Misora is the 1972 debut album by Sachiko Kanenobu, a woman generally acknowledged as Japan’s first female singer-songwriter. It’s a near-perfect folk masterpiece, alternating full-bodied arrangements (produced by Harry Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra) with Sachiko’s lonesome guitar and pure, soaring vocals.
Discovered as an precocious 18 year old in Osaka, Sachiko was signed in 1968 to Japan’s first ever independent record company, URC (Underground Record Club). She was the only female artist on the label and the very fact that she wrote and sang her own songs made her a rarity among Japanese women.
But just a few months before Misora was released, Sachiko left Japan and emigrated to America to marry music critic Paul Williams (Crawdaddy Magazine, Rolling Stone). She did not record again for almost a decade and didn’t release another album until 1992.
Misora was rediscovered by Japanese fans in the early 90s, and Sachiko has since returned to her homeland many times to perform. Misora is now regarded as a landmark in Japanese musical history, and Sachiko is revered there as a true underground folk pioneer.
