Enka

Enka is a Japanese popular-song style known for expressive singing, sentimental themes, and melodic inflections associated with traditional Japanese music.

Kobushi: Kobushi is a Japanese vocal ornament that bends or shakes a sustained note through small pitch changes. Its flexible pitch turns are among enka's most recognizable vocal gestures.
Enka (Meiji period): Meiji-period enka was political street music that spread speeches and protest messages through song. This earlier use of the name differs sharply from the later popular-song style.
Hachirō Kasuga: Hachirō Kasuga was a Japanese enka singer whose 1954 hit 'Otomi-san' became a major postwar success. His breakthrough helped establish the commercial prominence of postwar enka.
Karaoke: Karaoke is a form of entertainment in which people sing along to recorded instrumental music, often with displayed lyrics. Enka's recognizable melodies and ornamented vocals make it a longstanding karaoke repertoire.
Nostalgia: Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for an earlier time or a remembered place. Enka often frames loss and separation through a longing for an idealized past.
Yonanuki scale: The yonanuki scale is a Japanese pentatonic scale that omits the fourth and seventh degrees of a major scale. Its pentatonic sound helps shape melodies often associated with enka.
Ryūkōka: Ryūkōka was Japanese popular song that flourished from the 1920s through the early postwar years. Its urban song conventions helped shape enka's emergence as a popular style.
Michiya Mihashi: Michiya Mihashi was a Japanese singer known for performing min'yō and popular songs. His folk-song background connected enka's commercial sound with min'yō performance.
Japanese television drama: Japanese television drama is scripted dramatic programming produced for broadcast or streaming audiences in Japan. Enka songs have been used to evoke longing, hardship, and nostalgia in dramatic settings.
Japanese identity: Japanese identity encompasses the cultural, social, and historical ways people understand belonging to Japan. Enka's association with traditional melodic inflections has made it a symbol in debates about cultural identity.

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