JERO: An African American debut as Enka singer

JERO: An African American debut as Enka singer

We always said that music has no boundaries. On the 20th February 2008, JERO from America, debut as a Enka singer in Japan with his debut single “Umiyuki”. He is the first African American enka singer in Japanese music industry. This is very surprising and unbelievable, JERO’s debut had successfully became a hot topic. “Umiyuki” ranked 16th on the first day of sales and now move to 2nd spot in today’s single ranking chart!

JERO (ジェロ) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now he is 26 years old. During his childhood days, he got influenced from his beloved grandmother who is a Japanese, and start listening to Japan Enka music. Since then, he found that he loves the genre a lot and starts singing as well, in order to make his grandmother happy. In year 2003, he came to Japan to pursue his dream to become an Enka singer. He appeared in NHK for two months and won numerous karaoke competition. Then, to become an amateur enka singer, he had vocal training for two years and finally debut in year 2008.

JERO video clip in music station

Below is JERO’s debut song “Umiyuki”. He sings well and his voice really suitable to sing in enka genre. I first know him when I watched the his featured video in Music Station one month back. He was wearing hip hop outfit, and suddenly Japanese traditional music kicks in and he start to sing in enka style. I’m going shock for a moment, because I cannot believe what I just saw. But indeed he sings really well and like what I said earlier, music has no boundaries. JERO perfectly interprets this.

You can watch JERO performs “Umiyuki” via Youtube. Below is the lyric of “Umiyuki”. I hope you enjoy his music. JERO, the miracle enka singer!



Umiyuki – JERO

kogoeru sora kara
umi ni furu yuki wa
namima ni nomarete
atokata mo naku naru

nee aishitete mo
aa todokanu nara
nee isso kono watashi
mi wo nage mashouka ?

anata wo otte izumozaki
kanashimi no nihonkai
ai wo miushinai ganpeki no ue
ochiru namida wa
tsumoru koto no nai
marude umiyuki

te no hira nobaseba
tsumetai maboroshi
seken wo furikiri
sadame dato shinjita

nee aisarete mo
aa kanawanu naka
nee isso kono watashi
koroshite kudasai

hitori kiri no izumozaki
asu wo matsu kasa mo naku
nureta kono kami ga shin made hiete
uramu kotoba mo
minamo ni keteku
marude umiyuki

nee aishitete mo
aa todokanu nara
nee isso kono watashi
mi wo nage mashouka ?

anata wo otte izumozaki
kanashimi no nihonkai
ai wo miushinai ganpeki no ue
ochiru namida wa
tsumoru koto no nai
marude umiyuki

海雪 – ジェロ

作詩:秋元康
作曲:宇崎竜童

凍える空から
海に降る雪は
波間にのまれて
跡形もなくなる

ねえ 愛してても
ああ 届かぬなら
ねえ いっそ この私
身を投げましょうか?

あなた 追って 出雲崎
悲しみの日本海
愛を見失い 岸壁の上
落ちる涙は
積もることのない
まるで 海雪

掌 伸ばせば
冷たい幻
世間を振り切り
宿命(さだめ)だと信じた

ねえ 愛されても
ああ 叶わぬ中
ねえ いっそ この私
殺してください

一人きりの出雲崎
明日(あす)を待つ傘もなく
濡れたこの髪が 芯まで冷えて
恨む言葉も
水面に消えて< まるで 海雪 ねえ 愛してても ああ 届かぬなら ねえ いっそ この私 身を投げましょうか? あなた 追って 出雲崎 悲しみの日本海 愛を見失い 岸壁の上 落ちる涙は 積もることのない まるで 海雪

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