Share the Love!
December 20, 2002
The subject of love sharing for this update is...
Kawai Sonoko
Who is she? Here's a brief bio:
-Kawai Sonoko was born on June 20th, 1965.
-She won the "Idol Dancepop contest" sponsored by CBS Sony in 1983, and thus began her career in the entertainment industry.
-In 1985, she qualified for the Onyanko Club(Onyanko is a cute way for the Japanese to say "kittens") as member number 12(Onyanko Club was an all girl group, with a lot of members. Several of the famous idols in the 80's started in the Onyanko Club and then went solo.
-Sonoko released her first single "Tears of Jasmine Love" in 1985. The style of the music was of course, as saccharine and cute as can possibly get. Being "cute" was huge in Japan during the 80's, and at age 19, Kawai Sonoko was cute as a button.
-After "graduating" from Onyanko Club, Sonoko embarked on a solo music career. By her third album, "Mode de Sonoko" (1987), she was Producing her own music, and the style started to change into a more mature sound.
-In 1987, She released her 4th album, Rouge et Bleu, and it was a masterpiece. The mood was dark, melancholic, and passionate. The first track, "Jessy's Tragedy" remains one of my favorite songs of all time. With this album, Sonoko completely changed directions, and took the rein firmly as producer. All the music was written by Goto Tsugutoshi, who would become her husband 7 years later. He had been written music for her and Onyanko Club since the early days, and showed his incredible range as a composer/arranger/musician with this album.
-In 1990, Sonoko released her last album "Replica." This was the only album entirely composed by herself. With this album, she became a full-fledged composer/musician. This was a stunning achievement, especially during the climate of the Japanese music industry at the time, when all the pretty/cute idols were just pretty faces(some could actually sing, some couldn't). None of them were musicians or had any ambition as composers. Kawai Sonoko broke the mold in a huge way. She was one of the cutest girls in the idol scene(yet she was never very famous), but she didn't rely on her looks. When other idols were using songs as a vehicle for stardom, Sonoko became serious about music and started producing her own albums, completely changing her musical style. Finally she became a real musician and composer with "Replica," leaving her idol status/image behind permanently. As far as I know, this is unheard of in the Japanese music industry(except maybe Moritaka Chisato, except her music still remains very bouncy and idol-like).
-In 1991, Sonoko announced that she would be on an indefinite sabbatical to "recharge her batteries." No one knows what that really means, and some people even speculated that she was ill and needed to rest. My guess is that she wanted to devote more time to learning musical composition and arrangement.
-In 1994, Sonoko married composer Goto Tsugutoshi, her longtime collaborator.
-In 2000, she made a guest appearance in "Degree of warmth of Lolita," a drama that her husband had composed music for.
So far, she had not made any announcements of returning to the spotlight. Her fans could only keep hoping and waiting.
Here are some of my favorite Kawai Sonoko Songs:
(If you want to purchase any of her CD's, retail stores in Northern California like Nikaku Animart, Mikado Music Japan, Kinokuniya Bookstore..etc are great places to start. If you want to purchase from Asia, places like Yes Asia are great. For used items, my favorite place is Otokichi Premium.)
Jessy's Tragedy (From the album "Rouge et Bleu") You MUST crank up the volume--I mean REALLY crank it up for this song, or else you might as well not bother. It is that good.There's a singles version with different arrangement and lyrics, but this version is much better. The arrangement is so powerful, and the lyrics so emotional and dark. You can just hear the hearbreak from Sonoko voice on this song, and ...I'll just shut up since I could write a whole essay on this song.
Silent Revenge (From the album "Rouge et Bleu") Actually, her songs are not usually this dark, but the overall mood of the "Rouge et Bleu" album is definitely the darkest of all her albums.
Somerset Maugham Over the Equator (From the album "Rouge et Bleu") I think Kawai Sonoko might be the only singer to ever use Somerset Maugham in a song. If you don't know who he is, then you probably didn't pay attention in your English classes.
Tears of Jasmine Love ("Dedication" album version) Love the vocal melody for this song. They don't write songs like this anymore.
For more information on Kawai Sonoko, visit the links I have in the December 20, 2002 Journal entry.
Since Sonoko is so damn cute, here's a couple more pics:
