Okinawa Americana – Live in Chatan

The duo David Ralston and Merry who go under the name Okinawa Americana have been touring far and wide this year with dates across America and Japan as well as their home base of Okinawa. Their recent shows have been in support of the release of their self-titled album which has already been reviewed on this blog.

On Friday I finally managed to catch the tail end of this tour when they played at Live House Mod’s in Chatan, This was the full band version of Okinawa Americana with the pair joined on stage by an electric bass player and a drummer to flesh out some of the songs from their album and also to rock loud and hard on several other songs and instrumentals.

 

This line-up probably suits David Ralston’s slide guitar and vocal style best but Merry’s singing, sanshin and sanba were hardly neglected either and she showed what an important presence she is, especially on the three ‘acoustic’ songs that began the second half of the set.

It was also unusual to find an audience with such a large and vociferous contingent of Westerners who seemed to appreciate ‘Waido Bushi’ and some of the more traditional Okinawan songs just as much as the more familiar rock and reggae. The soaking I received from a sudden downpour on my way to the venue was soon forgotten as Okinawa Americana revived the spirits with a fine performance.

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