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New Music Releases
New singles and albums released in April 2021 2021.04.16 [Single] Agena Mana – Hohoemi wo Tayasazuni (Links) 2021.04.18 [Single] Asato Mina – Shima nu Kokoro (Links) 2021.04.21 [EP] Miura Daichi – Backwards (Links) 2021.04.21 [Album] MONGOL800 – etc.works3 (Indies) 2021.04.28 [Single] JO1 – CHALLENGER (Links) 2021.04.28 [Mini Album] Kiiyama Shouten – Akasatana (Indies)
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“Hanamizuki Okinawa Hougen Ver.” is the MV of the Year
If you watch one music video on YouTube, this must be it. The MV is an acoustic cover of the very popular J-pop song Hanamizuki by Hitoto Yō (she’s Japanese and Taiwanese) and matches well with Uchinaa-guchi and Ryūkyū instruments, dance and vocals. (Another version to listen to is from Amami Ōshima’s Minami Kizuki.) The…
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BTS’s Dynamite in Uchinaa-guchi
What better example of Ryukyuan pop culture than this cover of K-pop group BTS‘s super-catchy Dynamite sung in Uchinaa-guchi? The brilliant cover is by Toume Yoshiaki (Usumasa Okinawa) who is an uta-sanshin player, Okinawa shibai actor, and a Ryukyuan Dance performer. Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter. I’m…
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JO1 K-pop + J-pop
If you’re into Korean pop culture and music, you’re going to want to check out the boy group JO1 (jay-oh-one) from Japan. The group was formed through the reality competition show PRODUCE 101 JAPAN (similar to the popular girs group NiziU) in 2020 and released their debut single Protostar on March 4, 2020. The leader…
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Kiiyama Shouten (きいやま商店)
I remember Kiiyama Shouten when they had their CD debut and thought it would be a one-time variety type of release. To my surprise they’ve kept going for over a decade and recently released a new single Akasatana with a very fun music video featuring popular Okinawan TikTokers. To their credit (or to their record…
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Speaking of Japanese Artists & Okinawan Music
Found about this on Twitter of a live performance of the song Okinawa Samba (from 1980) by Asano Yuko who is perhaps best known as an actress but she began as an idol singer. Upon first discovering the song, I read it as Okinawa Sanba as サンバ is also used for the Ryukyu instrument sanba…
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Suzuhana Yuko (Wagakki Band) Plays Asadoya Yunta
Suzuhana Yuko, the vocalist of the Japanese folk rock band Wagakki Band, recently shared on her YouTube channel that she’s a fan of the sanshin and Okinawan folk music. She performs Asadoya Yunta and talks a bit about how she came upon the instrument and her love of Okinawa. In the video’s description, she writes…
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i-Dushi’s YouTube Channel
I’ve posted about i-Dushi before and lately they’ve been very active on their YouTube channel (link). The video clip above is one of their older ones (2015) performing a cover of Umi no Koe and it has over 3 millions views! In addition to their original songs, they also do Okinawan versions of famous J-pop…
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Is MATSURI the Next Big Break?
Featured in a Rolling Stones Japan article and already having a song (Kingyo Sukui — her 1st digital single nonetheless) chosen to be an ending theme for a TV drama, is MATSURI set to become the next big breakout from Okinawa? Listen to the song on YouTube or on Apple Music to decide for yourself.…
Karakui 