Eri Sugai's voice is often heard in her native Japan because she has sung on more than 200 television commercials. In Japan she also has become an important composer, vocal arranger and pop music studio session singer. But her far-reaching vision of vocal possibilities in modern music can now be heard for the first time in the United States on her solo album Mai from Pacific Moon Records.
The title, Mai, means "dance" in Japanese and on this recording Eri's voice dances across the tracks like a whirling nymph one moment, an angelic choir the next and then a playful Tinkerbell. Almost all of the lead and backing vocals on the album are by Sugai, although she hands over lead vocals to Anna Sugar on "Honen Bushi" and Anna helps with backing vocals on "Rakuen." Eri's vocals are often complex, multi-tracked choir-like choruses overdubbed dozens of times to provide a rich tapestry of singing, both in Japanese and as wordless vocals. Her voice is purposely used as an instrument, and, in most songs, as an ensemble of instruments. This style of singing has been popularized in recent years by Enya (singing in Gaelic), Sheila Chandra (English and wordless vocals influenced by her roots in Great Britain and India), the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (who sang in Latin on their multi-million-selling Chant album), and Bel Canto (a Norwegian group featuring ethereal vocalist Anneli Marian Drecker). Now Eri Sugai (pronounced airy soo-gah'-ee) steps forward on Mai with her own unique sound featuring Far Eastern elements.
Although the singing is the focal point on Mai (pronounced "my"), there also is sparse, hauntingly-beautiful instrumentation that features traditional Oriental-folk sounds from the shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute), sho (an ancient reed instrument, originally from Indochina, made by bundling 17 pieces of bamboo of varying lengths), dizi (a small Chinese flute from the Tang Age two-thousand-years-ago), koto (a long Japanese zither, sometimes called a sou) and quena (a bamboo flute that originated as a clay or bone flute in South America two-thousand-years-ago). In addition, these ancient sounds are mixed with Western-style instruments such as piano, bass and orchestral strings.
Sugai composed and arranged all of the songs on the album, and co-produced it with Kazurnasa Yoshioka (one of Pacific Moon's founders and regular producers). Pacific Moon executives believe mood and ambience are important when listening to music, so they package scented incense sticks inside each CD case.
Since she was a small girl, Eri's two biggest influences have been American pop music and church music. This background becomes evident on Mai. "A Song of Birth," for example, almost sounds like an all-girl pop group like The Go-Go's singing in Japanese a capella. "Honen Bushi" is strongly rhythmic with "edgy" pop vocals. For "China Rose," Eri says, "I created this song wondering if I could capture an Asian taste with independent melodies going all at once. I took wordless sounds, coined just for this album, and made melodies as though spinning two, then three, colored strands into a thread." Other tunes, such as "Konjaku Monogatari" and the title track "Mai," have a choir-like church feeling with multiple voices that seem to echo as if in a cathedral.
Eri was born in the large Japanese city of Osaka and was interested in music from an early age. When she was young, she sang along to records by American pop and rock acts such as The Carpenters, Carole King, Bette Midler, Karia Bonoff, The Doobie Brothers and Olivia NewtonJohn, as well as acts with a country-rock sound including Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles and Little Feat. As she got older, she was influenced by the pop-rock of Bonnie Raitt, but also additional country artists like The Judds, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Suzy Bogguss, and Mark O'Connor & The New Nashville Cats.
Following her education, Sugai began singing professionally when she was 23-years-old and still in Osaka. Eventually, she moved to Tokyo to further her musical career. "I came from my hometown to this big city alone," she states, "but I'm not lonely and I'm fine. I wanted to send a message like 'don't worry about me' to my father and mother who were still living in Osaka, so when I recorded my first album, I titled it Watashi Wa Genki Davo which means I'm Fine and So Happy'." The album, which was released in 1994, has not yet been issued in the United States.
With hard work and persistence, Eri slowly became one of the "first call" session singers in Tokyo. Her singing has been heard by millions of consumers listening to radio and television commercials for products and services such as cars, food, perfume, telephone, Coca Cola, banks, insurance and many others. Sugai also has become known for her songwriting abilities, not only with advertisements, but in the Japanese pop music world. She has written more than 50 compositions that have been recorded by other Japanese artists. Two of her tunes "Dakishimete Destiny" by Eriko Miura and "Anataga lrukara Kokoniiru" by Akane Oda - were Top 40 chart hits in her homeland. In addition to singing on commercials, Eri has made a name for herself as a hot session singer on popular recordings. For example, she sang backing vocals on the Japanese hit single "Imouto Yo" by the male pop duo Chage & Aska.
"The human voice has the power to move people," says Eri. "Since the dawn of history, among all the animals which use their voice as a way to transfer intentions, only human beings have elevated songs to an art form. Songs have always been loved by people, so I wanted to make a primarily vocal album to show some of what is possible for the human voice to accomplish."
Discography:
Air [With Stella Mirus]
Watashi Wa Genki Tayo
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