Jpop: Asakura Saya ft Gomess - River Boat Song (民謡日本一)

The lovely and slightly nerdy Asakura Saya which caught my attention when singing so charmingly in the Yamagata dialect now returns with new interpretation of a classic folk song about the river Mogami. This time though, she cooperates with the autistic rapper Gomess to produce something more modern, where she tries to fuse modern sounds with the traditional melody and with Gomess soft and humble rap suiting her airily song perfect. To be honest, it sounds very much like an updated enka song with a rap section, but that is very fine with me.

• Asakura Saya ft Gomess - River Boat Song (民謡日本一)

Jpop: Kanjani8 (関ジャニ∞)

The guys at Kanjani8 is a sympathetic japanese group that mixes all sorts of music, with nostalgic streaks of enka that is very much visible in their funny video "Candy my love", where they double the fun by appearing dressed as idol girls.

• Kanjani8 - Candy my love

Jpop: Iwasa Misaki (岩佐 美咲)

AKB48-member Iwasa Misaki goes in the direction of traditional song by doing an Enka album, with the third single Affection of Tomonoura, which is a very scenic port town with a very characteristic crescent shaped bay. If you want a alternative take on Enka, I recommend listening to Omodaka sampling it and combining it with bitpop.

• Iwasi Misaki - Affection of Tomonoura (鞆の浦慕情)
• Iwasi Misaki - Fall-in-love fortune cookies (恋するフォーチュンクッキー)
• Iwasi Misaki - Remains of love... (愛のままで...)