyan jyaka' method to play the guitar, but in recent years, I slowly learnt to perform using finger picking.

S: Won’t there be a gap of a few years before singing the same song again? The arrangement changes each time, right?

M: It changes every time. Since Ohara-san brought the lyrics here, I’ll try playing. (takes out guitar, looks at lyrics and starts to play lightly) Which song should I play… I think that in the past, no matter what song I played, I always used strumming.

S: Before ‘Tamaradi' started, you would constantly play the guitar. Even after you decided on the song, you were like, “Is it like this? Mmm— it seems wrong.”

O: Ah, there’s ‘ZOO’!

M: What key did I write down for that song? Ah, it’s G. Now, I still play it in the G key, but I used to play like this. (strums guitar) Now, I play like this (demonstrates finger picking while singing), which is included in this album, ‘TamaRiku’.

S: Oh, from a listener’s perspective, my impression of this song is totally changed.

M: That’s right. Using the strumming method to play the chords results in the feeling of “singing with only one guitar”, but by using finger picking, it seems like there is someone playing the bass and another playing the solo…it feels like a wind ensemble. It becomes an orchestra.

S: Yes, yes.

M: Of course it’s only one person playing, but to the listener it feels like there’s around two or three people playing at the same time. Since this can be done, naturally one will want to add in many little techniques too.

S: I see. It’s easy to understand when it’s actually presented like this.

M: This is how one improves, bit by bit, although these words come from myself. (lol)

S: That gradual pace of minor improvements and techniques are presented in ‘Tamaradi’ too.

M: After doing it for 23 years, there will at least be some improvement.

O: At that point in time, if I saw Fukuyama-san perform like the way he does now, I wouldn’t want to bring the lyrics home to practise imitating him. There’s no way I would do that. (lol)

S: It’s hard to imitate this, isn’t it?

M: I’m lucky that I have this environment to practise my guitar every week, so that’s the result cultivated over many years. Another factor is the guitar itself. Because I have to sing with self-accompaniment every week, to me, the guitar is a necessity that I cannot do without. Since it’s like this, I really want to use a good guitar. Because of this, the money spent… (lol)

S: Here it comes! (lol)

M: When there’s money, I’ll buy a guitar. This is the appropriate way to spend money as a musician.

O: That’s right, since you’re a musician.

M: While constantly purchasing guitars, I found this guitar.

S: Yes.

M: This Martin OM-45 manufactured in 1930 is really good! When I use finger plucking from the 1st to 6th string, no matter which note, it totally doesn’t get covered up. No matter what the performer does, in any performance, every note can be heard. The separation between each note is excellent. So, there is a feeling of the instrument leading the performer to play. It’s the instrument that urges one to perform. There is an acoustic guitar called the Martin OOO (Triple O)-42 that Eric Clapton used in ‘Unplugged’, which became famous as a result. But Clapton sold that guitar to buy this OM-45.

O: Really?

M: Although the OOO-42 is an impressive guitar, yet between the two, he still chose this one. I own the OOO-42 too. Yes, I am boasting. (lol) I think Clapton also feels this guitar is better, and I think I understand his opinion. He once said, “If I could choose what to come back as, it would be a Martin OM-45.” Of course, I’ve never met Clapton before. (lol)

S: That feeling definitely can be understood by a guitarist.

M: Of course, tone is a matter of preference, so I didn’t state which guitar is the better one. It’s just that every note can be heard clearly. What’s the main point here? An excellent guitar will lead the performer.

S: It will guide oneself.

M: It helped me achieve what I really wanted to perform, the sort of performances that made me go, “If only I could play it like this”. Being led by the physical ability of the high-quality guitar, I can seek new ways of performance and representation.

S: But even if your past self got this guitar, you wouldn’t know how to play it like this.

M: Simply put, that’s right. When riding a car at high-speed, as long as you step on the gas pedal, the speed increases, right? It’s the same concept. Even without knowing driving techniques, the speed will increase too; as long as you play, there will be sound. So, won’t I want to play with a tone that complements that of the instrument? I would feel apologetic to the excellent musical instrument. Even if I get a really good sports car, I can’t drift like racers. But if I can get the best guitar in the world, because I’m a professional, in comparison to a car, I definitely have the skills to play this guitar. I’ve recently been telling myself this, so I’ve been practising well. (lol)

S: Actually during the broadcast of ‘Tamaradi’, no matter whether it’s advertisement breaks or while playing other songs, you’ll often practise the guitar.

O: Yep, that’s true.

M: Yeah. This guitar makes a person want to play it often.  It’s strongly addictive.

[mashalocked-blog]

[Translation] My 「Tamaradi」- The only conversation between DJ and writer (2)

Enjoy the read! :)

ANN timeline

TamaRiku interview translation

Credits to Mashaism for original Chinese translation.

M: Fukuyama Masaharu

S: Souguchi Akihisa

O: Ohara Shinji

Fukuyama Masaharu and his history of “singing with self-accompaniment” (福山雅治と「弾き語り」の歴史)

—How were the songs in “Studio Live Request” chosen?

