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Yui Aragaki to Make Debut as J-pop Singer!
If Yukie Nakama is beautiful, Yu Yamada sexy, then 19 year old Yui Aragaki definitely has cute down. The model-turned-actress will be making her J-pop singing debut with the song “Memories” from the film which she also stars in called “Koisuru MADORI” (starts its run in theaters on 8/18/07). Also appearing in the movie is…
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CD Album: Hirokazu Matsuda’s ‘Sanshin-Zanmai’
Long known as a master utasaa (Okinawan folk musician), it’s hard to believe that the September 26, 2007 “Sanshin-Zanmai” (RES-126, 14 tracks), marks Hirokazu Matsuda’s (The Fere) first nationwide CD album release. Thanks to the awesome record label Respect Record (Seijin Noborikawa, Sadao China, Yoriko Ganeko, Takashi Hirayasu, Ryukyu Underground, Toru Yonaha), fans of Okinawan…
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Workshop: Loochoo Nu Kwa
We posted about the concert they held in Okinawa back in June of this year and now it looks like they’re heading to Oahu, Hawaii with a workshop. Let’s hope a concert will happen here too. *hint* 😉 Loochoo Nu Kwa: Children of Loochoo Workshop on Okinawa’s music and dance as connected to its history…
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9,000 Hits!
I kinda skipped over announcing 7,000 and 8,000 and now we’re at 9,000 hits! Whoa. We’ve been reaching about a 1,000 or so hits a month so we’re ahead of schedule. Now I really gotta start thinking of something to do for our 10,000th hit. Nifee (thanks) for visiting! 😀
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Hawaiian meets Okinawan: Churamana
If you’re a fan of Hawaiian and Okinawan music you may be interested in the duo Churamana (チュラマナ, roughly translated as “Beautiful [chura, Okinawan] Energy [mana, Hawaiian]”) with Tokyo-born Maki Uehara on vocals/hula and Ishigakijima-born Makiko Miyara (formerly of the O-pop group Donann) on vocals. If you’re familiar with the group TINGARA (Okinawan healing music)…
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A TV Season Like No Other
I’m not sure how many of you may recall a time (in the ’90s) when the J-pop scene was filled with artists from Okinawa from Namie Amuro to SPEED. Although you’ll still find Namie, ORANGE RANGE and Haikara at the top of the J-pop charts, it’s definitely far from what it used to be. So…
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Claudia Oshiro’s Debut Album Coming Soon?
According to the Okinawa Cyura Sounds blog (which happens to also be one of my favorite podcasts from Okinawa), Argentine-born nisei (2nd generation) Claudia Oshiro will soon be making her CD debut with The Boom’s Kazufumi Miyazawa as producer! I couldn’t find much info on the album yet — it’ll be called “CLAUDIA” — but…
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Desktops: Takako Uehara for Sokenbicha
While not as high quality as the previous kabegami (Japanese for wallpaper), it’s still something new from Takako Uehara (ex-SPEED). Enjoy! [Via 壁紙fan!]
Karakui 