Various Artists
Is It Really Goodbye? More Ryūkōka Recordings, 1929-1938 (Tape)
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*In process of stocking* Further to the label’s ‘Longing for the Shadow’ collection, ‘Is It Really Goodbye?’ seeks out 16 ghostly slow dancing partners that reflect a time when once mutually exclusive cultures were beginning to merge and create new fusions, ahead of a full tilt toward western styles that came with the post-war US occupation. They're haunting, sultry and elegant songs that connect with the blues from a more distant, oblique angle, but share the focus on groove and jangling melody, with standout pieces strewn between the banjo-like melody of Issei Mishima’s ‘Over the Kuroshio’ and the smoky jazz torchsong of ‘Blues for Farewell’ by Noriko Awaya, or the ghostly dancehall reverie ‘Let’s Dance The Tango’ from Rumiko Yotsuya.
Release notes
A further volume of ryūkōka recordings, covering the end of the 1920s though to the late 1930s, supplementing the recent Longing for the Shadow collection... Emerging during the early stages of the recording industry in Japan, the ryūkōka style adopted western classical, blues & jazz elements into traditional and classical Japanese music. Is It Really Goodbye? further collects pre-war ryūkōka records which capture the hauntingly unique sound of a cultural merging that was starting to reflect…
| A1 | Let's Dance The Tango | 3:07 | |
| A2 | A Wandering Journey | 3:22 | |
| A3 | White Camellia Song | 3:19 | |
| A4 | Oh, That's It | 2:52 | |
| A5 | Kazuhisa Yamadera | 3:13 | |
| A6 | Blues For Farewell | 3:26 | |
| A7 | Kanaka's Daughter | 3:12 | |
| A8 | Tokyo March | 2:37 | |
| B1 | I'll Forget It | 3:12 | |
| B2 | Yukari's Song | 3:21 | |
| B3 | Recollection | 3:37 | |
| B4 | Tairiku Bushi | 3:18 | |
| B5 | Over The Kuroshio | 3:06 | |
| B6 | The Izu Dancer (Dancer's Song) | 3:03 | |
| B7 | Hatsukoi Nikki | 3:03 | |
| B8 | Is It Really Goodbye? | 3:19 |
