RAG MusicJapanese Enka
Lovely enka

A collection of enka songs with “Blues” in the title: masterpieces that sing of sorrow

When you look through enka song titles, many of you may have noticed there are a lot of tracks called “___ Blues.”

Blues is a music genre born in America, where singers pour a range of emotions into songs built on a particular rhythm and chord progression.

In Japan’s enka scene, many songs began to be composed with the blues in mind, and a particularly large number of melancholy tunes were released.

In this article, we’ll introduce classic enka songs whose titles include the word “Blues.”

Listen to them while picturing the scenes and emotions woven into each track.

Collection of enka songs with “Blues” in the title: Classic laments (11–20)

A woman’s heartYashiro Aki

Aki Yashiro 'Onna-gokoro' (A Woman's Heart)
A woman's heartYashiro Aki

Aki Yashiro is an enka singer, but her background includes jazz and blues.

The boundary between enka and blues can be hard to draw.

That’s because most people who aspire to be singers tend to like Western jazz and blues when they’re young.

However, as they pursue a singing career in Japan, it’s only natural that they change course and gradually shift to enka.

If you’re going to sing karaoke, you should be aware of that background too.

Entertainment District BluesMori Shinichi

This is a blues number by Shinichi Mori whose low, subdued, and dandy musical style evokes a mature allure.

It’s also a very popular karaoke song, widely beloved by middle-aged and older listeners, and it’s a classic that comes highly recommended.

Yanagase BluesMikawa Ken’ichi

This is a blues piece by Kenichi Mikawa, an artist who embodies both masculinity and femininity, whose distinctive, idiosyncratic vocals create an addictive charm.

The key progression makes it easy to sing at karaoke, making it a relatively approachable work even for beginners.