Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Musical characteristics of Enka

1991; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0261143000004657

1474-0095

Okada Maki,

Music Technology and Sound Studies

This paper presents an analysis of enka , a type of Japanese popular song. I shall attempt to elucidate the musical characteristics of enka by examining its musical scales, melodies, vocal techniques and rhythms. We shall see, however, that enka is a composite genre, not characterised by a single type of scale or rhythm. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to understand enka without reference to other types of Japanese popular song. Thus some discussion of such other genres will also be required.