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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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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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Cocco’s YouTube Channel Hits 60,000 Subs
Cocco’s YouTube channel recently hit 60,000 subscribers and in typical Cocco fashion she released a fun video to commemorate it. An interesting thing to note about her YouTube channel is that she directs her own music videos. So she’s basically writing her lyrics, writing her music, and directing her music videos! She’s so talented! If you…
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YouTube: Toki no Suisaiga (時の首里彩画)
A YouTube series of video clips created by RBC called Toki no Suisaiga features narration by Miyazawa Kazufumi (The Boom) and amazing music by Oyakawa Haruka (Ryukyu Koten Ongaku performer) is worth subscribing to. There are thirty 3-minute clips so far and new ones are uploaded every Sunday Japan time.
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Happy Sanshin Day!
Well, it was actually yesterday in Okinawa but today here in the rest of the world. Thankfully, if you missed all 9 hours of it, RBCi’s YouTube channel has you covered with all 3 parts! It’s so nice to see Part 1 with over 12,000 views so let’s get those numbers up and be sure…
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Sanshin no Hi March 4, 2021
The 29th annual Sanshin no Hi (さんしんの日) is taking place on Thursday, 4th March 2021 (“34 Day” Japan time). There will be 3 parts to the celebration with Part 1 featuring artists as China Sadahito 知名定人 (Sadao’s son), Matsuda Kazutoshi 松田一利, Hatoma Kanako 鳩間可奈子, and Miyara Kōsei 宮良康正 (my relative) among others. Part 2 will…
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YouTube: Yonaha Tōru Band Live at Output Naha
Enjoy this live concert of the Yonaha Tōru Band from their performance at output in Naha December 30, 2020. Tōru is a musician who’s able to masterfully perform in both koten (classical) and minyou (folk) — add roots pop to that too. He has two channels on YouTube but this is the one that’s being…
Karakui 