Biography
Taneko Seki (関種子) (September 18, 1907 – June 6, 1990) was a soprano singer during the Showa period. Her real name was Taneko Akiyama.
Born in Okayama Prefecture, she developed a love for the koto (Japanese zither) from elementary school age. After moving to Tokyo, she attended Tokyo Prefectural Second Girls' High School before enrolling in the Tokyo Academy of Music. She studied German Lieder under Margelete Netkölöwe. She married while still a student and graduated at the top of her class. She made her debut in the music world in the opera "The Fallen Angel," based on a story by Tsubouchi Shoyo and composed by Yamada Kosaku. She then began her career as a classical soprano singer.
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Her recording of an excerpt from "The Fallen Angel" for Columbia Records led to her debut with the company in 1931. She had hits mainly with early Koga melodies, such as "Leaning Against the Window," "Night of Lament," "Akemi's Song," and "From Nihonbashi." In 1935, her song "Flowers Blooming in the Rain," the theme song for the Shinko Eiga film "Toppa Musen," became a hit, selling approximately 500,000 copies. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the song was banned for having effeminate lyrics. In 1936, when the National Popular Songs movement began, she was often hired as a vocal coach along with Ryozo Okuda and others. In 1937, she moved to Polydor and recorded songs such as "Jagatara Bun," "Hill of First Love," "Love Without Tomorrow," "Thousand Stitches," and "Senjinkun no Uta." Meanwhile, she served as an instructor at Musashino Music School and Toyo Music School, and also participated in visits to munitions factories to entertain the troops.
After the war, she appeared in productions by the Fujiwara Opera Company, the Tokyo Opera Association, and others. She also joined the Gurlitt Opera Association, and in 1956, she formed Concert F with Miho Nagato, Yoshiko Sato, and Fumiko Shike. She also served as a professor at Kunitachi College of Music and Nagoya University of Arts, and as a lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, producing many students.
In 1974 (Showa 49), she received the Medal with Purple Ribbon. In 1981 (Showa 56), she received the Order of the Precious Crown, Fourth Class.
She died of kidney failure on June 6, 1990 (Heisei 2), at the age of 82. Her daughter is actress Hiroko Seki.
Her maiden name before marriage was Akiyama, and Kaneko Seki, known for her involvement in the Utagoe movement, was her sister-in-law.
One of her signature songs, "Ame ni Saku Hana" (Flowers Blooming in the Rain), was covered in 1938 by Noriko Awaya with altered lyrics under the title "Higurashi no Mado de" (At the Window of Twilight), but it was not a hit. After the war, in 1954, Eriko Yamaji covered it with the original lyrics, but it was not a hit. However, in 1960, when rockabilly singer Hiroshi Inoue covered it, it became a huge hit, selling approximately 1 million copies, surpassing Seki's original. It also became a topic of conversation when he sang the second and third verses incorrectly. Both the original by Seki and the revival hit by Inoue were recorded as B-sides. Subsequently, it was covered by Toshio Mishima in 1967, then re-recorded by Awaya with the original lyrics in 1969, then by Pinkara Trio in 1972, by Hibari Misora in 1975, and also by Yujiro Ishihara and Miyako Otsuki on their own albums. In 1991, it was released as a CD single by Mina Aoe and Ranko Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi's version included Seki's original version as a coupling track), and as of November 1991, the two versions had sold nearly 70,000 copies in total. The original version sung by Seki was used as an insert song in the 1990 American film "The Journey of Love and Sorrow" (released in Japan in 1991).
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.