In Memoriam ’24] When “Mozart of Naniwa” Kida Tharoor’s CDs “Sold Better than Madonna

Many celebrities sadly passed away in 1924. We look back at the activities of the past and remember the deceased, based on articles in past issues of this magazine.

Even a cat can write a melody.

On May 14, at the age of 93, composer Kida Tharoor passed away at his home in Osaka City. He was known as the “Naniwa no Mozart” (the Mozart of Naniwa), and was the author of many commercial songs that everyone must have heard at least once.

Mr. Kida was born in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, in 1930. He was the youngest of six siblings whose father was a detective in the Investigation Department. He attended Kwansei Gakuin Junior High School, the “most elegant” school in the neighborhood, and in his third year of high school, he formed a tango band and played the accordion. Among the band members was Takuya Fujioka, a classmate from his college days.

Eventually, he began frequenting cabarets and clubs, and dropped out of college to become a professional pianist. While working as an arranger in cabarets and other venues, he began composing music in the ’60s, mainly for the broadcasting industry. The first time he composed a song was when he was 19 years old, and it was sung at a cabaret in Minami by Utae Shoji, who was the number one hostess at the time and later became a member of “Kashimashi Musume.

He produced many famous songs, saying, “If it’s just a melody, even a cat can write a melody. She did not know how many songs she had composed during her lifetime, but she claimed to have composed “5,000 songs,” but it is said that she may have composed as many as 5,000 songs.

Among Mr. Kida’s works are “Kani Doraku,” a commercial song with the lyrics “Tore tore, pichi pichi pichi,” and “Aara yo! (Nissin Foods), and “Oyama Yuenchi” (Oyama Yuenchi). Kida also wrote the theme songs for TV programs such as “Seikatsu Sho Hyakka” (NHK) and “2 O’clock Wide Show” (Yomiuri TV), as well as “Aho no Sakata no Theme,” the theme song for comedian Toshio Sakata’s stage music.

He also wrote the theme song for the TV program “Detective! Night Scoop” (ABC) as “Chief Advisor” from 1989 until just before his death. The producer gave him the title “Naniwa no Mozart” in 1990.