Background
Her father is Hisashi Moriyama, a pioneer of Japanese jazz.
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Ryoko Moriyama
Edit Profile森山 良子
singer-songwriter jazz musician
Education
Seijo University.
Career
Her son Naotaro Moriyama is a singer. She is known as the Japanese Joan Baez, or the Queen of college folk. Her songs tend not to become best sellers but her most famous song is "Satokibi Batake".
This song is about a tragedy during the Battle of Okinawa.
The song"s full version is 10 minutes. When this song was first released, it was thought to be too long to air on the radio, but now the song is popular in Japan.
Every summer, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai air a shorter version as a symbol of the "Number War Campaign". In the song, an imitative word "Zawawa" is repeated 66 times, because of this, it is often called "Zawawa".
Moriyama often called "Satokibi Batake" "Zawawa" as a joke.
Her 1969 recording of "Kinijirareta koi" ("Unpermitted Love") sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. A more recent hit song is "Nada Sōsō," a poem set to music by Begin (band), and sung by Rimi Natsukawa. Some of her songs, such as "Kono hiroi nohara ippai" and "Dona dona", now appear in school textbooks.
She sang a theme song at Nagano Olympics opening ceremony in 1998.
Inspired by "Satokibi Batake", a television drama called Satokibi Batake no uta (Song of the Sugarcane field) was made. Akashiya Sanma takes the lead role as a soldier who refused to kill.
Nada Sōsō" also features in a television program Nada Sōsō means teardrops in Okinawa dialect.
The song describes the experience of being unable to meet the person you love most.
The song may refer to the death of Moriyama"s brother.
Connections
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Born
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Nationality
Japan