Ryoichi Hattori, born in Osaka in 1907, was the son of a poor clay-doll maker. He joined a church choir at six and began to learn Western instruments, entered a band that publicised an eel shop at sixteen and three years later was recruited by the Osaka Symphony Orchestra as an oboist, where the conductor Emmanuel Metter recognised his talent and gave him private lessons in Western music theory; Hattori called him his lifelong mentor. Hired as a composer by a record company at twenty-four, he joined Columbia five years later, and from 1938 wrote for Toho's films, first credited on Iron Wrist City (1938), followed by China Night (1940) and My Nightingale (1943). His Suzhou Serenade for China Night, sung by Li Xianglan, became one of his best-known songs. Visiting Shanghai with a comfort delegation in 1938, he met musicians including Chen Gexin, Liang Leyin, Li Jinguang and Yao Min. After the war he composed for the Japanese film The Lantern of Love (1951), starring Bai Guang, who sang in Japanese, and later, through his friendship with Yao Min, worked in Hong Kong on films for Motion Picture and General Investment such as Miss Secretary (1960), The Wild, Wild Rose (1960), A Night in Hong Kong (1961), Father Takes a Bride (1963) and Because of Her (1963), The Wild, Wild Rose being a landmark of their collaboration. In 1968 he composed for the first four films Umetsugu Inoue directed for Shaw Brothers, including Hong Kong Nocturne and King Drummer (both 1967). After Yao Min died in 1967, feeling local cinema had changed, Hattori stopped working on Hong Kong film music. He died in 1993, remembered as the father of Japanese boogie.
Bringing jazz, tango and other Western idioms into Japanese popular song as the 'father of Japanese boogie', Hattori Ryoichi also crossed to Hong Kong to score MP & GI and Shaw films, linking Japanese compositional technique with Chinese-language film music through works such as Suzhou Serenade and The Wild, Wild Rose.
Achievements
- 1938 · Composed his first film score, for Toho's Iron Wrist City
- 1940 · Composed for China Night, its Suzhou Serenade sung by Li Xianglan
- 1960 · Scored MP & GI's The Wild, Wild Rose in collaboration with Yao Min