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Oyakawa Haruka Releases First Album “Aya-Modoro, Tsichi nu Wakachura”
Ryukyu classical music artist, Oyakawa Haruka, released her first album! The album is titled “Aya-Modoro, Tsichi nu Wakachura”, and contains a total of 14 tracks. She’s one of a few graduates of the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts who have been really active in performing in and out of Okinawa. Haruka also happens to be…
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Musicians Oyakawa Haruka & Tanahara Kenta in “Toki no Suisaiga”
The long-running YouTube series “Toki no Suisaiga” and one of the most missed gems on the platform for Ryukyu culture finally, yes finally, released a couple of videos with English subtitles. The first video features popular Ryukyu classical musician Oyakawa Haruka (pictured above) performing the song “Nakarata Bushi (なからた節)”. Haruka has been on the series…
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Kucho Girl on YouTube
Allison-sensei started her Kucho Girl YouTube channel about a year ago and has a lot of great content in English for those interested in learning more about classical (koten ongaku) and folk (minyou) music from Uchinaa. If you’re not familiar with the word ‘kucho’, Allison-sensei calls it an Okinawan spike fiddle and it’s one of…
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Season 2 of “Toki no Suisaiga”
New episodes of “Toki no Suisaiga” season two started airing at the beginning of the month. The new season brings back Miyazawa Kazufumi (The Boom) as narrator and Ryukyu classical music performances by Oyakawa Haruka. Check out their YouTube channel for the latest clips.
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National Theatre Okinawa’s Promo Video
The National Theatre Okinawa recently shared promotional videos on their YouTube channel with versions in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean (the latter three are subtitled only). The videos are narrated in English by Yonashiro Sho of the idol pop group JO1. National Theatre Okinawa’s building, as seen in the video, was built in…
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Harry Seisho Nakasone
Harry Seisho Nakasone, a Honolulu resident who studied in Japan and became a master of classical Okinawan music, died March 19 in Honolulu. He was 99. Nakasone was a grand master of classical uta-sanshin, in which the artist sings and plays the three-string instrument that is Okinawa’s version of the shamisen. […] “He is well-respected…
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Toru Yonaha getting back to his Roots
This upcoming release from Toru Yonaha is the perfect companion to his 2007 album “Utage ~party~” which was heavily influenced by J-pop. The 11 track album titled “Roots ~Ryukyu Iwaiuta~ (Best of Okinawan Traditional Songs)” will be released on 9/24/08 in Okinawa. Dude, I am so buying this. (Via 沖縄三線日和.)
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3-4 Day Special: Kajadifuu Bushi
In celebration of Sanshin Day, March 4, I’m featuring a Ryūkyū Koten Ongaku (Ryūkyū classical music) song called “Kajadifū Bushi (かぎやで風節).” It has a bit of history for myself as the first song I learned on uta-sanshin from Katsumi Shinsato-sensei some fifteen years ago and I’ve been playing it ever since. Here’s a little background…
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Okinawan music and dance performance: ‘Loochoo nu Kwa, Children of Loochoo’
Norman Kaneshiro-sensei emailed information on an Okinawan music and dance performance his group has lined up for March 28, 2008, a Saturday. Titled “Loochoo nu Kwa, Children of Loochoo,” the performance featuring the talented members of Ukwanshin Kabudan will be held at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (<rant>for those like me who are irritated…
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Web: Uta Sanshin Circle
Found a link to this wonderful website (kept by a fellow Mac user too 😀 ) in my referral log and I thought I’d share it with everyone. The Uta Sanshin Circle is a resource for those who live in (or are visiting) the mainland USA with information on classical and minyou classes. It looks…
Karakui 