Asakawa Maki (浅川マキ)

So I hurd rumors on the internets that Asakawa Maki died. Apparently from a stroke which is not really a surprise because she did smoke a lot. I would tell you this more seriously but I don't take death very seriously (or life for that matter).

So in honor of her passing (read: rip off companies that are now taking all the profits from album sales) I decided to post all of her albums that I have. I previously only posted her Cat Nap but I will include that one here as well for the sake of completion.

Asakawa started her career in the 70s and she was releasing albums all through the 70s, 80s and 90s. During the 00s she took a break and didn't record all that much so in later life like many other musicians she only did live gigs and lived off that. Through all of her career she was mostly active in the jazz genre. All of her albums have this noir and melancholic feeling that makes me love her so much. Her incredibly different vocal ability from the rest of the Japanese singers gives her a sort of unique feel. Rarely you can hear a Japanese sing so low and torn up from cigarette smoke, especially from a female. Musically she varies from decade to decade. I only have one of her albums from the 70s but during the 80s she sounded far more happy and energetic than in the 90s. So yeah, you have a bit of everything in her career.

Where to start? Well I personally started with Cat Nap but I fell in love with her music when I heard Hitomoshigoro. I guess you can go along that route or start from the beginning of her career. Darkness albums have the most tracks and also a lot of improvisation songs, the usual jazz wankery.

1972 - Blue Spirit Blues
1980 - One (EP)
1982 - Cat Nap
1988 - Darkness
1991 - Black
1993 - Hitomoshigoro
1995 - Darkness I
1996 - Darkness II
1997 - Darkness III
1998 - Yami No Naka Ni Okizari Ni Shite-Black Ni Good Luck
2007 - Darkness IV


28 comments:

  1. there's no link for the last disk 1. thanks.

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  2. Very interesting.

    Thanks ^_^

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  3. Anonymous8/2/10 13:26

    Thanks. Wonderful music.

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  4. Thank you so much for this. Like most of the stuff you post on here, I downloaded Cat Nap on a whim and I loved it, but I've yet to listen to any of her other works.

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  5. Anonymous10/2/10 15:10

    Thank you so much!
    I've never heard her music before but after reading your post I downloaded "Hitomoshigoro" and it instantly became my new favourite album. Downloading a couple of others at the moment so thank you in advance for those as I'm pretty sure they will be amazing too.

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  6. Thanks so much for this Burek. I've been meaning to check her out for ages, one of your best posts in a while!

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  7. Anonymous12/2/10 17:36

    First Disc of Darkness 4 has a corrupt track.

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  8. Shit! Always something! :D Another link for it will be up when I get back from my drunken adventures.

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  9. Anonymous12/2/10 17:42

    And track 22 in one of the disks of the darkness 0 is corrupt. So, yeah, fuck this. At least, we have most of the tracks. Lawl

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  10. Argh, I don't know why is this happening. When I archive something I extract it to be sure if it works and when I upload it then it doesn't work anymore. Something gets corrupt in the uploading process. :/

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  11. RIP Maki. Many thanks for this, really.

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  12. Anonymous14/2/10 01:02

    Shizuka Miura also died recently. In the beginning of February... RIP

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  13. Anonymous14/2/10 21:38

    Thank yooouuu!I'm loving Hitomoshigoro... and it's just the beginning!
    By the way, do you know AKIKO WADA? Another japanese woman with a deep voice. Could say she's quite similar to ARETHA FRANKLIN... in a pop/soul way. If you don't know her, I might upload the album I've got for you. Alessandra

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  14. You've got a great blog here... my blog-less friend has actually been following this internet sector religiously, so I'm glad he's not a lying bastard :)

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  15. Incredible post. Thanks so much.

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  16. Thanks everyone, glad you liked it. :D

    @ Alessandra: Haven't heard of her but I would be happy to hear it.

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  17. I've got a torrent file of (the best songs of Dick Haymes) - 23 songs.
    Do you need it?

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  18. That would be lovely.

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  19. Mike Smith5/9/10 16:42

    Very much appreciated. However, both zip files for Darkness IV appear to be corrupt. Great post regardless. Thanks.

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  20. Anonymous2/11/11 06:18

    Hi:) Unfortunately all the links have been removed, can you upload them again please? thank you

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  21. If you can reupload this jewelx, I would really appreciate. Maki Asakawa is one of the best!
    Thanks!

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  22. Maki Asakawa music is so hard to find! I know you are barely here anymore, but if you felt inclined to repost any of these... well, I wouldn't discourage you ;^)

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    Replies
    1. Been on the road for a while now so I didn't get the chance sooner but I did notice this repost is asked a lot so I'll make sure to get around to it this week!

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  23. Fantastic, thank you! Looking forward

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  24. Thanks in advance for your time and effort. I love Maki Asakawa.
    Greetings from Costa Rica!

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  25. Im sorry to repeat myself, but dont forget to reupload this jewels again when you have time. Everyone would really appreciate.
    Sincerely
    JRAC

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    Replies
    1. Made a new post about it in case you've missed it.

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