Tag: Yo ga Aketara

Maki Asakawa: Blues, Darkness & the Sound of Japan’s Underground

Some singers seem to belong to daylight. Maki Asakawa belonged to the hours after midnight. Dressed almost entirely in black, often hidden behind dark glasses and surrounded by cigarette smoke, she created a stage presence that seemed inseparable from the music itself. Her low, weathered voice could move through blues, jazz, spirituals, folk songs, chanson, …

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