[JAPAN] Akikawa’s new album shows desire to broaden appeal

April 5, 2008 by Dennis Amith

A J!-ENT Exclusive!

In a recent article on Daily Yomiuri, Sakurai Manabu wrote, “Tenor Masafumi Akikawa’s new album Sen no Kaze ni Natte: Ichigo Ichie was released Wednesday and includes the hit song “Sen no Kaze ni Natte” (a thousand winds)–which is so popular that it was sung at NHK’s Red and White Year-End Song Festival in both 2006 and 2007–as well as a variety of other popular songs.”

“The album includes such old hits as “Iyomante no Yoru,” written by Kazuo Kikuta, which is often sung at graduation ceremonies, Miyuki Nakajima’s “Chijyo no Hoshi,” Anzen-Chitai’s “Wine Red no Kokoro,” and Shinji Tanimura’s “Subaru.”

“Using his memorable voice, Akikawa sings those songs powerfully on the album.”

“Akikawa says he’s determined to sing these pop songs as a tenor and talks about the popular Italian song “O Solo Mio,” which, “Many people may think of as a song for opera singers, but originally it was a pop song. Yet the song has became popular worldwide thanks to the opera singers.”