M: Originally, I faced the practical problem of whether I would be able to sing the song. (lol) So, songs that I could actually sing became my minimum requirement for choosing songs. Songs with melodies that I can remember in my mind are those that I can sing. As long as the melody is in my mind, I just have to add on chords. And also, those little stories from listeners’ mail. In summary, these are the two points. Therefore, even if the story is really good, there are situations where “I don’t know this song… I can’t sing it”, and I can only say “I’m really sorry”.

S: When you rehearse, will there be times when you think “Ah, this song cannot be done”?

M: There are many situations like this.

S: For example, situations like “this song isn’t suited for self-accompaniment”?

M: I don’t think too much into that aspect. I feel that on radio, no matter what kind of song, I will try to do self-accompaniment. It does not matter whether the song is suitable for that. But, for “TamaRiku”, I specifically chose songs that are suitable for self-accompaniment. Because CD and recordings will always be kept. (lol) This time, until the last minute, I tried to sing “Zetsumetsu Kurogami Shoujo”.

S: “This song is very good!”. Sometimes, Fukuyama-san suddenly promotes surprising songs. Earlier on, he mentioned this song when NMB48 hadn’t been popular yet.

O: Yep.

M: After that, because I received requests to add this song to “TamaRiku”, I actually tried it…but I feel that one guitar isn’t enough. I think it needs a different technique, like slapping (performance technique).

S: It’s like playing the guitar as if it’s a percussion instrument.

M: If I could do that kind of effect, it would suit this song very much, but I couldn’t make it on time. (lol)

S: Counting down from the release date of 8 April, whether you can learn that technique…

M: After all, I have never tried this playing technique before. (lol)

S: On the whole, you’ve thought of all that’s needed.

M: I thought of it before. But I can’t rush it in time. I really want to sing it. And like this, I chose the songs for “TamaRiku”.

O: By the way, before Fukuyama-san did self-accompaniment on radio, did you do any street performances?

M: A few times, at Shibuya. Not long after debut, and before debut too.

O: Really? It’s the first time I’ve heard of it.

S: Which part of Shibuya?

M: The entrance of Chuo-gai. In the past, there was an open stall there. It was managed by an uncle. I often went there.

S: That’s quaint, frequently visiting oden stalls. Kakkoii.

M: But I was only 20 back then. (lol) I didn’t there to visit trendy places, like cafe bars, where I would obviously feel self-conscious because I was doing a part-time job in a cafe bar. (lol) I often went to  food stands and bars. I would bring my guitar too, and after slowly getting drunk and picking up courage, I would go to the entrance of Chuo-gai and open my guitar case, then sing other singers’ songs.

S: Other singers’ songs?

M: I felt embarrassed to sing my own songs.

S: Normally when people debut, they say, “Everyone please listen to this song!”, “Please buy my CD!”, so wouldn’t you sing your own songs? Even now, there are still young people like that.

M: They might still do this now. In the modern era, people play their own CD and sing their own songs. I think that instead of calling it a promotion on the streets, it’s more like a warrior improving his skills. (lol) But if you were to ask me if I enjoyed singing with self-accompaniment in front of people, I did like it. I started playing the guitar because I had self-accompaniment scores at home, written by Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi-san, Matsuyama Chiharu-san and Hamada Shogo-san. My older brother bought back those songbooks.

S: Oh, it was your older brother that bought them back.

M: After that, I kept practising. I like singing with self-accompaniment in front of people, because this was how I started my music activities. Before I was in a Nagasaki band, I was already singing with self-accompaniment.

S: At that time, did you sing Nagabuchi-san’s songs at Chuo-gai?

M: I think I did sing Nagabuchi-san’s songs. And also songs from a Hakata band called HEATWAVE.

S: There was such a band named HEATWAVE.

M: It was a kakkoi band. Vo&Gtr’s Yamaguchi-Hiroshi-san. I often sang HEATWAVE’s songs.

S: There must have been a lot of people who stopped to watch Fukuyama-san sing like this…

M: Well. No one stopped.

S: Eh—

M: Completely none. (lol)

S: No one stopped?

M: To sing on the streets, although music quality is very important, but there can’t be no breathtaking skills or skills that will make people stop in their tracks. Simply saying “Everyone, please listen to this” will not attract people to stop and watch, right? For example, someone with a sonorous voice singing in acapella can definitely attract audiences. People will stop in their tracks and from there on, properly listen to the singer’s song.

S: I see. But didn’t females go “There’s a handsome guy singing!”?

M: No, completely not.

O: I see, we didn’t know this before. Before singing on radio, you had such a foundation.

M: The segment of “Studio Live Request” wasn’t requested by the producers or managers, they didn’t ask me, “Do you want to try and sing with self-accompaniment on radio?”.

S: To you, it wasn’t as if you started with not much confidence.

M: Purely because I had this foundation, and this chance was hard to come by, so I tried making it one of the segments. I didn’t think of promoting myself, it was simply one of the segments in the programme.

O: So, you’ve always been singing other people’s songs.