This is Okinawan Music
I've never been to Okinawa, although I've always wanted to go. All I know about the enchanted archipelago is that fact that their spirit, culture, music and dance have influenced their big brother Japan since ancient times, and that they have been a bridge of culture from the mainland to Japan since the earliest days of eastern civilization. Yet the entire population of the southernmost islands is no more than the city of Saint Louis, Missouri. The small, spirited, free minded and often resentful province has left an indelible mark on the culture of Japan and continues to have disproportionate influence on the culture of the nation.
The Boom
Really, it's true. Consider the most popular music in Japan over the last decade. The mid nineties kicked off with the unequalled popularity of the The Boom's hit Shima Uta (Island song). Contrary to popular belief - even among the Japanese - Shima Uta is not a traditional Okinawan folk song. In fact it is neither Okinawan nor traditional. The song was written by The Boom's lead man, Miyazawa Kazufumi, after visiting Okinawa in the early 90's. He was sadly influenced by the islanders struggle and prevailing sadness brought on by the hardships during and after World War II. Many Japanese believe Miyazawa to be Okinawan by birth. He is not, he was born in Kofu, Yamanashi, under the shadow of Mt. Fuji, but Miyazawa, loved the Okinawan folk song genre and went on compose several other hit songs in the style. In fact, the band released an album of purely Okinawan influenced songs called Okinawa, Watashi no shima (Okinawa, my island) in 2002. More on "The Boom" later. For fans of serious pop music, The Boom and Miyazawa are not to be missed.
Shima Uta, after 1.5 million copies sold and numerous covers by anyone from enka singers to Jamaican reggae bands and Argentinean comedians, (Alfredo Casero), was hardly the beginning of Okinawa's influence on Japanese music, but many Japanese consider it an early sign of the rebirth of Okinawan music in modern J-pop culture.
Okinawa Actors School groups, Amuro Namie, Super Monkeys, MAX
While The Boom was creating a buzz and nostalgia for the simple island life of Okinawa, another young Okinawan was beginning to make ripples in the Pop music scene. Graduate of the famous "Okinawan Actors School", Amuro Namie was pure J-pop - dance, hype, sex and catchy riffs. She and her group, the Super Monkeys moved from Okinawa to Tokyo and began to turn heads. After teaming up with the famous J-pop Producer Komuro Tetsuya, she became a hit machine dominating the late '90s j-pop charts. Meanwhile the other Super Monkey's became the equally famous girl Group MAX, named after their famous AVEX Tracks Producer, Matsura Masato. Amuro Namie was as famous for being a bit of a rebel in the J-pop hit making machine, as she was pin-up girl. She married record producer __________ when she was still ___ and he was ____. She quit music for a year at the height of her career to get pregnant. People advised her against this stating that she would never make it back to the top, but her comeback album was a success. Her subsequent divorce and string of bad singles probably led to her "cool off" on the charts, but she's still hanging on.
One of the most interesting influences of Namie was that in a time when J-pop was either from Tokyo or from Tokyo she embraced her Okinawan heritage. She wasn't a Tokyo girl and she made no bones about it in the media. This probably influenced the current local rock movement in Japan. Japanese bands are all "from" somewhere now and they bring the local flavor to the nation. Notably it has been particularly fashionable to be from Okinawa in these years since Namie's rise.
Speed
I'm not telling you to buy any of this Namie or MAX stuff, unless you like the syrupy techno influenced late nineties girl disco J-pop, but the important thing here is that Okinawans were dominating the charts. Another girl group standout of the era, SPEED, featured an underage all Okinawan lineup of "Okinawan Actor's Schools graduates. I think the youngest was fourteen at the height of their fame. I confess I was charmed by the Village People like line-up of the hot girl, the tough girl, the brainy girl and the girl next door and their junior high lyrics. But I wouldn't recommend them to anyone reading this. Buy a CD for historic value; you'll probably put it on in your car while you're by yourself, like a Bee Gees CD or old Debbie Gibson tape.
Kiroro
Another group that came to prominence with the hit "winter's Song" was the quiet understated ballad duo of Kiroro. These two girls are really excellent and they effectively mix the hooks of modern J-pop with the smooth, but soulful sound of Okinawa's root rock movement. This is simple music, but honest and unassuming. These girls are an anomaly in modern pop music in Japan and across the world. They don't dance, they are particularly attractive and they don't endorse trendy products. Kinjo Ayano, piano and Tamashiro Chiharu, vocals, just sing and live in your space. You're likely to welcome them.
Others
Anyway, in addition to these late 90's standouts, Da Pump, Chinen Rina, Olivia and solo speed members Hiro, Uehara Takako, and Eriko Imai, and others hit the scene with varying levels of success. Even to this day, Naha City and the "Okinawa Actor's School" are scoured for new talent, and new money making machines.
OK, but that's not Okinawan music. It's just music made by Okinawans. True enough. Back in Okinawa some quiet giants were developing.
The Okinawa Root Rock Movement
Kina Shoukichi
Kina Shoukichi probably didn't start it all, but he was the first I heard of Okinawan folk fusion music. David Byrne (the Talking Heads frontman) started traveling around the world in the 80's looking for good music. No doubt the brit pop new romantic post punk thing was wearing as thin for him as it was for me. Under his own label, Luaka Bop, Byrne starting putting out compilations of international music from the Cuban Dance Halls to the depths of the Brazilian Rain forests. Then he made it across the Pacific, to the island of Okinawa. Luaka Bop's Asia Classics Volume 2 is simply titled "Peppermint Tea House - the Best of Shoukichi Kina". The day I first heard that album was the day I devoted myself to Okinawan music.
