Spell-binding. I hate to use that term but what else can you use to describe Nachiko Tateoka’s 1980 debut, 1st – 薬屋の娘 (or The Daughter of a Pharmacist)? An engrossing, hypnotic, melange of vanguard Japanese pop music treating you to ideas gleaned from spiritual jazz, homegrown folk, psychedelia, and next-gen avant prog, seemed the unlikeliest candidate to launch the first Japanese female artist on the Epic/Sony record label.
Yet, this album exists — a product of a young fashion model-turned-singer’s attempt to forge her own identity, as best she could, as fully she would in the studio and on tape, all the while trying to understand the unlikely place she landed in. Much like her closest artistic analog, Kate Bush, youth and verb allowed Nashiko to navigate the waters the best she could.
When I first heard this album it was Nachiko’s voice that instantly grabbed me. Breathing of fire and slipping like mercury squeezing through every crevice of her fascinating, indescribable music, it was this voice that should have landed a thousand places, yet seemed entirely unknown (but for a few loyal fans). I kept going back to it. I kept asking myself: who was that singer behind the mask? What led her to this? I had to find a way to reach her.
Born in Tokyo but now living in the tropical Japanese island of Okinawa, Nachiko was kind enough to take time to answer myriad questions I had about her career and shed light into a repetitive history (and industry) that isn’t too kind to young women much like her. Working with whom Nachiko calls Japan’s Pink Floyd, together, they created an album that’s still as out of time. Our aim today, though: to get to understand her.
(A huge thanks to Nachiko for her time and Austin Tretwold of Tone Poem for his contribution translating a big chunk of this interview.)
F/S: Can you share some background about yourself? Where are you from and where are you now?
Nachiko: My father is a pharmacist and a National qualification maniac. Although it made her older, my mother graduated from two colleges. She is obsessed with her major, geology. Both of them are a bit strange. Now she seems to alway enjoy seeing contour lines and reading technical books on geology.
My relatives, including my parents, think its embarrassing to be unable to play the piano.
My two cousins graduated from the Department of Traditional Japanese Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, and were Traditional Japanese musicians. They can play the koto, shamisen, and sing Nagauta. One of my relatives is a classical Japanese dancer, too.
I was always compared to them and treated as an incompetent child.
I was born around Tokyo Tower. However, after being shaken by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and for other reasons, I moved to Okinawa, a subtropical region, five years ago.
F/S: How did you start your music career?
Nachiko: It started when I was scouted for a modeling job.
There was a piano in a room of a modeling agency. I was there waiting and was bored, so I killed time singing and playing it. My boss saw this and gave me not modeling jobs but singing jobs. I began by singing commercial jingles.
I was able to sight-sing because I’d grown up playing classical piano. Maybe, they took advantage of me then.
That is how I started my music career.
F/S: What kind of music did you listen to when you were younger?
Nachiko: I listened to literally every song on the radio. I was happy to listen to songs on American Forces Network, too. I was hungry for music any way I could find it.
When I liked something, I borrowed an album from my friends or got the record. I mostly listened to pop music then and folk songs.
F/S: Can you explain how or why you got signed to EPIC/SONY?
Nachiko: Actually, I do not know the whole story myself! I thought I got signed to another record company and was ready for my debut.
Then, one day, a middle-aged man came to see me.
I was recording an advertising jingle, which I composed, for a big commercial then, so I could not excuse myself to see him. The man, however, put a folding chair for me and waited in a corridor till nighttime.
He gave me his card. Then, I noticed that he was the CEO of EPIC/SONY. He told me that he wanted to talk with me. We had some coffee and said goodbye.
Next time I went to the modeling agency, I was told that the company made a contract with EPIC/SONY, and I had to release five albums.
It was during the “bubble economy” in Japan, and I heard that the modeling agency received enormous money from this deal. I really dedicated myself to making these albums, but, at the time I released the third album, the agency had used up all the money from EPIC/SONY, so I could not make two more albums.
I was supposed to make five albums and the contract should have been automatically renewed, but I could not make two more albums and the contract was left incomplete in the end.
F/S: What were the recording sessions like for you on 1st – 薬屋の娘?
Nachiko: I remember this one the most of all.
The members were musicians said to be “Pink Floyd of Japan”, and I stayed in a studio and made the album with them.
During the recording, a big earthquake occurred right in the city. We were recording a track with the sound loud, and the earthquake made it echo. We thought a bomb had been dropped. Since I made a lot of the rhythms on the album, I had been singing earlier versions of the songs every day for hours. In these sessions, I tried to sing slightly slower than the band’s sounds.
I lit fireworks in the studio, which made everyone panic, and some other day I nearly failed to escape from the earthquake. This, I remember a lot.
At that time, I was trying really hard to make songs mimicking catching music notes, floating in the air, inside a butterfly net.
F/S: Can you describe the kind of music you made then or the kind of music you wanted to make?
Nachiko: My works then were spewed out by understanding the Japanese language, classical music, the vital sense of nature, traditional Japanese musical scale, comfort, and challenge.
