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Awich’s “Queendom” EP Gets Postponed
Announced on Awich’s Twitter is the postponement of her upcoming EP “Queendom” due to production reasons (no doubt due to the pandemic). The EP was set to be released on the 24th of this month but at least she was able to get out her new single “Kuchi ni Dashite” (album art is featured above)…
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Latest Rough Guide Album Includes Uchinānchu Artists
Recently released Rough Guide series includes songs from Uchinānchu artists as well as performers of Uchinā music. There was also a Rough Guide for the music of Okinawa released in 2006 but it’s only available in CD format at this time. A wonderfully diverse collection exploring some of Japan’s lesser-known contemporary styles by artists rooted…
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Ryu-chan’s Birthday Celebration
Slow news day? How about news of a newspaper mascot? Yay! On 9/15 Ryukyu Shimpo mascot Ryu-chan will be celebration their 16th birthday! The celebration will happen on Ryukyu Shimpo’s YouTube channel and they mentioned there will be a special guest and giveaways.
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Kiiyama Shouten’s New Single “TTM de UTT”
Created as an insert song for the NHK Okinawa show “Uchinaa de Asobo SP“, Kiiyama Shouten has confirmed the digital release of “TTM de UTT” on 9/8. (The TTM stands for to-to-me- and the UTT stands for u-to-to-.) The MV is quite fun so be sure to check it out and the single is currently…
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Gus Hokama’s Lovely Song “Jikuu no Hana”
I hope you enjoyed the two days of Uchinaa culture with HUOA’s 2021 Virtual Okinawan Festival (and if you haven’t, there’s always the archives). We were treated to a lot of amazing local talent and a few special guests and one that came to our attention is singer-songwriter Gus Hokama from Argentina and his song…
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November 1st is Luchu History & Culture Day
November 1st is designated as Luchu History and Culture Day (琉球歴史文化の日) and a special website has been created that has information on workshops and special contests. For the contest portion, the logo mark design has already been decided but there are three other contests that run until the end of the month (9/30 Uchinaa time):…
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Gackt’s Activities Suspended Indefinitely
His latest video on his YouTube channel was over 4 weeks ago and with his uploads being quite regular, it was strange to not see any new content from him. Reported on 9/8 on Gackt’s website, we finally found out the reason behind his absence: As far as the information regarding this situation, after returning to Japan on August 6th, we have been contacted by GACKT saying that he is “unwell”. After a while, his condition suddenly worsened. His early onset neurological disease was triggered and at this point it progressed into a life-threatening condition. https://gackt.com/contents/454205 As you can…
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10,000 Eisaa Dancers Online in Virtual Okinawa
Due to the pandemic, most of this year’s eisaa festivities (there were still smaller, downsized local ones here and there) have been canceled. To make up for it, there was a limited time YouTube VOD of the fantastic film “Eisaa Don Don” (extended to 9/30!), a rebroadcast of the Campus Records x Matsuda Kazutoshi’s 2020…
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Lucy’s Okinawan Upbeat Music Singles
The Qwotchee Records digital releases continue with a couple of singles from the amazing artist Lucy. The singles are “Hounen Ondo” and “Hiyamikachi Bushi” (not available globally) — note that they’re using the same cover art for both songs but one has a blue overlay (“Hounen Ondo”) and the other a red overlay (“Hiyamikachi Bushi”).…
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Noovy’s Upcoming Single Featuring Anly
Taiwanese band noovy’s single “Before We Die” (Japanese version) will feature singer-songwriter Anly! The Mandopop version (without Anly) was released on August 31 and the Japanese version (with Anly) will be released on September 10.
Karakui 