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Old 2007-07-24, 21:30   Link #105
Vexx
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
Quote:
Originally Posted by kj1980 View Post
Who said these were hits? Are new country western songs in the US listened to by the majority of the Britney Spears-or-teen-heartthrob listening pubescent teens in your country? I doubt so.

Sadly enka is our culture and new release do come out here and then, but those who buy them are the older generations of Japanese who are dying out rapidly. Heck 40 and 50 year olds don't listen to enka because they were brought up listening to GS and American pop culture. Enka is a dying culture...which is struggling to keep itself alive admist the so called "mainstream" JPOP.
Many forms of American music manage to maintain a steady-state with occasional surges (bluegrass, folk music, gospel, hawaiian, instrumental, "the standards", various period jazz).
I would hope Enka isn't dying so much as settling into a small niche. All it takes is a generation to "rediscover it". I understand that japanese antiques, traditional dress, and tiny mom'n'pop type restaurants are getting a revival as young moderns find an other way to be different.
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