Nobuyasu Okabayashi

Nobuyasu Okabayashi
Born (1946-07-22) July 22, 1946 (age 77)
Ōmihachiman, Shiga, Japan
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
  • record producer
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1968–present
Labels
Websitewww.fuji-okabayashi.com

Nobuyasu Okabayashi (Japanese: 岡林 信康, Hepburn: Okabayashi Nobuyasu, born July 22, 1946)[1] is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than 50 years. Often compared to Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone Japan called him an icon of Japan's politically turbulent 1960s and 1970s.[2][3][4] Okabayashi made his debut in 1968 and quickly earned the nickname the "God of Folk" (フォークの神様, Fōku no Kamisama) with his protest songs.[2][4][5] He spent 1975 to 1981 eschewing this title by experimenting with genres such as enka, pop, and new wave.[4] Inspired by the rhythms of Japanese Bon Odori and Korean samul nori, he then created his own genre in the mid-1980s and 1990s that he dubbed "enyatotto" (エンヤトット).[6]

  1. ^ "岡林信康 アーティスト館 ArtLIFE MUSEUM the NET".
  2. ^ a b Bourdaghs, Michael (February 21, 2012). Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop. Columbia University Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-231-53026-2. Like the other forms of folk, protest folk was resolutely anticommercial, and yet superstars emerged: Okabayashi Nobuyasu, for example, became known as the god of folk or the Japanese Dylan.
  3. ^ Hayward, Philip (September 1999). Widening the horizon: exoticism in post-war popular music. Indiana University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-86462-047-4. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c "岡林信康がぶっ壊そうとした「フォークの神様」のレッテル". Rolling Stone Japan (in Japanese). December 28, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  5. ^ "大台に乗ると人は何を求めるのか~50周年の岡林信康は「過去の総括と原点確認」". Daily Sports (in Japanese). December 28, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  6. ^ "岡林信康が生み出した日本独自のロック"エンヤトット"". Rolling Stone Japan (in Japanese). April 6, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.