Japanese likes Western songs

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 6

Japanese likes Western songs

A pint-sized ball of Oriental energy is the star of the Japanese variety show, Tokyo Revue, now showing in Christchurch. Miss Sumiko Kawasaki, known as Miss Sumiko, stands four feet seven inches tall and weighs just over five stone. Miss Sumiko grew up in Osaka, and says her family were very traditional. But the only things traditional about the diminutive soprano are her very tiny feet. For the last six years she has been living in the United States. A choreographer, who also designs her costumes, and a voice coach and arranger, plus a lot of hard

work have produced a polished, professional singer. It is a long way from the traditional Japanese arts she practised from the age .of five. But she has not forgotten her heritage, and her act with the revenue opens with a traditional song for which Miss Sumiko wears the traditional wedding gown and geisha wig.

To critics who ask why she sings Western songs. Miss Sumiko replies: “You can’t please everyone. If I sing all Japanese songs the people get tired of it because they don’t understand. So I sing American songs, but sing them the Japanese way. It is very hard for us to sing Western songs. I have to practise the diction again and again.” Her voice coach — who works with some famous names and can cost as much as SUSBOO for a single arrangement—often lets Miss Sumiko keep her accent, allowing the songs to take on a distinctive Oriental quality. Her act for the revue includes an international medley, with "Danny Boy” the English-language song. Based in Chicago, Miss Sumiko travels around the United States doing onenight concert stands and Cabaret work. She leads, she says, a very “square” life. The 30 to 40 minutes she spends on stage take “all my energy” and her social life is limited. “You can’t go out to a party and drink a lot, then be able to sing the next night” It can be a lonely existence, and tough at times. Miss Sumiko says she has learned when to be tough and when to be sweet. But to succeed in show business, she believes, a performer must be sincerely interested in people and want to please. “An audience will know immediately if it is just a front.” Miss Sumiko is an extrovert whose comedy routines contain plenty of ad-libbing that comes naturally. “I do plenty of chat chat on stage. I like to talk to people.” She has found New Zealand audiences “very nice, but so quiet. You have to warm them up. In America, if the people like you they stand up and applaud. Here, I have to ask if they want an encore.”