PURPOSE: to compare from a perceptual perspective the vocal characteristics of enka and mudo enka Japanese singing genre. METHODS: ten recordings, from commercially available CDs, of five professional Japanese singers who sing the enka genre and five of the mudo enka genre were selected. We elaborated a voice evaluation protocol with vocal characteristics found in both genres of Japanese music. The evaluation was carried out by three speech pathologists, licensed by the Speech Pathology Federal Board, who determined the most outstanding vocal characteristics of each genre, from a literature-based stratification. RESULTS: in the enka genre, the kobushi, the vibrato and crescendos and decrescendos were present in 100% of the vocal samples. We found 80% of metal, 90% of nasality and registration alternation and 70% of soprosity. In the mudo enka genre, the crescendos and decrescendos were present in 100% of the vocal samples. We found 70% of soprosity, 90% of vibrato, 50% of registration alternation, 40% of metal and 20% of nasality and kobushi. CONCLUSION: When comparing the two genres, enka and mudo enka, we verified the strong presence of Kobushi in the enka genre, along with a larger predominance of vibrato, metal, nasality, alternation of registrations and crescendos and decrescendos. The soprosity was found in equal rates in both genres. The identification of vocal characteristics is useful for the speech pathologist as well as singing professors when helping their clients (singers) during the learning of the Japanese singing or in its improvement.
Voice; Evaluation; Auditory Perception