I liked every kind of song, so I tried to make pop music and, with the other hand, add a maniac tone. However, the songs on the records were chosen by label staff. I was always thinking that I wanted to go on in a different direction.
My music felt like an expulsion to me. From it, I learned how I was. It was a way to relieve my stress. It was full of human traits.
What I really wanted was a direction where many people could listen to the record and go to my concert and experience it live.
I did not want to be a musician shut deep inside. I wanted to create music in which my fans and I could communicate. I wanted to create music which sent a strong message against a world where justice was changing. I wanted to create music which cultivated the sensitivity of my fans.
I did not understand the agency’s policy of not letting me show up in front of people, making me seem mysterious. Afterwards, I realized why. The policy was an excuse. In fact, the agency used up the advertising expenses and all the money from EPIC/SONY, which blocked this way. It was too late when I realized it.
I was too ignorant of the music industry and the people surrounding me. It was my fault.
I was asked to make five albums by EPIC/SONY, so I was surprised to know the reason why I could not make two more. Even now, I feel my career half-baked.
F/S: How successful was your music career at this time?
Nachiko: This question is very difficult to answer. Many people think that being in the music business can be successful and selling music is the goal. I had not been creating music just for business. Even when I had a chance, I did not go for it. I think it was far from success.
My view on “success” may be a little bit different from others. However, I am really glad to know that there are still many fans who remember me for decades. Thanks to those fans, I was able to re-release those EPIC/SONY albums, to which I added some singles from other CDs.
F/S: I hear the influence of jazz, world music, and progressive music in 1st – 薬屋の娘 Can you explain what this album is about?
Nachiko: I understand you listened to the album deeply. Thank you.
When I made this album, I sent Carlos Santana’s Illuminations as a sample. Although I had been listening to many kinds of songs, I could not get this album out of my head.
The song “水の炎” uses traditional Japanese musical scale in the middle.
This album is about human edicts such as “Water fire rising from asphalt”, “The process of souls starting a journey”, “Where love is buried and what to do”, and “Don’t eat footprints”. It is about the way to the farthest land of madness and illusions. The theme is “Don’t be at the mercy of daily life and take a closer look”, which means that you can see, if you really try.
I want others to develop these sensitivities and look around. It is my first album against the biased values and pushing for the change of justice through time.
F/S: You have such a distinctive voice, how did you come about growing into it?
Nachiko: I had been learning the piano since I was 3 years old. And while playing the piano, I was simultaneously making songs. I was composing piano pieces without a particular song in mind. I started by humming, to which I added lyrics to the songs. Until I was about 18, I played the piano for 4-5 hours every day and sang songs for hours. When I was a middle school student, a classical music vocalist teacher became my teacher. After that, every day I practiced vocal and Italian songs. It was difficult for me to sing out. Because the teacher was very strict. This continued until my father prohibited my vocal music practice. After that, I practiced vocalization using the method I learned at that time.
F/S: How were you introduced to those members, Daisaku Kume, Ken Watanabe, and Katsutoshi Morizono (just to name a few) who made up the backing band for those albums? I couldn’t quite find out who played on your third record. I believe they turned out to make amazing music, as well, with groups like Paradigm Shift and Prism.
Nachiko: It was a total coincidence to have met a wonderful backing band. They were progressive and technical people.
Among my backing band, there were musicians who were particularly impressive. Guitarist Katsutoshi Morizono (He was called the Japanese David Gilmour. He is my favorite guitarist. Kenji Ohmura (Yellow Magic Orchestra guitarist). He plays on my 3rd album. He was a very sensitive and skillful guitarist. I made my lyrics correspond to his guitar playing. It is very unfortunate to think of his early passing. Bassist Ken Watanabe also understood my personality and feelings. My 4th album was released in 2013 by another major Japanese record company instead of Sony. I also participate in “Warming up”.
F/S: How old were you when you began recording your first album? Did your age or gender play any role in the way you were treated by the record company?
Nachiko: Up until my release with EPIC/Sony I was singing commercial songs. I was trying hard to get a job writing and composing TV commercials in a competition. Because I was young, there were many things I didn’t understand. At the age of 19, I met people from two major record companies. I don’t quite know the particulars. At the age of 20, I started doing original recordings of entire compositions for the first time.
At that time, the president, managing director, and director of EPIC/Sony were very caring and precious to me. They were kind and considerate. They described me as being ahead of the curve, unique, and fun. They said I was like a young boy. I wonder if perhaps my difference in gender and age didn’t matter to them. However, the producer of my agency said that they wanted to make me mysterious. So they avoided exposing me.
F/S: Did you feel your music belonged to any Japanese music scene at the time? I noticed that your final album from this era, III – 髪舞 / ナチコ・サード, took a bit more of a commercial turn. It’s less sprawling and experimental than the previous one.
