In addition to her original songs, Tokyo based singer-songwriter Saho Terao (寺尾紗穂) has been singing modern versions of Japanese children’s songs or nursery songs from various places she once visited.
This year she released a compilation of those songs, and named it “Watashi no Sukina Warabeuta” (わたしの好きなわらべうた), which means “My Favorite Nursery Songs”.
The first single, “Nanakusa Natsuna”, is a prayer song for harvest and our health. Bassist Wataru Iga thought of Afrobeat-like bass arrangement, and drummer Reisaburo Adachi added characteristic synthesizer beats.
With Saho’s healing voice, it sounds a bit like Björk’s tribal masterpieces.
“Children’s songs have been changing because someone would modify the melody or lyrics in each era. These songs have no rules,” Saho said in a Mikiki interview.
With that in mind, she arranged them freely, according to the atmosphere of the current times. It might be the natural way of succession for these songs.
Stream “Watashi no Sukina Warabeuta” LP on Spotify.
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