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Yano Kenji’s Back Catalog Coming Soon?
With the recent re-releases of Takara Records Store’s in-house labels (Qwotchee Records, Chikuten) it looks like musician Yano Kenji’s back catalog is up next! I tried the link to Apple Music but sadly it’s still not available overseas but hopefully it’s only a matter of time? We can look forward to the album above (“Sanshin…
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Ryukyu Renbo Digest (YouTube)
The video digest is from “Ryukyu Classical Performing Arts Meet the 25 String Koto”, a concert that took place last December featuring top artists from Luchu classical music and dance. It’s interesting hearing the classic songs arranged for the 25 string koto as well as Nakai Tomoya’s original songs and we’re grateful for the English…
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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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Sons of Ailana
The EP vol.1 release follows two singles (“Kunubungi Bushi” and “Tinsagu nu Hana”) that were made available a couple of weeks ago by Takara Records Store’s music Qwotchee Records label. Described as “Okinawan traditional music with Hawaiian and Caribbean influences” the Sons of Ailana are singer Shima Sachiko and musician Yano Kenji. Definitely good music…
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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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Gori Shares His 8 Favorite Songs from Okinawa
His staff had to get his favorite awamori into his system and once that was done Gori was ready to announce his 8 recommended songs from Okinawa (Uchinanchu artists). So without further ado, here’s his list in the order that he announced it (links go to YouTube videos): Ahane Ayano’s “Ookina Kaze“ BEGIN’s “YOU“ Parsha…
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The Sanshin Cafe Orchestra’s “Okinawan Cafe Music”
On August 11 The Sanshin Cafe Orchestra’s “Okinawan Cafe Music” album was released on music streaming services. The 2001 album is from a label created by Takara Records Store and they plan to release more of the catalog! The instrumental album is described as traditional meets ambient music — it’s definitely chill cafe music and…
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Miura Daichi to be Featured on AI’s “IN THE MIDDLE”
Miura Daichi is on a roll for 2021 and is featured on J-pop singer AI’s single “In The Middle”. Daichi also helped pen the lyrics and compose the music for the song so it definitely works to both singers strengths. Available on Apple Music on other music streaming services.
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Miura Daichi’s “Colorful” for Team Coca-Cola Reaches 1M Views
Miura Daichi participated in a group project for Team Coca-Cola with other pop artists and the song “Colorful” has reached over 1 million views on YouTube. The music video had its YouTube premiere on 7/19 along with a single that’s available on all streaming platforms. He’s the first artist on the video so you can’t…
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Shimabukuro Hiroko’s New Single “Something Great”
Coming ahead of SPEED’s 25th anniversary tribute album, Shimabukuro Hiroko released a new single on 8/5 “Something Great”. The digital single is available on all streaming platforms (gotta love it). She mentions in a tweet that it’s a strange feeling to have released a new song in the 25th year (her last release was in…
Karakui 