Mark your calendars for this historic (well, IMHO) release: on June 24 veteran singer Misako Oshiro and popular singer-songwriter (and producer) Toru Yonaha will release a collaboration album titled “Futari Uta~Umui Keishou.” The 12-track (including a bonus track of a live performance at Misako’s Shima Umui) album is produced by Toru Yonaha and will be …
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Simple Sanshin Source shares a video of University of the Ryukyus‘s (Ryudai) sanshin-playing robot. Has to be seen to be believed. The clip above shows the robot playing “Toushin Doi.” Not perfect, but pretty amazing.
Simple Sanshin Source is “an English-based guide to the Okinawan sanshin” that features kunkunshi (sheet music), lyrics, and tips by Kenji, a self-taught sanshin enthusiast. Given that I haven’t been very good at updating Three Strings, Simple Sanshin Source looks to be the online place to learn about the sanshin. There’s also a YouTube channel …
While I couldn’t find a release date for utasaa Ayano Uema’s forthcoming (and untitled) sophomore album, we can rest assured that she’s busy recording for it and is posting her progress of it on her blog here, here, and here. If you haven’t already purchased it, Ayano’s (and two other awesome female utasaa, Mika Uchizato …
Chiaki, singer of the pop group Syakari, recently posted a couple pics of her sanshin on their official blog: しゃかりデジカメ日記. Originally from the band Diamantes, Chatan-born Chiaki started Syakari along with guitarist Masaru Kadekaru and former Rinken Band drummer Kazunari Uechi in 1998. Syakari’s “Kodou (コドウ)” from the 2005 album of the same title. Syakari’s …
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Utasaa Kazutoshi “Kaazuu” Matsuda launched his own internet radio show, Matsuda Kazutoshi no Teegee Rajio, at the beginning of the month and now he’s added a much welcome m3u version (it launched with Real Player) for the last two shows (#3 and #4). Although it’s all in Japanese, it’s worth listening to as he introduces …
Today we’re announcing a new website called Three Strings: Everything Sanshin. We’re hoping it’ll do for sanshin, what Karakui.com has done for Okinawan pop culture: make information for that subject available to a larger audience. Please kindly add the website to your browser’s bookmarks or even better, add it to your newsreader. Nifee deebitan! Richie, …
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Yup, Richie here at Karakui.com is a pretty big fan of The Beatles and it’s pretty cool to see their music redone with an Okinawan twist. The group of this wonderful album are calling themselves “Soul Gakudan” and they’re none other than Toru Yonaha (sanshin, fue), Kazunari Uechi (taiko), Yoko Onaga (koto) and Natsuko Morita …
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A song that I completely fell in love with in 2006 also happened to be the Miuta Taishou Grand Prix winner of that same year: “Miyarabi nu Hana.” The song—sung by upcoming utasaa Akane Murayoshi of Kumejima Town—also performed at the Okinawan Festival in Hawaii in 2006. The album, unsurprisingly titled “Miyarabi nu Hana,” was …
Geez, I’m really going to go broke this year what with all these great CD releases in the 2nd half of 2008 and with my mom’s and big bro’s birthdays this month, Xmas and that shiny new iPod nano. But I digress. Coming on 10/10/08, an artist whom I really, really admire, Suekichi Matsuda, will …
Continue reading “And the awesome new releases for 2008 keep coming!”
