Chanson singer Kumiko has decided to release her best album, “Chansontic Songs” on June 25th.
In 2025, the album “AURA” produced by lyricist Matsumoto Takashi will mark the 25th anniversary of his re-debut as Kumiko, and is a memorial year that will be 70 years old, so Kumiko looks back on her 70 years of life and selects songs from original works she has created with lyricists such as Chanson, Matsumoto Takashi, and Yukawa Reiko whom she encountered during her career as a singer, and is a best album featuring 13 gems of jewels.
The album contains five new recordings of songs, but Kumiko, who sang the song when she first appeared in the Kohaku Uta Gassen, became a hot topic.
His signature song, “INORI ~Prayer~” will be his first new recording in 15 years. This song is about the life of Sasaki Sadako, a model for the statue of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and was produced by her nephew Sasaki Yuji. At the time, Kumiko hesitated to sing this song because she had no connection with the atomic bomb survivors or Hiroshima, but Yuji, a second-generation atomic bomb survivor, was entrusted with Kumiko with the desire to convey the anxiety we faced with living and feelings for peace through songs, and decided to face “INORI – Prayer” if she could convey the tragedy by singing. Although 2025 marks 80 years since the end of the war, he is worried about the world where conflict continues, including the progress of Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and with his desire for peace, he decided to record and release INORI again and release the film.
The album also includes new recordings of Yakushimaru Hiroko’s masterpiece “Wo no Tragedy” written by Matsumoto Takashi, “The Silent Moon”, which is written by Agawa Sawako and performed a duet with Kumiko, and Chanson’s masterpiece “Life is Beautiful”.
Matsumoto Takashi also celebrates his 55th anniversary of his lyrics, but last year, “Woman “The Tragedy of W”” which he first performed at a talk and live event with Matsumoto last year, has a more restrained arrangement than the original, and is a deep expression unique to Kumiko, 70 years old. The duet with Agawa Sawako, “The Silent Moon-sama,” is Agawa’s first song to be recorded.
And the song that can be said to be the true essence of chanson singer Kumiko is “Life is Beautiful.”
The legendary chanson cafe “GinPari,” which produced Miwa Akihiro, Kaneko Yukari, and Togawa Masako, and Kumiko made her debut, has become widely known as a “Japanese song” in Japanese lyrics, translated by many lyricists, who were attracted to the beautiful melody of the French song Chanson, and has been sung to this day. “Life is Beautiful” is a masterpiece by Chanson, translated by Koga Riki, one of these lyricists. Koga, who survived after a major air raid in Sasebo when he was a child, used this experience to translate Chanson’s “Life is Beautiful.” Despite being a tragic war experience, the lyrics are written in which the wonderful and beautiful life is created by weaving in love with peace.
The album’s songs include “Shakuri-ku,” from the album “Delasine,” which was written by Matsumoto Takashi, written by Yukawa Reiko and produced by Tsunku♂, the Scottish folk song “The Water Is Wide,” which has been sung by Kumiko since 2014 and has been a long-running hit, the peace song “One Pencil,” by Misora Hibari, and has been friends for 20 years, and has been confirmed to appear in Kumiko’s concert in July 2025 duet song “Where,” released in 2014.
My career as a singer has been supported by many “meetings.”
In 2000, he met lyricist Matsumoto Takashi.
With her re-debut, she was able to sing a lot of songs inspired by an adult woman. The albums include “AURA” from this year and “Delasine” from 2017.
In 2010, INORI featured Sasaki Sadako, a model for the “Statue of the Atomic Bomb” in Hiroshima Peace Park. My nephew, Sasaki Yuji, who wrote the song, entrusted me with the idea of singing it.
(This song will mark the first time in Kohaku Uta Gassen)
This time, with a new recording of the year 80 years since the end of the war, I have to face this song again.
We also had encounters in that sense.
“I Was Not Good at Singing,” composed and sung by Goda Michito, a director of the Singers Association, singer and writer, and sung by himself, is a poem left behind by Sato Genji, who died in legal affairs in the south.
This is a work that I would like to sing now.
In 2015, Yukawa Reiko, who was then director of the Japan Lullaby Association, presented her wish for peace by expressing her wishes for peace. Tsunku joined us as our first job after I was ill.
From Chanson, he wrote “Life is Beautiful” translated by Koga Riki, a senior member of GinPari.
This is a song full of hope for tomorrow, unique to those who have experienced the war who survived the Sasebo Air Raid.
Agawa Sawako met through a connection with Matsumoto Takashi and has many opportunities to join us since then.
There was also the “Silent Moon” that he played duet at last year’s concert. The lyrics of the music were composed by pianist Onuki.
During the duet, he plays “Wheels” with musical Inoue Yoshio.
Yoshio has been friends with me for a long time, as he sings my songs.
This song, sung on the stage of the two of them, is a work from Miki Takashi’s later years.
A lot of things about “meeting.”
In this way, the encounters I have with you have created my current career as a singer.
[Album Information]
Released on Wednesday, June 25th, 2025
“Chansontic Songs – “Meeting” carried the song”
COCP-42504
¥3,182 + tax / ¥3,500 (tax included)
1. Life is beautiful C’est beau la vie *
2. Crowd La foule (2007 release)
3. Hymne à l’amour (2024 release)
4. INORI ~Prayer~ *
5. One Pencil (2014 release)
6. I was bad at singing (entering my hometown) *
7. Kiss (2000 release)
8. Crying (2017 release)
9. Woman From “The Tragedy of W”*
10. The Silent Moon (Kumiko & Agawa Sawako) *
11. Wheels (Kumiko & Inoue Yoshio) (2010 release)
12. Thank you for being born (2015 release)
13. The Water Is Wide (2014 release)
14. Life is beautiful C’est beau la vie (Instrumental)
15. INORI ~Prayer~ (Instrumental)
16. Woman From “The Tragedy of W” (Instrumental)
17. The Silent Moon (Instrumental)
*2025 New Recording
“Showa Juke Box: Evening of Showa Songs and Chansons – Deluxe”
[Performer]Kumiko Tablet Jun
[Date and time]Wednesday, April 23, 2025
➀Doors open 13:00 Show starts 14:00 / ②Doors open 17:00 Show starts 18:00
Ticket sales date: Sunday, January 12th, 2025, 12:00
[Price]➀9,500 yen ②8,500 yen (tax included / all seats reserved)
Notes[Precautions]
*Preschool children are not allowed to enter. Elementary school students and above require tickets.
*Due to unavoidable circumstances, the performers and songs may change.
*Before you visit, please visit Sunrise Promotion Tokyo’s website ( https://sunrisetokyo.com/ )twist
Please check the latest information.
[Contact Us]Sunrise Information 0570-00-3337 (Weekdays 12:00-15:00)
“Congratulations to the age of 70! The special guest of Kumiko’s concert will be Inoue Yoshio.
[Date and Time]Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 Doors open 15:15 Show starts 16:00
[Venue]Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall
[Price]9,500 yen (tax included / All seats reserved)
[OrganizedbySunrisePromotionTokyo
[Contact Us]Sunrise Information 0570-00-3337 (Weekdays 12:00-15:00)
