夜色渐渐沉落。淅淅沥沥的雨丝，笼罩着悄然入睡的港湾。迷离闪动的街灯，为探访异国的游人，照亮通向陌生旅途的旧巷。推开轻巧的纸门，怀着几分好奇与期待，踏进充满浓厚人情氛围的小酒馆。坐在推杯换盏的座席之间，饮下一杯香醇的温酒，倾听那悠长而惆怅的歌声，飘过推杯换盏的座席，掩盖白昼琐事的喧嚣，在这奇妙相逢的一刻，敲动了寂寥的心弦。 飞扬的小号用一首迷醉感伤的《夜空》，牵动起繁星下多少无处寄托的惦念。醇厚的萨克斯风，将如潮的思绪引向冷峭的北国，在《津轻海峡·冬景色》中回味昨日的缱绻往事。苍凉的尺八与轻灵的钢琴共奏一曲《人生如同一首浪花曲》，以琅琅上口的韵律将浮世冷暖娓娓道来。活泼的三味线和应着女歌手醇美的歌声，用轻松欢快的《三味线之舞》抚慰疲惫的心灵，拂去人生路途的仆仆风尘。 这便是演歌，日本最受欢迎的大众歌谣之一。它是由流转的东洋四季风物凝练而成的歌，是为自乡野涌向城市谋生的人们寄托对亲人的思念的歌，也是夜半时分举杯倾诉爱恋忧烦时相伴的歌，是绵厚如酒的人情之声。对很多人来说，这或许是一个听似陌生的概念，但是它离我们并不遥远。自唐代开始，东渡沧海并在东瀛列岛开枝散叶的中国传统音乐，在这种歌谣的乐韵中，仍然存留着深刻的印记。而在1980年代至1990年代的华语流行乐坛，包括一代歌后邓丽君在内的众多巨星，都翻唱过演歌中的经典曲目，并由此衍生出众多脍炙人口的华语金曲。那些亲切优美的旋律，凭借所承载的人类共通的深切情感，曾经为聆听者温暖过一个个漫长的寒夜。 音乐无国界，歌声似桥梁。一向以国际化的开阔视角进行音乐创作的制作人叶云川，重访东西方音乐文化交汇绽放的大都会东京，以此作为“世界的声音”之旅的全新出发点。他与曾经参与制作《伊豆的舞女》专辑的钢琴家Simon Cosgrove为代表的一众国际资深音乐人再度携手，选取十一首被广为传唱的演歌代表作，以即兴灵动的西洋爵士乐，碰撞这些充满质朴的民俗情调的东洋传统韵律。在东京演出界享有盛名的国贞雅子、佐藤由佳、和田明等多名唱功卓绝的歌手，也为这张专辑献上了自己饱满的磁性嗓音。当这些新奇而又令人感到似曾相识的乐歌，在配置了众多顶级模拟器材的东京最佳爵士录音棚中舒畅流淌，爵士乐的自由精神，融化了现代都会的迷离夜色，传递出蕴含在浓浓温情中的属于每个人的美好愿望。 在落樱纷飞的暖夜中，聆听一首纯挚的人情之歌。踏着平交道口清脆的铃声，搭上满载旅客的异国列车，奔入灯火流丽的都会浮世画卷，或是奔向迢遥的山野风光图景。在弥漫的雾色中，邂逅海岸线上涌动不息的浪潮，和昏黄灯晕下的温柔面影。在无限延伸的银河下，展开又一场通往缤纷世界的音乐之旅。 Foreword: The night is gradually becoming dark. The drizzling rain envelops the quietly sleeping harbor. The misty flickering street lights illuminate the old alleys leading to the unfamiliar journey for the travelers visiting foreign countries. Opening the light paper door, with some curiosity and expectation, we can step into a bistro full of friendly atmosphere. While sitting between the seats, drinking a glass of warm wine, listening to the long and melancholy song, the noise of the daytime chores can be covered up. At this wonderful moment of encounter, the isolated heart is touched. The trumpet's enchanting and sentimental song "Night Sky" brings up many thoughts under the stars that have nowhere else to go. The mellow saxophone draws the thoughts to the cold northern country and recalls the loving memories of yesterday in "Winter View of Tsugaru Strait". A bleak shakuhachi and a light piano play "Life Is Like A Wave Song", a catchy rhythm that tells the story of the warmth of the world. The lively shamisen and the mellow voice of the female singer, with the light and cheerful "Dance of Shamisen", soothes the tired mind and brushes away the dust of the road of life. It is Japanese Enka, one of the most popular songs in Japan. It is a song made from the changing scenery of the four seasons in Japan, a song for people who have flocked from the countryside to the city to make a living, and a song to accompany people at midnight when they raise a glass and talk about their loves and worries, a song like a glass of rich wine for people. To many people, this may sound like a strange concept, but it is not far from us. Since the Tang Dynasty, the traditional Chinese music that crossed the sea and spread its branches in the eastern islands of Japan still has a deep mark in the music of these songs. In the Chinese pop music field from the 1980s to the 1990s, many superstars, including the queen of the generation, Teresa Teng, covered the classics of the songs, and many popular Chinese golden songs were derived from them. Those intimate and beautiful melodies, by virtue of the deep emotions carried by human beings in common, have warmed up many long cold nights for listeners. Music has no borders, and songs are like bridges. Producer Yunchuan Ye, who has always created music with an international perspective, revisited Tokyo, a metropolis where Eastern and Western music cultures meet and flourish, as a new starting point for his "Sounds of the World" tour. He and a group of international musicians, including pianist Simon Cosgrove, who worked on the album "The Dancer of Izu", have teamed up again to select eleven masterpieces of widely sung Japanese Enka. They use improvised Western jazz to interact with the traditional rhythms of the East, which are full of rustic folklore. A number of renowned singers in the Tokyo performance industry, including Masako Kunisada Kunitsune, Yuka Sato, and Akira Wada, have also contributed their full, magnetic voices to the album. As these new and familiar songs flow smoothly in the best jazz studio in Tokyo equipped with top-notch analog equipment, the free spirit of jazz melts the misty night of the modern city and conveys the good wishes of everyone embedded in the warmth. In the warm night with falling sakura, we listen to a pure song of humanity. With the crisp bell at the crossing, we board an exotic train full of passengers and run into the bright lights of the metropolis or to the distant scenery of the mountains. In the foggy mist, we will encounter the waves on the coastline and the gentle shadows under the yellow light. Under the infinite stretch of the Milky Way, another musical journey to a colorful world is launched.