Category: Koto

An Evening of Japanese and Okinawan Music and Dance – Hawaii

Haisai Richie1 Comment

From the flyer:

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa · College of Arts & Humanities · Music Department presents

An Evening of Japanese and Okinawan Music and Dance

Saturday, October 17, 2009
7:30 p.m., Orvis Auditorium
$12 general admission, $8 students & seniors @ the door

A recital featuring instructors from UH Manoa’s ethnomusicology and dance programs, including:

Rev. Masatoshi Shamoto (gagaku)
Onoe Kikunobu (Japanese dance)
Cheryl Yoshie Nakasone (Okinawan dance)
Robert Herr (shakuhachi)
Darin Miyashiro (koto)
Norman Kaneshiro (Okinawan sanshin)

The concert includes traditional gagaku and bugaku, dances choreographed to classic koto/shamisen music, Okinawan classic and folk numbers, and a contemporary koto/shakuhachi duet.

(Nifee deebitan to Char for the info!)

New year get-together and fellowship dinner

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Happy New Year to the Okinawa Minyo Kyokai Derek Ichiro Shiroma Kenkyusho and Jane Kaneshiro Sozan Kai who will have a New Year get-together and fellowship dinner this Friday night at the Jikoen Hongwanji Mission. I’ll be there and I’m hoping to see some of you there too. 🙂

(Nifee deebitan for the invite, Derek-sensei!)

Ryukyu Beatles, not an insect, rather, it’s the name of an album

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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 (kuucho). (That’s Toru in the YouTube clip performing “Day Tripper” in Koza.)

The first pressing of the 10-track album—released on 6/18/08—comes with a kunkunshi (or kururunshi) booklet and is currently on sale for ¥2,000 at retailers like CDJapan.

ryukyubeatles.jpg

Track listing:

  1. NORWEGIAN WOOD
  2. TICKET TO RIDE
  3. EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
  4. YELLOW SUBMARINE
  5. OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA
  6. DAY TRIPPER
  7. MICHELLE
  8. IN MY LIFE
  9. NOWHERE MAN
  10. HEY JUDE

Katsuko Teruya’s “Koto Rainbow” on October 26, 2008

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Master Katsuko Teruya will be holding her 40th anniversary concert, “Koto Rainbow (Kutu Nuuji),” on Sunday, October 26, 2008. The concert will take place at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and featured guests from Okinawa include Choichi Terukina (Afuso Ryu), Nozo Miyagi II (Miyagi Ryu) and Hiroko Akamine (president of the Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyo Kai). Guests from Hawaii include Yoshiko Nakasone (Hooge Kai Nakasone Dance Academy), Yoshie Nakasone (Kinryosho Geino Kenkyusho Hawaii Shibu) and Grant “Sandaa” Murata (Afuso Ryu Gensei Kai Hawaii Shibu).