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A Life Adrift, the memoir of balladeer-political activist Soeda Azembō (1872-1944), chronicles his life as one of Japan's first modern mass entertainers and imparts an understanding of how ordinary people experienced and accommodated the tumult of life in prewar Japan. Azembo created enka songs sung by tenant farmers in rural hinterlands and factory hands in Tokyo and Osaka. Although his work is still largely unknown outside Japan, his poems and lyrics were so well known at his career's peak that a single verse served as shorthand expressing popular attitudes about political corruption, sex scandals, spiralling prices, war, and love of motherland. As these categories attest, he embedded in his songs contemporary views on class conflict, gender relations, and racial attitudes toward international rivals. Ordinary people valued Azembo's music because it was of them and for them.

Composers --- Enka --- Popular music --- J2284.70 --- J6742 --- J6754 --- J6800.70 --- Music, Popular --- Music, Popular (Songs, etc.) --- Pop music --- Popular songs --- Popular vocal music --- Songs, Popular --- Vocal music, Popular --- Music --- Cover versions --- History and criticism --- Political aspects&delete& --- History --- Social aspects&delete& --- Japan: Genealogy and biography -- biographies -- kindai (1850s- ), bakumatsu, meiji, taishō --- Japan: Performing arts and entertainment -- music -- vocal music -- folk songs and popular songs --- Japan: Performing arts and entertainment -- music -- popular music --- Japan: Performing and media arts -- history -- Kindai (1850s- ), bakumatsu, Meiji, Taishō --- Soeda, Azenbō, --- Soeda, Heikichi, --- Soeda, Azembō, --- 添田亜蝉坊, --- 添田亞蝉坊, --- 添田亞蟬坊, --- 添田啞蟬坊, --- Soeda, Azenbō, 1872-1944. --- Popular music -- Social aspects -- Japan -- History. --- Popular music -- Political aspects -- Japan -- History. --- Composers -- Japan -- Biography. --- Enka -- History and criticism. --- Political aspects --- Social aspects --- Soeda, Azenbō