I have fulfilled that dream.”

Music

Rabinder Malik’s musical journey started as a young man in India. Read more below about how music has shaped his life and career.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC OF INDIA AND JAPAN

When I was young, I was very fond of singing Indian popular songs and even took formal music lessons in India.  I also used to perform on stage. My hobby of singing continued even when I went abroad and stayed in other countries on assignment with the United Nations.  My first foreign assignment was in Indonesia, where I stayed for ten years. While living there, I continued to sing Indian popular songs as a hobby with friends and also picked up a couple of famous Indonesian songs, like “Bengawan Solo”.  

Then in 1976, I came to Japan to work for the United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo and worked there for 20 years. After retirement in 1996, I decided to stay on in Japan and have been here now for more than four decades.  

In Japan, the sing-along machines called KARAOKE are very popular, and office workers would go for snack or dinner after office hours and sing together on Karaoke. While working at the United Nations University, I accompanied my Japanese colleagues for snacks and singing from time to time.  When I first heard Japanese Enka songs, I was attracted because the melodies were quite similar to the type of Indian songs I used to sing in India, called Ghazals. 

JAPANESE FOLK MUSIC “ENKA”

Enka is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese folk music. Modern Enka, as developed in the postwar era, is a form of sentimental ballad music. Enka and many other popular genres of music in Japan are rooted in a more traditional type of folk music in Japan called Minyo.

Japanese Enka is generally referred to as the “heart and soul of the Japanese” (Nihonjin no Kokoro).  Enka songs are normally sad as they relate to unfulfilled romance or longing for “hometown” (Furusato) and can be recognized from titles that dwell upon drinking or sorrow. Indian songs called Ghazals have more or less the same image in India. Also, Enka singers employ a style of vibrato known as “Kobushi” (vibrato-like vocal ornamentation), which Indian Ghazals also have.

I started singing Enka songs as a hobby with my friends, and the amazing part of this story is that when I began to understand the meaning of the words of Japanese Enka songs, I was surprised to find out that not only were the melodies similar to those of Indian songs but even the message they conveyed was more or less similar. 

Let me give an example. My favorite Enka song is “Oyako Zaka”, which is about the feelings of a father at the time of the wedding of his daughter. In India, we have a popular song called “Chalri Sajni”, which is also on the same theme and has words that are quite similar to the words of “Oyako Zaka”.   For audiences in Japan, I normally sing both songs to explain the similarities between the cultures of Japan and India.   And when I sang this Enka song “Oyako Zaka” at my daughter’s wedding in USA, I explained to our Indian guests that the words of this song were similar to the words of the Indian song “Chalri Sajni”; they seemed to understand the feeling and enjoyed it.

Once you get to know the traditional folk songs of India and Japan, you can see the amazing similarities – not only in the style of singing but also in the words.  What I see is the deep cultural and spiritual relationship that started centuries ago when Buddhism came from India to Japan via China.  The old spiritual and cultural values in society still persist even if they are not visible in the daily lifestyles of the people in our two countries. 

SINGING CONTESTS ON TELEVISION AND STAGE IN JAPAN

It so happened that in 1985 the popular Television channel called “TV TOKYO” invited foreigners living in Japan to join a contest to sing Japanese songs. I joined the event and sang a popular Japanese Enka song and received the “Judges’ Special Prize”. As I liked singing Japanese Enka songs, I started taking lessons, and after years of training, I have been singing on stage and television, and taking part in contests and winning prizes. Some of my prizes are shown below:

“TV TOKYO”: “Foreigners Singing Contest”: In 1989, participated again and received “Third Prize” .

• CHIBA TELEVISION”: “Weekly Singing Contest for Japanese Songs”: (Weekly champion comes back to compete against the winner of the following week): In 1994, participated and was declared Champion continuously for four weeks (I was the only foreigner in each weekly contest);

• “ALL JAPAN AMATEUR SINGING CONTEST”, Middle Course: In 1995, participated and received “Gold Award” as Champion;

• “ALL JAPAN AMATEUR SINGING CONTEST”, Grand Prize Course: in 1996, participated and received “Gold Award” among Participants older than 60 years;

• “NIHON TV”, “Look-Look Konnichiwa” Program for Foreigners: In 1998, participated and received Award “A” for singing a Japanese traditional folk song, “Oyako Zaka” ;

• “JACCOM MUSIC FESTIVAL”, “All-Japan Finalists Contest”, held in the prestigious NHK Hall in Tokyo in 1999: After clearing two preliminary rounds, was selected to sing in the Finalists Contest, and received a “Special Award”.

