With more than four decades' worth of touching ballads and folk songs, Masashi Sada has written songs that strike chords with generations of Japanese fans. The Nagasaki-born musician shaped his musical identity in the folk duo Grape in the early ‘70s before striking out on own his later that decade. Sada's music is filled with a subdued passion—his tenderness, melancholy singing and poignant lyrics helped make him one of Japan's biggest voices. And with a penchant for feathery violins, sighing guitars, and piano crescendos, Sada knows how to dial up the drama on his otherwise humble songs.