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Fender Guitars ❤️ Okinawan Musicians
We’ve known that Fender Guitars Japan showcased musician Anly before, and for their Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary one of the special events featured Okinawan veteran musicians Shimabukuro Masaru (BEGIN) and NAOTO (ORANGE RANGE)! On our last trip to Japan, we mulled over visiting their first ever flagship store in Harajuku (Fender Flagship Tokyo), but ended up…
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Sorry Sho, It’s Kiyosaku for Us
Ok. So we’re going to cheat and say we like both Yonashiro Sho’s and Kiyosaku’s versions but, whoa, when Kiyosaku first starts singing it’s like goosebumps and the feels. We’re calling it for the next collab: Awich. Make it happen HY!
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HY’s Hit Song “366 Days” Becomes a J-Drama & Spawns Several Collaborations
Who would’ve thought? On the J-pop side, we’ve see Utada Hikaru’s hit song “First Love” become a J-drama and now, it’s HY‘s “366 Days” turn! The drama is currently airing on Fuji TV’s coveted 21:00 time slot and although it doesn’t have any Okinawan actors in it, it does have Maeda Gouki from “Chimudondon” and…
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MAX & Gori YouTube Collaboration is the Fun We Need Right Now
MAX’s MAX THE BOMB channel (featuring NANA who was in Okinawa) recently collaborated with Gori’s Gori Okinawa channel and as expected, it’s a lot of fun. The story about NANA not being popular with the boys during middle school is worth a listen since it ties to an Okinawan tale. It’s great to see veteran…
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OZworld’s New Single “Mikoto -Sun no Kuni”
It’s great seeing these artists continue to support each other. Last time it was supporting Awich and this time it’s to support OZworld and his new amazing song “Mikoto -Sun no Kuni-“.
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Bigknot Records Teases New “Tinsagu nu Hana” MV
On January 12th (Okinawa time) be sure to check out the Bigknot Records YouTube page to check out the new MV (music video) for “Tinsagu nu Hana” featuring their collaboration with KUNIKO, MuKuRo, and OZworld! It’s sure to be special!
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The Dream Collab? Arinkurin x Okinawa Channel
Ending the year with a YouTube dream collaboration? No, it’s not Taylor and Beyonce but Arinkurin and Okinawa Channel! If you’re not already familiar with both, now’s a good time as any to become their fan. Arinkurin is perhaps the hottest comedic duo (Ryuta and Chris) from Okinawa since Garage Sale and they do a…
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Nanaironote x i-Dushi
Perhaps one of the best YouTube channels around is Nanaironote who does covers of J-pop songs in Uchinaaguchi (although they use Okinawa Hougen in their music video descriptions) with many of the top musicians from Okinawa. We’ve featured their videos on Karakui before but here’s one featuring our favorite now-on-hiatus duo, i-Dushi, covering J-pop star…
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The Session from Toki no Suisaiga (YouTube)
Toki no Suisaiga is one of those special programs that I wish were translated into more languages. It has such amazing episodes. For their The Session series (it’s preceded by two full seasons), it features collaborations between traditional performing arts musicians with modern artists/musicians. In episode #14 (pictured above), we see the Luchu Kuuchoo performed…
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Anly Featured on Fender’s Artist Check-In
If you follow Anly you already know she’s often featured on Fender’s Twitter or YouTube channel. This time we see her on Fender’s Artist Check-In performing her song “Karano Kokoro” (theme song for Naruto Shippuden) using Fender’s Acoustasonic Jazzmaster. Since this is Fender’s worldwide YouTube channel she does her introduction in English! Will we see…
Karakui 