Sakura Ballads

So far I've introduced some relatively upbeat Sakura songs, from the hip-hopish Ketsumishi to the happy pop of Otsuka Ai. Today, I'm going with a more traditional ballad, kind of a slow transition to when I get with the really traditional, enka ballads.Naotarou Moriyama had a hit with his 'Sakura' song in March of 2003. It was the number 4 single in 2003, and was still strong enough to end up 32nd in 2004. It is a song of farewell, saying goodbye to friends as we look to the future. "Waiting for the day when we will meet again, as the cherry blossoms fall"Not surprisingly, Sakura songs are usually popular graduation anthems. The Japanese school year ends at the same time that the cherry blossoms begin falling, and these songs conjure up a sense of nostalgia for both young and old.Listen early in the song when Moriyama-san sings "Ano hi no uta ga kikoeru". I mentioned in the last post that one of the standards of Japanese song lyrics is talking about 'that day' or 'ano hi'. In this instance, he is singing about 'hearing the song from that day'.Which is exactly what this song would become.