Akira Kushida's passion for singing and his love of music were keenly felt at "Delight 2019," a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of his singing career, which took place in November at the Yomiuri Otemachi Hall in Tokyo.
The three-hour concert including an interval featured 30 songs, many of them anison (anime songs), that have added colors to his life as a singer.
The concert started with the theme song of "Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan," the first song a tokusatsu sci-fi action TV show offered to Kushida. Apparently, it took many takes for his singing to be approved when he recorded this song. When he thought, "I can't sing this anymore if it's no good this time," he finally got an OK, he said.
"At the time, I didn't understand why the last take was approved. I later learned that it was important to add a superhero's kindness hidden within his strength, and I had to find it by myself," Kushida recalled.
He also sang the theme song from the TV anime "Sento Meka Zabunguru" (Blue Gale Xabungle), astonishing the audience with his voice, which was incredibly powerful for his age, which I guessed from the 50th anniversary of his debut. After singing "Kamen Rider ZX," he recounted a personal encounter with the late manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori, the author of the Kamen Rider series. When Kushida was young, he used to sing in an R&B band at a club owned by Ishinomori. Kushida didn't know that the owner with his characteristically curly hair was the famous manga artist and would call him, "Afuro no oyaji" (an old man with an Afro hairdo). He was later asked to sing the theme song of "Kamen Rider ZX" and met Ishinomori onstage at a Kamen Rider show.
"I wondered why the old man with the Afro was there, and it turned out he was the author!" Kushida told the audience, making them chuckle.
The singer also fondly recalled that a dance to "We are the One -- Bokura wa Hitotsu," the ending theme song from the tokusatsu show "Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger," became an instant hit worldwide. Then he also belted out the theme songs from "Kido Keiji Jiban" (The Mobile Cop Jiban) and "Sekai Ninjasen Jiraiya." The audience erupted when they saw Uchu Keiji Gaban (Space Cop Gabin) and Kinnikuman (Mr. Muscleman) coming on stage in support of Kushida.
After the interval, Kushida showed his forward-looking side by trying to play a saxophone under the direction of Chouemon, a member of rock band Zetki, who also played at the concert.
I personally thought I was fortunate to be able to listen to Kushida at his best singing R&B songs, such as "People Get Ready" and "A Change is Gonna Come." I could hear in his rendition of those songs undercurrents of emotions, such as people's sufferings and sorrow from discrimination and their indomitable feelings that defy their plight. Of course, I couldn't catch all the words because the lyrics were in English, but Kushida's voice duly conveyed those emotions. It made me think that anison and R&B may be close to each other, in that the songs in both genres contain messages for the audience.
Singers MoJo and Takayuki Miyauchi, both good friends of Kushida, rushed to the concert at the last minute to celebrate Kushida's anniversary.
"I have nothing but songs," Kushida said to the audience. "From tomorrow to the future. Every day is a new start."
His powerful and positive singing made everyone in the audience feel great.
Suzuki is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior specialist and an expert on tokusatsu superhero films and dramas.
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