Abstract
This thesis seeks to investigate changes and continuity in the Japanese musical genre enka. Enka is a form of sentimental ballad music which is said to sing the heart/soul of Japan. An enka song is made to sound very traditional, yet the genre in itself is not that old. The genre was invented during the 1960s, and no song which matches the characteristics of the genre was released before the mid-1950s. Since the songs in the enka genre are made to sound traditional, both on a musical and textual level, it is hard to image that any changes to the genre would have occurred during its lifespan. When one listens to an enka song, this sentiment seem to hold true, since the songs sound old-fashioned, which is fitting for a genre which mostly appeals to an older audience. Nevertheless, as is the case with most forms of art, it is likely that enka songs have been influenced by the time they are written and released in. Furthermore, since Japanese society has gone through tremendous changes since the 1950s, it is hard to imagine that the enka genre has stayed as static as it may seem at first glance. The object of this thesis is therefore to investigate if there have occurred any changes or not in the genre, as well as to analyse any changes discovered.