In 1994, I was invited as a special guest to sing a Japanese Folk Song at the “Opening Ceremony” of the new Kansai International Airport in Osaka.

DEBUT AS ENKA SINGER IN JAPAN

In 2001, I even made my debut as an Enka Singer in Japan by joining a Trio named “OYAJI GUMI”, composed of Kinumura Sensei, my music teacher; Ebihara San, a famous Chanson singer in Japan, and myself. Our CD, containing two original Enka songs, together with Karaoke of both songs, was issued in 2001 by NIHON CROWN COMPANY: (see below photo of our CD Jacket of Enka songs by “Oyaji Gumi” Trio: EBIHARA, KINOMURA, MALIK). 

The main song in this CD, titled “Itoman Uminchu” (Fisherman from Itoman, Okinawa), became very popular, and this song is available even now for people to sing in Karaoke Rooms in Japan. This song is about the hard life of a fisherman, who goes out fishing for months at a time, while his wife is worried about him and prays in the temple for his safety; and he himself is hoping that one day his son will take over from him. There is a famous fishing harbor called “Itoman Gyoko” in Itoman, Okinawa, from where the fishermen begin their journey. At this harbor, festivals are held periodically, and in one such festival, three of us took part in order to promote our CD and sang our song “Itoman Uminchu” .

JAPANESE TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC “MIN’YO”

Later on, I also began taking lessons in singing the more traditional Japanese folk songs referred to as “MIN’YO”. I have now been learning and singing MIN’YO for more than ten years. As I am one of the rare foreigners singing MIN’YO in Japan, I have become well-known in MIN’YO circles.

MIN’YO (民謡?) is a genre of traditional Japanese music, connected to forms of work or to specific trades such as farming, fishing, or other rural tasks. MIN’YO songs are accompanied on Shamisen (a three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument), or Shakuhachi (Japanese flute made of bamboo), as well as drums.  MIN’YO songs were originally sung for specific jobs, either solo or by groups. Some MIN’YO songs are simply for entertainment, as dance accompaniment, or as a component of a festival or a ceremony.

MIN’YO songs are also distinct depending on the area of Japan, with each area boasting its own favorite songs and styles, for which they hold contests periodically. I have been visiting different parts of Japan to take part in Japanese MIN’YO singing contests, and local people seemed happy to see a foreigner coming to sing their songs. These visits helped me in understanding Japanese culture in more depth.

MIN’YO songs are very difficult to sing and require great vocal control. Young people in Japan are not much interested in MIN’YO. Most young Japanese people learn about MIN’YO from their grandparents. The elder Japanese feel that MIN’YO evokes nostalgia for their hometown and family. Enka and many other popular genres of music in Japan are also rooted in MIN’YO.

TRADITIONAL JAPANESE CHANTED POETRY “SHIGIN”

SHIGIN is a type of traditional Japanese chanted poetry. It sounds like Buddhist chant but is slightly different. The poems span hundreds of years and cover a myriad of topics from war to love and even local legends. The singing is comprised mostly of vibrato. SHIGIN was developed around the end of the Edo Period by members of the samurai class. At the time poetry was seen more as something the upper class did and many poems that are sung were written by famous Japanese military and political figures. 

A few years ago, one of my MIN’YO friends took me to his SHIGIN class. After joining him for a couple of SHIGIN lessons, I started liking it and have continued to learn SHIGIN poems for the last five years. It is very difficult for me to learn SHIGIN because all poems are written in Chinese characters which I cannot read. With the help of my friends and teacher, I get to understand the meaning and try to memorize the poems that I learn.

If you were to look at a SHIGIN book, you would notice a few things that make it different from a music book you may have seen before. For one thing, there are no music “notes”. Next to the lines there will be marks to indicate the pitch of your voice. These marks can vary from triangular to more wavy lines depending on the style. The poems are usually arranged in four vertical columns of Chinese characters, with Japanese pronunciation written to the right. 

Everything is very well-organized in SHIGIN. You have to be regular in attending the weekly class, where your attendance is signed by the teacher. There are ten Levels in all, and you start with Level-1 after chanting the designated poems in a Test that is held every year. Also, in SHIGIN, each student is given a name and gets a title according to his/her level. I am glad to say that I have reached Level-6.

SHIGIN is a truly beautiful art form with a rich history. The majority of people who practice it are elderly. There are not many young people who practice this form of chanting; however, in recent years, there seems to be an increase in young people who are interested in learning it. 

Here below is an example of a SHIGIN poem, titled “GUSSEI”: Briefly, it tells young people to concentrate on acquiring knowledge and not to take it easy because soon they will become old; and that they should not dream about dozing on the green grass in spring because autumn will soon follow.