Jero in the Washington Post
The Washington Post’s May 28 edition has a detailed article and photo set about African American enka singer Jero:
Part Public Enemy, part Sinatra, part schmaltz, it’s an act the Japanese public has never seen before, and it is making him a star.
Jero, as he is marketed here, has a hugely successful debut single on the pop charts this spring and an album due this summer. When he makes personal appearances, as he did on a recent Saturday at the Big Hop mall here in the eastern exurbs of Tokyo, thousands of people show up, many of them to swoon. He does especially well with Japanese women, ages 8 to 85.
“I love the way he looks,” gushed Sakura Takagi, a soap opera extra in her mid-30s who had traveled two hours by train to look at Jero. “He looks very kind and you can tell he is pure of heart.”
Here are a few recent videos of Jero in action:
A Reuters report on Jero
Singing “Ringo Oiwake”
Jero’s Kirin Fire canned coffee commercial
Jero singing “Umiyuki” (includes dancing)
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And I thought that we finns are the only ones who listen to this kind of shit. The Umiyuki does really sound like Finnish “schlager”. And I just loathe it. Young ppl don’t really listen to it, but at least 90% of those who are over 40 listen to something like http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jqrt_XkyMzM or http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6wY3GIXSpaA
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Good for him! There are thousands of Japanese out there who are much better enka singers, but he’s got the right gimmick, at the right time.
That woman’s quote sums it up:
“I love the way he looks….He looks very kind and you can tell he is pure of heart.”
Run with it, Jerome!
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Unfortunately for him, that is all he has – a gimmick. He’s probably going to need a new producer if he plans to last. I recently saw Takajin’s (old school singer, sort of a godfather character , especially in Kansai. A male version of Wada Akiko who is content to stay close to his roots rather than go national) review of Jero. Summation: he can sing and sing well, but he’s making a splash because of the image, not the music. He’s been given really lame, crappy enka to sing, and that sort of music won’t last.
His producer has a reputation for chasing trends to make a quick buck and then dumping performers to chase after the next big thing – and being very very good at reading the public and knowing when the peak is coming, so he can cut and run before he starts losing money. Jero might, if he is lucky, make the Kouhaku this New Year’s, but that may well be his last stand.
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Lol, the hiphop dancing doesn’t really go well with the music.
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Right. I love Ringo Oiwake by Jero, but I don’t think dancing was necessary.
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“Part Public Enemy..” Disgraceful.. Nothing about Jero remotely resemembles Public Enemy apart from the hip hop apparel, the baseball cap and the fact that he is black. Give me a break..
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hip hop is dead anyway, the silliness of this guy doing enka music dressed like that is akin to a visual kei band going to the states and doing r&b. I give it til the end of the summer.
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It’s silly why? You give it to the end of summer why? All it is is one opinion of someone who has a biased opinion.
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I’m sorry, but I didn’t quite understand the first sentence the voice-over in the reuters clip says… I think it’s “Germany’s pruels (…?) or enka is finding a newbie”. What is he saying actually? Please, help a confused Non-native speaker.
Apart from that, this is kind of cool. Neither Hip Hop nor enka interest me, but I think for Jero it’s quite a big thing, and I like it for it is kind of unusual.
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“Japanese blues…”
Ha ha, yes I noticed the “Japanese blues” comment as well. I think that based on its banality it would be much more accurate to say “the Japanese version of Country & Western, with more difficult singing”.
Now if you want to talk about “Japanese blues”, without a doubt it is minyou (民謡).
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Young people, including myself, don’t listen to enaka anyway.. so I think it’s good so that more ppl would start listening to enka. He’s kinda different from Kiyoshi Hikawa, as he’s older and is not as *cool* as Jero.
It’s kinda like how the drama “Nodame Cantabile” got many people into listening to classical music, although their acting in terms of performing music was indeed crappy.
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In West Pittsburgh born and raised
Over at grandma’s is where I spent most of my days
Chillin out, maxin, relaxin, all coolin, singing some Enka after my schoolin’
When a couple of guys who were up to no good,
Started talking negative about Enka in my hood.
I got in one little argument and my mom got scared…
and said you’re flying to Osaka, by air
I whistled for a cab and when it came near,
the license plate said Jero, and it had Kanji everywhere…
If anything I could say this cab was rare
but it’s freaking Japan, so who cares???
I pulled up to tha record company about 7 or 8
and said to the cabby “arigato gozaimasu”!!!
Signed an Enka contract right then and there,
and that’s how I became the Fresh Prince of Traditional Japanese Enka
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