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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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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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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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Highly Recommended: Sanshin’s Matsuda (e-34ya.com)
I mentioned in my “In The Works…” post that I was in the final stages of procuring a few CDs direct from Okinawa and today, I received my shipment. 😀 The best (or only) way to get your hands on Okinawan music is on the web and although there are very, very good online stores…
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Live: Keith Nakaganeku and Calabash at Sam’s Club Stores on Oahu
Just thought I’d let you all know about Keith’s special appearance this weekend at both Sam’s Club stores on Oahu. Keith Nakaganeku and Calabash will be playing live: **Pearl City on Saturday 6/30 from 1pm to 2pm **Keeaumoku on Sunday 7/1 from 1pm to 2pm. If you don’t have a Sam’s Club card, find someone…
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In The Works: Purchasing Okinawan Music Online
I’m in the final stages of obtaining what would normally be hard-to-get (read: indie indies stuff) Okinawan music electronically (well, at least the ordering part) so if all goes well I’ll detail the whole deal here. Stuff that I’m going to add to my CD collection would otherwise only be obtained by buying it in…
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Cocco’s ‘No Music, No Life’ T-shirt
Tower Records Japan has a pretty cool Cocco inspired “No Music, No Life” t-shirt available for pre-sale. I’m also looking forward to the July 25, 2007, release of her forthcoming album, “Kirara”, which was recorded with an “Okinawa” concept.
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Why Not?
Now that the lyrics have been posted, why not sing along with BEGIN’s “Sanshin no Hana”? The significance of this video clip is that you’ll see actors Satoshi Tsumabuki and Masami Nagasawa in the studio — both were in the film “Nada Sou Sou” (IMDb link).
Karakui 