Obata Minoru

about

Minoru Obata (April 30, 1923 - April 24, 1979) was a singer from Pyongyang, Korea. His real name was Kang Yong-cheol (강영철). In 1937, inspired by Korean tenor Nagata Monjiro, he traveled to Japan at the age of 16 and enrolled in the Japan Music School. He studied vocal music despite the difficulties of studying, and graduated in 1941, after which he became a student of Eguchi Yasi. It is said that around this time, he was looked after by his landlord, Obata Iku, who was from Odate, Akita Prefecture, and that is why he took the surname Obata and claimed to be from Akita. Iku's son, Obata Tatsuo, was killed in the so-called Communist Party lynching incident. He debuted with "Genghis Khan" from Polydor in February 1941, concealing his Korean origins and listing his birthplace as Akita Prefecture. He later moved to Victor, and in 1942 his duet with Fujiwara Ryoko, "Fujoshizu no Uta (Yushima no Shiraume)," became his breakthrough work. In 1943, he released "Kantaro Tsukiyo Uta," a duet with Fujiwara Ryoko, which became a hit, and he attracted attention as an up-and-coming singer. After the war, he started to get active. He moved from Teichiku to King to Columbia to his old company Victor, but with his sweet crooning style, he had many hits after the Pacific War, such as "Koban Same no Uta," "Rose wo Meshimase," "America-Touring White Ship," "Nagasaki no Zabon Uri," "Kogen no Eki yo Sayonara," "Yama no Hate ni Tsuki ga Rakukoro," "Aoi Nagare ni," "London no Machikasa de," and "H