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3-4 Day Special: Kajadifuu Bushi
In celebration of Sanshin Day, March 4, I’m featuring a Ryūkyū Koten Ongaku (Ryūkyū classical music) song called “Kajadifū Bushi (かぎやで風節).” It has a bit of history for myself as the first song I learned on uta-sanshin from Katsumi Shinsato-sensei some fifteen years ago and I’ve been playing it ever since. Here’s a little background…
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Happy Sanshin Day!
The following is from a 1993 Okinawa Times article: Keeping tradition alive Did anyone hear the sound of sanshin on March 4th, or perhaps someone may have played it? The sanshin is a fretless 3-stringed musical instrument very much intertwined with Okinawan traditional music. March 4th was Sanshin Day, which the Ryukyus Broadcasting Corporation has…
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Quick review of Namie Amuro’s “60s 70s 80s” single
Continuing onto 2008 with a very successful 2007, Namie Amuro’s new Triple A-Side single (to be released on 3/12/08), “60s 70s 80s,” is simply amazing so far. The first song, “New Look,” (PV below) samples The Supremes’ hit song from 1964 “Baby Love” to great effect. Hearing the original on the radio yesterday, I found…
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melody. blogs release date for her forthcoming album ‘Lei Aloha’
J-pop artist and Karakui.com favorite, melody., blogged the release date of 4/9/08 for her upcoming album, “Lei Aloha.” According to her blog post, the theme for “Lei Aloha” is kizuna (bonds) and it will be melody.’s 4th album following 2007’s “READY TO GO!” The album will feature 14 songs (track titles are already up on…
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Amuse forms new company, gives Emi Tawata major label debut – Tokyograph
Management agency Amuse is establishing a new company called AZEAL. Within the first three years, the company aims to sign three music artists who have the potential for nationwide tours that will attract hundreds of thousands of fans. The first artist signed to the firm is 23-year-old singer Emi Tawata. Originally from Okinawa, she was…
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Ways to find Karakui.com: ‘nude okinawan’
Nope, I’m not the “nude okinawan” (and that’s probably a good thing too) but it’s interesting that we were found with those keywords. Actually, maybe it’s something worth exploring (I’m joking here). Not sure what that person was searching for as it could be a male or female and I have yet to hear about…
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Desktop: The One Pound Gospel (1 paundo no fukuin)
The Good: free desktop available for download from my favorite J-drama of this season, “The One Pound Gospel.” The Bad: you don’t get the beautiful Meisa Kuroki who plays Sister Angela in the show. But not to fret as there are four more wallpapers coming to the site soon. Of course, we’ll be posting about…
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O-Reggae goes SOUTH!
Okay, I admit, that’s a pretty silly title for a blog post. Heh. Anywho, Okinawan reggae duo SOUTH released a new album on the 22nd titled “Walking Up.” The 7-track album will feature their style of reggae dubbed (get it?) “Okinawan happy reggae.” The freshly released “Walking Up” follows their debut album “Peace-Full-Piece” from 2006.…
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TBSK: The next HY / HandMC?
Sorry about the abbreviations in the title folks but can you name all three bands? We’ll start with the popular indie band HY — since that’s what they go by — who are representing their hometown, Higashi Yakena, with pride. (Btw, it’s the band’s choice to remain indie.) Next is the uber-popular J-mixture band HIGH…
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LINA blogs a picture of MAX
Just to show that yup, they’re still here (what with their last album having been released a zillion years ago, in like 2006), LINA of MAX blogged this picture of them just before a performance. (Btw, she’s quite the blogger.) They still look great — can’t let Amuro take all the thunder — and the…
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