Okinawan Classics Mix
Here’s some great Okinawan music to listen to at the end of the year. It’s my latest music mix for K.O.L. Radio and it’s online now with a link below. This one is called Okinawan Classics and is a collection I’ve put together of mostly early recordings by the first generation of Okinawan recording artists. All the musicians are from Okinawa.
Choki Fukuhara began recording and releasing albums on his Marufuku label in the late 1940s and was also a singer and musician. One of his own tracks opens the mix. It’s followed by the original 1962 recording of Misako Oshiro’s hit ‘Kataumui’ a song written for her by Teihan China who is also featured elsewhere in the playlist.
Four especially important artists appear more than once. They are Rinsho Kadekaru, Shouei Kina, Yuki Yamazato, and Misako Oshiro. Seijin Noborikawa is also here with ‘Hiyamikachi Bushi’ and so is Rinsuke Teruya (father of the Rinken Band founder).
Four Sisters – forerunners of Nenes – sing ‘Shimajimakaishi’ a song later recorded by Nenes themselves. There is also a track by Hoptones, who were a popular male vocal quartet. The mix ends with a track by Kame Itokazu who formed her own school of song and dance and was one of the earliest recorded women singers.
This is the playlist order with artists and song titles:
Choki Fukuhara ‘Yutakara Bushi’
Misako Oshiro ‘Kataumui’
Rinsho Kadekaru with Shuei Kohama ‘Tomaitakahashi Bushi~Umi Chinbora Bushi’
Koutoku Tsuha ‘Nanyo Hamachidori Bushi’
Yuki Yamazato ‘Motobu Nakuni~Kaisare’
Shouei Kina ‘Kayoibune’
Hiromi Shiroma ‘Chibumi’
Seijin Noborikawa ‘Hiyamikachi Bushi’
Rinsuke Teruya ‘Nenju Gyoji Kuduchi’
Yuki Yamazato with Shouei Kina, Teihan China, and Tsuneo Fukuhara ‘Kui nu Hana’
Rinsho Kadekaru ‘Jidai no Nagare’
Hoptones ‘Hei Niseta’
Misako Oshiro ‘Sagichijuya’
Shouei Kina ‘Sah Sah Bushi’
Minoru Kinjo & Yuki Yamazato ‘Boshi Kuma’
Teihan China ‘Nageki no Ume’
Four Sisters ‘Shimajimakaisha’
Shotoku Yamauchi ‘Nakunigwa~Timatu
Kame Itokazu ‘Amisuku Bushi’
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Power of Okinawa 
January 4, 2022 at 3:18 am
Thank you so much for this!