Nachiko: It was completely different from the Japanese music scene. I felt like I was existing in a vacuum. At that time, the producer of my agency insisted on music that would sell well. I’ve been making commercial songs for a long time, so I wrote a lot of impressive and “familiar”-sounding music. However, no matter how many songs I wrote, none were selected for my album. My music had an even more esoteric image. My 3rd album was the first that I had produced on my own. They’re not credited, but Prism guitarist Akira Wada also participated.
The 1st and 2nd studio recordings were more of a case of me and the musicians at a recording, camping together at a local studio. However, the 3rd album was in the form of me, an engineer, and an arranger working together the entire time, with musicians coming to the studio. Around this time, my agency was under financial pressure and didn’t assist or get involved.
What makes my 3rd album a little different from the previous one is that I had freedom in making it. But unfortunately, this album wasn’t promoted either. The stylist of the album jacket went to London with the photo from the jacket of this album and became the stylist of an overseas band. I believe they became in charge of styling Duran Duran, and the British band, Japan. The staff in charge of my album took it and turned it into their business. I had just finished the album and was stuck with the contract. I can hardly remember it now. It’s just a memory.
F/S: I guess, the big question is: What became of your musical career after your third record? Did you continue elsewhere? Or is your latest music picking up where you wanted to leave off?
Nachiko: The Japanese music scene is peculiar, I suppose. I quit writing songs for a while to publish my work. The industry was divided into specific productions – extremely young girls & boys, enka, and studio musicians (specializing in backing). I didn’t fit into any of these roles. I wrote songs about my own life – for the sake of my own family. My dogs and daughter have become the most exciting and charming things to me.
While I was away from the music scene, a big incident happened in Japan. You probably know of it. It was the Tokyo subway sarin attack caused by the cult religion, Aleph. The subway station where the Sarin incident happened was near my home. It was the station used by my daughter’s friend for commuting. In Japan, cult religion had been widely taken up. Many victims of the cult religion were reported. It became a social phenomenon. I stood up and took action for the sake of the victims. I helped by providing counseling for the victims. And I gave a live return concert for the first time in a long time for the victims.
To me, music is not a commercial thing – it’s become a matter of my personal identity, social issues, encouragement, and compassion. Rather than a business, it is a matter of humankind’s heart & soul – a spiritual and everyday necessity. With it I started writing songs little by little. And then on March 11, 2011, Japan suffered a major disaster. The Great East Japan Earthquake. I released my 4th album in 2013 to express myself in song again. At that time, I made an album with Soul Toul – a drummer representing Japan – as a producer. This would become Warming Up.
This album includes the Japanese drum player Dowen Hibiki and Blind and acclaimed guitarist Hiroakl Tagawa, and was made with wonderful members such as the bassist Ken Watanabe.
So yes…This is my voice on the bonus track “μμ Tanbarin” that was included on my 4th album. I put an effect on my voice. For this song, I made a promotional video with original characters that I created myself. The original character is of me, but an acquaintance put their own gentle touch on it, based on the composition. It became a world much like the universe of Günter Grass’s “The Tin Drum” and Alice in Wonderland, in one.
I learned that there is no “interruption” or “quitting” in music. In Japan, the increase in cult religion (I think it is the same worldwide), the increase in suicides, and the anxiety in the citizenry with natural disasters have all made music more meaningful and significant on a grand scale. In other words, music will be uninterrupted as long as humans continue to live.
After the 4th album, I released three more songs. It’s a mini album, so in that way it became my 5th album. The songs on this second album were a musicalization of a famous Japanese novel. I made the songs based on my own interpretation.
Through COVID-19 and various unprecedented events, I feel the value and importance of art, such as music, paintings, and movies, even more now. I would like to introduce you to an old friend, who even in this era is a bright spirited & lively musician. He is Soul Toul, the producer of my 4th album and one of Japan’s leading drummers. He is involved with most kinds of Japanese music. He is active as a backing musician for many people, and actively participating in bands, from young bands to veterans. I think he can talk about the Japanese music scene in detail.
From now on, I would like to occasionally broadcast my works where requested and perform live. Since I moved from Tokyo to Okinawa, now – in 2021, I plan to produce gospel works with the leader of the band “Murasaki (Purple)” who is said to be an Okinawan legend – the organist and keyboard player George Murasaki. This will also be shipped overseas. I plan to perform music simply wherever it is needed. Six years have passed since I moved to Okinawa. My 6th album “Kyu” was released on August 20, 2019. I gave it this title because in Japanese kanji, there are many characters corresponding to the word “kyu” – giving it many meanings such as “to wish”, “to save”, “sphere”, “pain”, and so on.
Sing together with the sea
Talking together with the sky
Draw a picture in the wind
Offer a prayer to heaven
And from now on, I will do it so that I can share the hope and healing of music in the hearts of many different people.
Thank you for the interview. I am honored to introduce you to such a musician in Japan. I hope that music can shine a light all over the world, and be an important focus in the direction of true love. I pray for your health.
Thank you very much. May God protect you from COVID-19! I am praying for your health and lovely blog.