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Ayano Uema’s recording of her 2nd album
While I couldn’t find a release date for utasaa Ayano Uema’s forthcoming (and untitled) sophomore album, we can rest assured that she’s busy recording for it and is posting her progress of it on her blog here, here, and here. If you haven’t already purchased it, Ayano’s (and two other awesome female utasaa, Mika Uchizato…
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Chiaki (Syakari) posts pics of her sanshin
Chiaki, singer of the pop group Syakari, recently posted a couple pics of her sanshin on their official blog: しゃかりデジカメ日記. Originally from the band Diamantes, Chatan-born Chiaki started Syakari along with guitarist Masaru Kadekaru and former Rinken Band drummer Kazunari Uechi in 1998. Syakari’s “Kodou (コドウ)” from the 2005 album of the same title. Syakari’s…
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Featuring: San Jose Sanshin Kai on the Web
It’s always a nice thing to open my inbox to see an email to a sanshin-related website and such is the case for the San Jose Sanshin Kai. Their website has an English (they’ve kindly linked to Karakui.com here) and a Japanese version. So stop by their website and give them a warm welcome to…
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Matsuda Kazutoshi no Teegee Rajio
Utasaa Kazutoshi “Kaazuu” Matsuda launched his own internet radio show, Matsuda Kazutoshi no Teegee Rajio, at the beginning of the month and now he’s added a much welcome m3u version (it launched with Real Player) for the last two shows (#3 and #4). Although it’s all in Japanese, it’s worth listening to as he introduces…
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Introducing Three Strings: Everything Sanshin
Today we’re announcing a new website called Three Strings: Everything Sanshin. We’re hoping it’ll do for sanshin, what Karakui.com has done for Okinawan pop culture: make information for that subject available to a larger audience. Please kindly add the website to your browser’s bookmarks or even better, add it to your newsreader. Nifee deebitan! Richie,…
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Off the Wall to feature live Okinawan music!!!
Off the Wall Originally uploaded by Champuru Watch, enjoy and listen to live Okinawan music every 1st and 3rd Wednesday night of the month at Off the Wall (Aiea, Hawaii). (From their email newsletter—nifee deebitan to Sandaa-sensei for the tip!): Join us this coming Wednesday, September 17, at OFF THE WALL BAR for LIVE OKINAWAN…
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Ryukyu Beatles, not an insect, rather, it’s the name of an album
Yup, Richie here at Karakui.com is a pretty big fan of The Beatles and it’s pretty cool to see their music redone with an Okinawan twist. The group of this wonderful album are calling themselves “Soul Gakudan” and they’re none other than Toru Yonaha (sanshin, fue), Kazunari Uechi (taiko), Yoko Onaga (koto) and Natsuko Morita…
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Akane Murayoshi releases debut album!
A song that I completely fell in love with in 2006 also happened to be the Miuta Taishou Grand Prix winner of that same year: “Miyarabi nu Hana.” The song—sung by upcoming utasaa Akane Murayoshi of Kumejima Town—also performed at the Okinawan Festival in Hawaii in 2006. The album, unsurprisingly titled “Miyarabi nu Hana,” was…
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And the awesome new releases for 2008 keep coming!
Geez, I’m really going to go broke this year what with all these great CD releases in the 2nd half of 2008 and with my mom’s and big bro’s birthdays this month, Xmas and that shiny new iPod nano. But I digress. Coming on 10/10/08, an artist whom I really, really admire, Suekichi Matsuda, will…
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Rinken Teruya’s solo album, “Pause,” available on iTunes
We all know him as the leader of perhaps the greatest recorded O-pop group in history, Rinken Band, and Rinken Teruya is finally recording a solo album. Pre-released in a digital format exclusively at the iTunes Store in August 4th of this year (yeah, I missed it), “Pause” (link opens iTunes Store) is an instrumental,…
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