Enka singer Muraki Dan (45), the last student of the late composer Funamura Toru, who is the representative of Japan’s postwar music world, and celebrated his 10th anniversary this year after making his debut with “Gozaru~GOZARU~” produced by Funaki Kazuo on February 17, 2016, held a solo live performance commemorating his 10th anniversary at Koga Masao Music Museum Keyaki Hall in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo on the 19th.
This special live performance is performed live with acoustic compositions by the band “Koda Tachiba Band” (piano Tsuta Masakabu, bassist Asamoto Yoshitetsu, guitarist Saito Isao, accordionist Mizuno Hirofumi, violinist Motoi Nobu), led by Funamura’s eldest son and author and arranger Tsuta Masakabu. As many passionate fans from when they first debuted gathered at the venue, after singing “Gozaru~GOZARU~” at the opening, singer Funaki Kazuo, who composed the song, suddenly appeared with a bouquet of bright red roses. Surprising voices were raised from the audience, and Funaki gave a congratulations to the cute junior singer, making a joke, “It’s been 10 years and it’s not like we’re going to miss the trends in our world, so we brought a gift certificate worth 100,000 yen separately from the bouquet.”
Muraki rolled his eyes and said, “I was really surprised,” and was moved to the audience, “Funoki-san is a senior and to me, like an old man.” He said, “I’ve been here for 10 years until today, but I’ve met a lot of people, and there was a time when I couldn’t sing in front of you for about two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I managed to get through it safely. I don’t know how many more years I’ll be able to continue singing, but I’ll be able to deliver great songs and sing songs that I can satisfy myself.
I want to sing as much as I can,” he said. He then sang Funaki Kazuo’s medleys such as “Sanzashi Love Song,” “Star of Friendship,” his previous single, “Runten,” and “School Trip,” and “Third Year High School Student.”
In the second half, students from Funamura Toru, Shizutaro (60), Amakusa Jiro (53), and Suzuyu (51), rushed to cheer, and from their latest songs, they were duets of Funamura Melody’s masterpieces: Shizuku (Shizuku), Amakusa’s “Amakusa Jouu”, Shizuku’s “Ouru Erijii”, and Muraki’s “Yagiri no Washi”, Amakusa’s “Osho”, and Shizuku’s “Onna no Yado”.
All of them sang Funamura’s “Brother Fune,” a piece that inspired Muraki to become a singer, and his brother Toba Ichiro, who made the song a huge hit, said, “Congratulations to Muraki-kun on the 10th anniversary of Muraki-kun. As Funamura-sensei’s final student will be making his debut, the teacher was given a lesson, and it has been 10 years since then… I’m so moved. I truly express my history with his past achievements and wonderful songs, and I treasure Funamura-sensei’s teachings and look forward to further leaps forward.” Then Toba suddenly came across.
Appears. With the audience excited, the audience was also excited, and the performances of Funamura’s work “Mom Who Smells the Sea” were filled with flowers, and all Funamura students sang Toba’s hit song “Oyaji” and there was a moving scene where Muraki was so moved that she couldn’t sing the song.
The finale was his 10th latest single, released on January 22nd this year, and he performed “Mother’s Sea Song” (poem written by Hara Fumihiko, written and arranged by Tsuta Masakabu), which sings the hearts of parents and parents, set in the sea, and the audience was entertained until the very end with a program of 18 songs.
After the song was over, he was very impressed, saying, “Funoki-san first came and Toba’s big brother came to the end, but it was a live performance with gratitude to the audience who gathered today, and I’ve always wanted to do it with my brothers (brothers) so I’m glad that this was possible. I want to continue to leave behind some great songs for the next year and year.”
