Japan.

In lieu of Japan being in the news this week 'cause of that earthquake, I thought I'd talk about my favorite genre of music to come out of it: enka. Enka started out in the 19th century as sort of a cross of east and west - it's stayed largely that, though after World War II there was another shift in it with the American occupation and jazz became a huge influence in the 1950s. As a result, enka is very popular with the generation who grew up with it then - that's right: old people.

There are both male and female enka singers who are considered stars in that universe - one in particular of whom I am thinking is Hibari Misora. This lady was born in the late '30s, and made her debut when she was twelve. She had more of a jazz career in the '50s and '60s, (which too became very popular in post-war Japan) but starting in the '60s and going into the '70s she turned more to enka. She continued appearing on TV and doing some shows until she died in 1989.

In Japan, cross-dressing has always been somewhat common in the entertainment industry, starting with the all-male casts of both noh and kabuki plays hundreds of years ago. Once women began to take the stage prominently (mostly in the 20th century, though women sometimes did appear in kabuki - I don't think in noh too much, though) the same applied; though it is curious that the cross-dressing was usually only in kimono rather than western clothes (basically, men wear dark, subdued colors at any age; girls and young women typically wear brighter colors. Once a women is married, however, her kimono gradually gets more...uhh, boring?...as with the knot in the obi) - and might sing from a man's point of view.

Another woman in this world is Sachiko Kobayashi - her work is definitely best-known in Japan (as with most of these stars, of course), most notably her work for Pokemon. She has sung for the popular songs in the original Japanese shows and the first movie (all of which the American companies dubbed over or replaced completely).

One last note: although in Japanese culture women are expected to speak very high (the higher, the more polite/feminine), female enka singers typically sing VERY low and in their chest. Not sure why - maybe they're trying to imitate the men? Perhaps too to manipulate their vibrato more - I don't know much about how to do that, but I do know that one particular characteristic of enka is a VERY wide vibrato - purposefully.