Whose Blues? Folk Music and ‘Enka’ in 1960s Japan
The ideologies at work in this period can be further understood by studying two dominant forms of music that were produced at the time: protest folk and enka. In these two genres are reflected the conflicting visions of “Japan” that were formulated by the younger and older generations respectively, visions which both drew upon Japanese folk symbols to formulate a way forward for the postwar society, but which saw these symbols in very different ways.