Mother's Songs, Japanese Popular Songs

by Yoshikazu Mera

Overview

To hear of a Japanese counter-tenor may come as quite a surprise, but Yoshikazu Mera proves that he is an accomplished and extremely talented artist with a quality of voice that rivals the other Western counter-tenors such as Vyatcheslav Kagan-Paley and Daniel Taylor, among others. He offers us 21 Japanese folk and pop songs accompanied on the piano on Mother's Songs, all accompaniments being as simple as they can be. Yet, the quality of his voice, his singing, and his musicality are the most enchanting, delicate, and some might even say the most entrancing. What strikes with Mera is that at first his voice sounds more like a woman or a boy's voice rather than a counter-tenor, as is the case with Kagan-Paley or Taylor. The title of the CD is in fact the most suggestive -- Mother's Songs -- getting the feeling across of young boy singing for his mother. Yoshikazu Mera is much more than a boy with a nice voice, he has a remarkable mastery of his counter-tenor voice. A name to remember! ~ Bruno Deschenes

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2000
Label:	BIS
UPC:	7318590009062

Tracks

1. Yoimachigusa (The Evening Primrose), song
2. I Found a Tiny Autumn
3. Being Scolded
4. Six Songs for Children~No. 3. Autumn Fields
5. Aka Tonbo (Red Dragonfly), folk song, for voice & piano
6. Autumn in a Village
7. I Talked with the Fog
8. Being Kept Waiting in Vain, song
9. An Outgoing Ship
10. Lullaby
11. Flowery Town
12. Mother's Song
13. Plover
14. Rain in Johga-Sima
15. Over There, Over Yonder
16. Dried Gourd Shavings
17. That Child, This Child
18. Suzhou Nocturne
19. An Old Road
20. Komoronauru kojo no Hotori, for voice & piano
21. The Moon Over a Ruined Castle, song

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Yoshikazu Mera   Primary Artist,Counter Tenor (Vocal),Vocals,Voices
Natsuko Uchiyama   Piano,Piano

Technical Credits

Kosaku Yamada   Composer
Hatsuro Takanami   Balance Engineer
Nobu Saito   Text
William Jewson   Liner Notes
Arlette Lemieux-Chene   Liner Note Translation
Robert von Bahr   Remastering
Hisaaki Matsushita   Producer
Katsuko Shimizu   Text
Kota Kiryu   Assistant Engineer
Tadayoshi Kamata   Text
Yumeji Takehisa   Text
Toson Shimazaki   Text
Hakushu Kitahara   Text
Andrew Barnett   Typesetting,Layout Design
Shoko Ema   Text
Yaso Saijyo   Text
Haseo Sugiyama   Composer
Kyllikki Barnett   Typesetting,Layout Design
Julius Wender   Liner Note Translation
Akira Nogami   Text
Rofu Miki   Text
Masako O. Kimura   Cover Painting
Futabako Mitsui   Text
Setsuko Hatani   Text
Hachiro Sato   Text
Bansui Doi   Text
Kougetsu Katsuta   Text
Minoru Fukuda   Executive Producer
Teruya Nonami   Cover Photo
Rentaro Taki   Composer
Meisyu Kashima   Text