Some Western-inspired folk music from the late 60s & early 70s

Itsutsu no Akai Fusen (五つの赤い風船, trans. Five Red Balloons) is one of the pioneering Western-inspired folk music bands that came out in the 1960s. Their 1969 hit "Tooi Sekai ni" (遠い世界に, trans. To the World Far Away) grabbed my heart when I found the video on YouTube.

I think this song captured the Zeitgeist of the era quite well when the young generation was full of hope, sense of responsibility, and anxiety for the unknown future. However in retrospect this also conveys a particularly bitter sense of disillusionment and setback in Japanese context since Japanese New Left movement ended up in utter failure. Nonetheless, I think this might be the era we need to rediscover and reflect upon ourselves now. It is partly because music of that era appeals far more than that of later one to me after 3.11, partly because the problems of Japanese society that we face now have its roots in that era.

The next is 1971 hit song "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mo Ichido" (あの素晴しい愛をもう一度, trans. That Wonderful Love Once More) written by singer-songwriter Kato Kazuhiko (加藤和彦) and lyricist/psychiatrist Kitayama Osamu (北山修). The two players in the video below are Kato and Sakazaki Konosuke (坂崎幸之助). Kato is known for his membership in The Folk Crusaders and Sadistic Mika Band.