Our favorite VTuber Nema Ui will be releasing her first Okinawa Support mini album (EP?) “Ui ❤️ Okinawa” on 10/20! The album will feature the two singles she released this year and also include four additional tracks (one of them is a cover of everyone’s favorite anthem “Dynamic Ryukyu”). A physical CD is currently being sold on Ui’s website so we’re hoping a digital version will follow.
Nema Ui’s “Ui ❤️ Okinawa”
We’re about a month away from the 11/11 release of SPEED’s tribute album “SPEED SPIRITS” and now we have an album cover art! Although it isn’t mentioned, doesn’t the art look like Hitoe’s style? Hopefully the artist will be revealed when the album is released.
This is an amazing song and collaboration between noovy and Anly. According to Anly, the band filmed their portion in Taiwan while Anly filmed hers in Okinawa so it’s like the sea is connecting the two 😍.
BEGIN’s keyboardist Uechi Hitoshi “Brother Hitoshi” will be releasing the first album “Trippin’ Orchestra” for his side project Billiken Brothers on 11/17. The upcoming album from this old rookie trio will have a total of 6 tracks and singer Tawata Emi will be a guest vocalist.
Due to the pandemic, the Ryūkyū Fue Kenkyūjo will be holding their concert online on YouTube for free this year. Also called Ryūteki, the Ryūkyū fue (flute) is a beautiful instrument and although it’s an accompaniment instrument in classical music, it will be interesting to see how it’s performed for this concert. The concert will also feature musicians from Nomura-ryu Koten Ongaku Nomura-ryu Ongaku Kyokai.
Okinawan trance music?! Originally released in 1998 but now making its way to online music services is SARABANDGE’s album “Okinawan Trance Music”. The album has a mix of Uchinaa folk music and originals. I can imagine hitting play and having the album run in the background.
The anime “Deeji Meets Girl” that takes place in Okinawa is calling for creators to submit a music video or illustration to match the vibe of the theme song by Kubo Aoi “Miracle“. The creator challenge runs until November 1st. The winning entires will be broadcast in Japan.
It’s probably our most anticipated release of 2021 and now we have everything we’ve been waiting for — well almost everything as 11/12 is the release date. We have the awesome album art, we have the amazing lead single “Shimanchu”, and we have a super fun music video (created by Floating Room’s Maya Stoner).
We’ve had “Shimanchu” on heavy rotation since its release and it’s a banger. This part in the song especially hits close to home for many of us:
I’m an islander but I’m away from my island, so I am the only island here.
https://www.kexp.org/read/2021/9/28/portlands-floating-room-announce-shima-ep-share-excellent-and-furious-lead-single-shimanchu/
There was a really cute Twitter exchange between Floating Room (@floating_room) and artist Nami Oshiro (@namioshiro) where Maya replied “makes me feel way less of an island”. It shows that although we’re (Uchinanchu) spread out all over the world and away from our island, the connections we make with each other lets us know that we’re not alone and not the only island here.
Pre-order “Shima” on Bandcamp and add it to your Apple Music library.
MATSURI’s 3rd digital single was just released and it’s another awesome song by her. Now that the song is out we have album artwork to go with it and if you’ve checked it out on Apple Music you may have noticed that it’s listed under the title “Hotaru” which was the previous single. 🥺 The folks over at Spotify did the safe thing and kept in Japanese (線香花火).
Hirata Daiichi will be taking his one-man show “Nantoushijin” performance to Naha’s Tenbusu Hall on 11/23.
