In the heat of japanese nights

 

Maki Asakawa (浅川マキ, 1942 - 2010) was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. She was an important voice of the Japanese urban counterculture.

 

In addition to writing and composing, she also released cover versions of traditional American folk and blues freely rendered into Japanese, such as "Kimyō na kajitsu (奇妙な果実)" (Strange Fruit), "Asahi no ataru ie (朝日のあたる家)" (The House of the Rising Sun) and "Gin House Blues", among others.

 

She became popular in the 1970s and had more than 30 releases by the end of the 1990s, after which she was mostly known for performing live. Asakawa collaborated with musicians such as Yosuke Yamashita and Ryuichi Sakamoto. She continued performing live until the time of her death. Scheduled to perform in Nagoya January 15-17, 2010, she died before her show on the 17th, at the age of 67, of heart failure, just 10 days before her 68th birthday. 

 

Maki Asakawa - Maki Asakawa