It's not traditional, no doubt some traditionalist might consider Kina irreverent, changing the rhythms and instrumentation to mimic rock, reggae or even country -like R&B tunes. This isn't the classical Okinawan Court music. But that's what Kina does; he mixes the spirit of modern music and festival music of rural Okinawa. Kina is far from a household name in Japan, but few Japanese couldn't sing along with Kina's first hit Haisai Ojisan. He wrote the song in 1966 while he was still in High school, but most Japanese might tell you it's a classic of ancient Okinawa. Kina formed the band Champloose in '66 and began to build a Japanese root-rock following with the band into the 70's and 80's. Haisai Ojisan actually hit the J-pop charts n 1972, while Kina was in jail on drug charges. You can hear Ry Cooder playing with Champloose on their second album, Blood line. The album actually featured a track (Jing Jing) that hit number 2 on the British disco charts in the 1980.
Shang Shang Typhoon
There is a connection between Okinawan groups after Kina. In some cases even the musicians pop up on each other's albums, in other cases it is nothing more than the influence of Kina's use of modern and traditional instruments, clean ephemeral female vocals and delicate yet powerful harmonies. Whatever, the connections, there is no question that this Okinawan sound continued to develop. The bouncy boppy Shang Shang Typhoon had both connections. First they employed the tasty female voicings and harmonies as well as the Okinawan, via Hawaii/Latin rhythms. Second the groups founder Koryu was born in Yokohama and moved to Okinawa where he met and worked with Kina Shoukichi. But Shang Shang Typhoon had no designs on being the voice of a downtrodden culture. They just want to dance. In fact, Shang Shang Typhoon collaborated with the US version of meaningless bop, Cyndi Lauper on her 1996 release, Sisters of Avalon (album and tour). The truth is I didn't like Cyndi Lauper much in the '80's and I doubt she was much better in the '90s, but in a weird way it probably was inevitable that they get together.
Koryu was once quoted in the Japan Times as saying:
"If people of all ages in Okinawa can like their own traditional music, why not in Japan? What we want to do is take those things that the Japanese have forgotten in the culture and bring it out in a new way"
He and singers Emi and Satoko set out to combine silly, sometimes even stupid lyrics, boppy rhythms and Japanese/Okinawan root rock for the whole nation. The result was a moderately successful career in the early/mid nineties, but ultimately being dropped by Polydor/Japan in the late nineties and a proliferation of SST CD's in the used bins of the Book Offs from Sapporo to Fukuoka. But that's good news for you because that means you might be able to pick them up used for cheap. And if you do stumble past an SST CD, don't hesitate to buy it. For me the first two or three albums were the best.
Nenes
In the Okinawan dialect of Japanese Nenes means "sisters". Nenes formed in 1990, as an all female quartet of singers assembled by Okinawan Sanshin player China Sadao and fronted by vocalist Koja Misako. Unlike Shang Shang Typhoon's founder Koryu, who was a protégé of Kina Shoukichi, Osaka born China Sadao has his own idea of how Okinawan music should be done, and the rivalry between him, Kina and the third pillar of Okinawan Root Rack, Rinken band's Teruya Rinsuke, runs deep. And why not? Through the ages in Japan, artists' rivalries have led to many schools of artistic thought governing everything from how to infuse spirit to matter, to how to properly pour tea. No slight to all you Sado enthusiasts, I know that how one pours tea is important. It's just that sometimes rivalries seem to make the largest mountains of the most insignificant molehills. Anyway, good luck catching Nenes and Champloose on the same night at the same venue. China has been at it long before Nenes was formed. He wrote and released the national hit and classic Okinawan song "Bye Bye Okinawa" in the 70s. Nenes covered the hit in the 90's
I'll tell you this. Nenes is great. They are serious about their music and culture, but not mired in self-importance. Or at least it doesn't sound like it to me. Nenes set out in the early 90's to reintroduce Min'yo (Japanese and Okinawan folk music) to the modern culture of Japan. Sure there are elements of this grand purpose, but Nenes just makes great pop tunes as well. Check out the CD Koza Dabasa. Along with Kina's release Blood Line, Ry Cooder appears with Nenes on this album as well. Along with Koza Dabasa, their first album, Ikawu is considered a classic of Okinawan music as well. 1998's release Akemodoro Unai is also one of my favorites, but front woman Koja left the band and was replaced by Touma Erika for that release. Still it's a great album. Notable the group covers southern All Stars lead man and J-pop demi-god Kuwata Keisuke's Okinawan influenced hit Heiwa no Ryuka. It has been said that Kuwata was influenced by Okinawan music as well. I don't know if that's true or not. But there is no doubt that young Kuwata was just starting out when Kina's Haisai Ojisan and China's "Bye Bye Okinawa" were getting airplay on the Japanese mainland.
Rinken band
Ayame
Mongol 800
Cocco
Hajime Chitose
Begin
Natsukawa Rimi
Parsha Club
http://www.tontonmi.com.br/frames.htm Tontonmi
http://www.five-d.co.jp/miyazawa/en/
http://www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/theboomRA.html
http://pop.internet-okinawa.com/links.html
http://www.internet-okinawa.com/uchinapop/06-27-01.html
Labels: Music, Okinawa
