ABOUT ENKA: Enka is a genre of Japanese pop songs developed in the postwar period, which has been likened to American country music or blues in terms of themes and audience. Maintaining a tight, melodramatic focus on themes love and loss, loneliness, enduring hardships, and even suicide/death, enka suggests a more traditional, idealized, or romanticized aspect of Japanese culture.

In February of 2008, Pittsburgh native Jerome Charles White, Jr. made his debut as Japan’s first African-American enka singer. With the single Umiyuki receiving critical acclaim, Jerome, or “Jero” as he is known on stage, is quickly becoming a pop icon whose success is noteworthy in the history of Japanese music and culture. His first album, COVERS, was released last week, and we’d like to take this opportunity to look at the success of a foreigner pursing an almost indigenous art form in one of the world’s most racially homogeneous countries.

Jero was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his Japanese grandmother introduced him to enka. Singing in Japanese from the age of 6, he had the chance to study the language in high school and first traveled to Japan at the age of 15 to participate in a speech contest. Years later, he returned as an exchange student enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, and after graduation would move to Japan as an English teacher. His career as a singer was set into motion upon being discovered by Victor Entertainment at an amateur singing contest.

Jero’s success as an enka singer means that he has cultivated an appeal not only to the young consumers of pop culture, but also to the older generations that are the core audience of the enka genre. Presenting himself as dignified and well-educated, his excellent Japanese, superb singing voice, and devotion to the memory of his grandmother has won over the hearts of many senior enka enthusiasts and effectively disarmed many of the stereotypes of foreigners hung onto by older generations. And for younger listeners who wouldn’t ordinarily find the enka genre exciting, Jero makes things interesting by virtue of being a foreign enka singer with hip-hop aesthetics.

African-American people and their cultures have been exoticized by Japan’s younger generations since the early 90s and for better or worse are associated with a “cool” hip-hop dance aesthetic. The Japanese media pays much attention to Jero’s fulfillment of this role – many accounts of his performances are particularly attentive to whether or not he danced, and interviewers frequently ask about his hip-hop clothing which replaces the kimono traditionally worn by enka singers. He has been vocal in assuring his audience that his look is his own and has not been forced on him by his record company.

Jero is a new type of persona on the Japanese scene, who is challenging notions about both foreigners and enka singers, and he just might help spark a resurrection of the enka genre. Check out his new album, COVERS, which covers a range of enka standards dating back to the 70's.