Enka(演歌), a male singer and an American singer

I introduced a female Enka singer in previous entry. Let me introduce a male Enka singer and an American Enka singer to you. One is Yamamoto Jyouji(山本譲二）. He is a famous Japanese Enka singer. I like his Enka song 「みちのく一人旅（mitinokuhitoritabi)」. This song is sung about a beloved woman. Another one is Jero. He is a first-ever non-Japanese Enka singer. He was born of African-American parents in 1981 and grew up in Pittsburgh. Jero has a quarter Japanese lineage because his grandmother on his mother's side is Japanese. He has listened to Enka since  childhood under his grandmother's influence, so he likes Enka and singing Enka.

He went on to Pittsburgh University and made a special study of infotech and he studied in Japan for three month. He decided to become an Enka singer while studying in Japan. He came back Japan in 2003 after graduating from the university, and he entered Japanese song contests while working as an English conversation teacher and as a computer engineer. After that, he was recruited by a Japanese major music company because his singing voice was appraised. His dream came true. He sings Enka very well like Japanese singer and he is a very unique Enka singer not only because he isnot Japanese but also another reason. The reason is that he is a hip-hop dancer. Hip-hop and Enka are very different, aren't they? He sings Enka hip-hop style. It is very interesting.