- Saburō Kitajima
Saburō Kitajima (北島 三郎; "Kitajima Saburō", born
October 4 ,1936 ) is a well knownJapan eseEnka singer .He was born Minoru Ōno (大野 穣) [http://www.kitajima-music.co.jp/sabu/profile.html] , in a little town in
Hokkaidō to a fisherman. He was very poor because of the effects ofWorld War II , and he was forced to work while he studied.When he was about to graduate from high school, he decided to become a singer. His debut single was called "Bunkacha-Bushi", which was released in 1962.
He has many famous songs, including "Kita no Sakaba" and "Yosaku". He is very popular in Japan partly due to his looks of a physical laborer, and he mostly sings the spirit of Japan's working class and rural laborer. He often appears on "
Kōhaku Uta Gassen ", a TV program at the end of the year where many major Japanese singers gather to perform.Although Enka is becoming less popular with the younger generation, he is still Japan's most famous singer. He does a lot of concerts overseas as well, and he is contributing a lot of work to the culture of
Japanese music .In addition to his singing career, Kitajima acted in the role of Tatsugorō on the television series
Abarembo Shogun . During the quarter-century life of the series, he also sang its theme songs.External links
* [http://www.kitajima-music.co.jp/sabu/ Official homepage]
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