HIBARI 7 DAYS – Finally a Nana enka live!

Hands down the best event in February!
Summing it in one word: heavenly. Nana’s voice at her best, and I’ve never been this close to Nana for hours! xD

HIBARI 7 DAYS Film Talk & Live!!
美空ひばりに憧れて (Misora Hibari ni Akogarete – Yearning after Hibari Misora)
26 February 2011 @ Setagaya Public Theater
Sessions: Day (3pm) and Night (7pm).

HIBARI 7 DAYS was held to commemorate enka legend Misora Hibari‘s 23rd death anniversary. Funny it’s actually 10 days (18-27 Feb) not 7.. which evoked joke of reading Hibari 7 as “Hibari Nana” xD

Being non-Japanese I didn’t get natural exposure to enka; I only knew her few years ago when Nana ranked Hibari as her favorite singer of all time. I felt pretty bad attending this for Nana, so the least I could do to respect Hibari is buying her Best Album and be familiar with her songs before.

The venue was perfect. Setagaya Public Theater, designed to make the best of stage performance, has small capacity of 600 people, and for Day session I was in the FIRST ROWキ━━（´Д｀）━━タ!!! I didn’t think it’d be really damn close.

That’s the view from my seat! Nana was only 2m away the whole time… I’m not delusional if I say that in more than one occasion, Nana directly looked into my eyes while singing!! (ﾉ´▽｀) My heart was overflowing with happiness that the whole thing felt surreal （*´∀｀*）

At Night, I had broader view of the stage as a whole from row 13 (still fairly near).

Both sessions had similar content/MC, so I’ll wrap ‘em together.
The most noticeable difference was audience. Day had fair numbers of Hibari-fans, while Night was dominated by Nana-fans. I’m glad most people behaved well, tho at Night there were idiots who kept shouting Nana’s name even in Hibari-related talk. -_-;

Katou Kazuya (Hibari Production) greeted us. He’s Hibari’s brother’s son, but Hibari adopted him and he’s been planning many Hibari-related events. Also introduced, event chairman & music expert Satou Toshiaki.

Opening. Starts with short B&W montage film of Hibari’s childhood and growth (BGM: jazzy Shanghai). Hibari was a child prodigy and her career took off when she was 8, we got a glimpse of her singing and acting in movies.

Introducing Sonoda Band, instrumental band consisting 6 young Todai boys (smart, talented, and kinda cute.. xD) led by Sonoda. They rearranged SIXTY Hibari songs for the whole event.. must be tough, but great work!

And finally, Nana!!

Purple belt specifically chosen because it’s Hibari’s color.

Short talk on how Nana has been admiring Hibari since she was an aspiring enka singer blabla nothing we don’t already know. In Day event, Satou even brought Shin’ai book on stage and admitted he “read it 3x” LOL

1. 悲しき口笛 (Kanashiki Kuchibue)
2. 東京キッド (Tokyo Kid)

Swapped the order at Night. Both were Hibari’s early hits, recorded when she was 12. Nana performed both with matured style. Loved Tokyo Kid <3

MC. Nana noticed the odd % of young audience, and asked if any of us barely know Hibari (few famous songs count) and many raised hands, including me. She then quickly explained about the penlights waving in her usual live to the (probably confused) old folks, which was a greenlit so more fans took out their penlights. I didn’t. I just clapped when necessary.

3. 港町十三番地 (Minatomachi 13-banchi)

I’ve expected plenty papa-related stories with this being the stage Nana’s father had dreamed of.. so I wasn’t surprised when Nana said she chose this song to reminisce her childhood memories in hometown Niihama, close to bay where Nana’s father used to bring her fishing.

Film. Nana personally picked 3 songs of Hibari’s Tokyo Dome live, a year before she passed away. Young Nana watched it on TV (was it aired live?). I wasn’t even born yet.. xD

* 津軽のふるさと (Tsugaru no Furusato)
* りんご追分 (Ringo Oiwake)
* 悲しい酒 (Kanashii Sake)

Nana stayed on stage, watching from a prepared seat. It was dark but front-seaters could see Nana’s silhouette.. she was really fixated on the video like a good fangirl. :3 Kanashii Sake was awesome btw.

15 mins break here. Satou encouraged us to get Hibari goods that “not on sale in Amazon” lulz. I went to check it out, there were weird stuff from socks to umbrellas, from pens to towels. Sorry no $ ;__;

After the break, Sonoda Band performed a special arrangement of  Jinsei Ichiro on top of Hibari’s singing in Brazil live video. Pretty impressive.

Then Nana’s back on stage.

4. あの丘越えて (Ano Oka Koete)
5. 真っ赤な太陽 (Makka na Taiyou)

Loved the “Yahho~yahhooo~” part in Ano Oka Koete, but I had Makka na Taiyou looping in my head for the next week. Easily personal favorite! Nana’s version was uh… sexy? Expected no less from THE ero-shishou! (〃∇〃) In Night, fans even prepared red lights LOL, the atmosphere got really good that Nana accidentally shouted “hey!” once… ^^;

MC. Nana loved Makka na Taiyou since she first heard it back in grade school. Usually Nana just sang whatever papa asked to, but for the first time she requested to practice this.. too bad papa decided it’s way too fast for lil’ Nana. ^^;; Papa believed that enka can’t be performed with only good vocal/technique, but also deep understanding of what the song means.

Nana said she had waited forever to perform enka professionally, but never got the chance until Zachou Kouen, and now standing on this stage..

6. 川の流れのように (Kawa no Nagare no Youni)

..the ultimate Hibari song, properly awarded the best Japanese song of all time. With moving melody and realistic portrayal of life (生きることは旅すること、終わりのないこの道 Living is like an endless journey), before long I felt my chest tightens and had teary eyes.., tho nothing compared to the obaa-san group near me who cried buckets. ^^;; I’m proud that Nana could revive Hibari’s presence into her real fans.

Follows with the talk about wanting to convey her feelings to papa. *hints next song*

7. 深愛 (Shin’ai)

That was surprising. I didn’t want to wave lights in this event, but definitely exception for Nana’s original… glad I had a white light. Flawless Shin’ai for Day, but teary Nana at Night made it sounded shaky at times.

Ending. Short talk mostly both MC praising Nana. Then closing the event with Jinsei Ichiro live @ Tokyo Dome screening with everyone! In Night, MC prepared penlights for them and Nana… LOL Nana’s obviously isn’t used to it, but she did well. :3 Lastly, usual stuff of performers and audience thanking each other before they all left.

Day event ended here.

But not Night event. While Hibari’s jazz song was playing, nobody left their seats and kept clapping.. no “encore” shouts, just claps. And surprisingly, they responded!! Starting from Sonoda Band, everyone came back! It was spontaneous, but they decided to give us fans special encore! They actually had to discuss on stage ^^;; before deciding on..

EN-1. あの丘越えて (Ano Oka Koete)

Aw no Makka na Taiyou, but not complaining. :3 lol my first experience with unprepared encore was in enka event. xD

Overall.
Nana has a father complex? ^^;; Not that it’s bad, I kinda have it too *runs*

Anyway. Night was better in a way that Nana wasn’t as nervous as Day, and plus encore. But I prefer my heavenly experience in Day. I noticed many cameras, especially at Night. Home release might be impossible, but here’s hoping for at least footage .. or mini-album? Please? >_<; Also, there were many songs I want to hear (Kanashii Sake, Midaregami), so I hope they invite Nana again next time!

Oh btw this is the CD I bought, in case anyone’s interested.

It has all songs Nana performed in this live, and plenty good stuff. I envy most Nana fans who didn’t have to buy it because every Japanese household already has one. xD