Please welcome legendary Japanese singer-songwriter on her first ever performance in Topanga Canyon, with Carlos Niño as your DJ host.
Sachiko Kanenobu is generally acknowledged as Japan’s first female folk-rock singer-songwriter. She was discovered as a precocious 18-year-old in 1968 and signed to Japan’s first independent record company URC (Underground Record Club), which changed Japan’s musical landscape. In 1972, the label released her first album, ‘Misora,’ co-produced by Haruomi Hosono (bassist and creator of Happy End and, later, Yellow Magic Orchestra, as well as a solo artist in his own right).

A few months before the release of her debut album in 1972, Sachiko left Japan and married music critic Paul Williams, with whom she had two sons. In 1976, she met world-renowned science fiction author Philip K. Dick. When PKD heard her album ‘Misora,’ he encouraged her to return to writing songs and in 1981, he released her first American single ‘Fork In The Road / Tokyo Song.’ Sachiko started performing again and PKD planned to produce her first full-length English-language album, but unfortunately died by stroke in March, 1982.

Sachiko continued to perform and release albums with her rock band Culture Shock, as well as solo. Starting in the 1990’s, her debut album, ‘Misora,’ found a new generation of fans in Japan. In 2019, the Light In The Attic label reissued ‘Misora’ in the US, which led to greater international awareness of her music. A new version of her second album, ‘Fork In The Road,’ produced by Makoto Kubota, was released by Better Days / Columbia Records in Japan in 2023.

At 76 years of age, Sachiko continues to write and perform. Tours have taken her to Japan, Europe, LA and NYC, where she played at the annual event SummerStage in Central Park. Her song ‘Aoi Sakana (Blue Fish)’ from ‘Misora’ was used in the soundtrack of Wim Wenders’ film ‘Perfect Days,’ which was nominated for ‘Best International Feature’ at the 2024 Academy Awards.