Ryōko Moriyama

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Ryōko Moriyama (Japanese language 森山良子 Moriyama Ryōko), born on January 18, 1948, is a well-known Japanese folk and jazz singer. Her father is Hisashi Moriyama, a pioneer of Japanese jazz. Her son Naotaro Moriyama is a singer. Her first cousin Hiroshi Kamayatsu is also a musician.

She is known as the Japanese Joan Baez, or the Queen of college folk. Her songs tend not to become best sellers but her most famous song is Satokibi Batake. This song is about a tragedy during the Battle of Okinawa. The song's full version is 10 minutes. When this song was first released, it was thought to be too long to air on the radio, but now the song is popular in Japan. Every summer, NHK air a shorter version as a symbol of the 'No War Campaign'. In the song, an imitative word Zawawa is repeated 66 times, because of this, it is often called 'Zawawa'. Moriyama often called Satokibi Batake Zawawa as a joke.

A more recent hit song is Nada so so, a poem set to music by Begin (band), and sung by Rimi Natsukawa.

Some of her songs now appear in school textbooks. Such songs include Kono hiroi nohara ippai and Dona dona.

Inspired by Satokibi Batake, a TV drama called "Satokibi Batake no uta" (Song of the Sugarcane field) was made. Akashiya Sanma takes the lead role as a soldier who refused to kill.

Nada so so' also features in a TV program. 'Nada so so' means teardrops in Okinawa dialect. The song describes the experience of being unable to meet the person you love most. The song may refer to the death of Moriyama's brother.