The Okinawan techno twins live from Ebisu Liquid Room, Tokyo 2007. Plus three music clips: Nice Day feat. Beat Crusaders, Nasaki feat. Mongol 800, Yume no Future feat. Kotomi. 120 minutes.
Popular comedy programme by a theatre company in Okinawa. Episodes 1 to 4 originally broadcast in July 2006. 90 minutes. Price: £9.99
Music videos of eight tracks by the popular female singer/songwriter who has become very popular in Okinawa. Plus live footage filmed in Okinawa September 2007, Okinawa TV commercial and Ji Ma Ma's various activities in Okinawa.
Misako Oshiro has been playing traditional music in Okinawa for 50 years and in July 2007 she celebrated the anniversary with a concert in Naha, Oklinawa. This is a DVD of that concert, two sets in the afternoon and evening, with guests the great Sadao China and young maestro Toru Yonaha. Centre stage is the wonderful Misako Oshiro, on great form as singer and sanshin player. Songs include Hakuun Bushi, Nushin Tsuma Bushi, Oya nu Kokoro, Wakare no Kemuri, Haihan nu Bushi, Kataumui and Ayagu. Price: £21.99
Concert DVD filmed in Tokyo on July 12 and 13 2006 of the maestro of Amami shimauta. The music of Amami, situated in Kagoshima prefecture, half way between the Japanese mainland and Okinawa is unique. It is played in the minor as in Japan but is called Shima Uta and is played on the sanshin as on Okinawa. The falsetto style vocal however, doesn't exist anywhere apart from Amami. Kazuhira Takeshita is considered one of the island's greatest ever musicians. He was born in 1933 into a musical family in the village of Shokazu, and started learing shimauta from the age of twelve. He made his professional debut in 1959 and ever since has been one of the the leading exponents of Amami shimauta throughout Japan. Sixteen tracks of standard Amami traditional songs such as Asabana Bushi (always performed at the beginning of a session to purify the performance area plus Kuridando Bushi, Shiomichi Nagahama Bushi, Hanazome Bushi, Honen Bushi and Rokucho.
Part two of the concert DVD from 2006 of the great master of Amami island shimauta. Sixteen tracks including Hokorasha, Yoisura Bushi, Shunkane Bushi, Muchakana Bushi, Sobayado, Tokunoshima Bushi, Torasan Nagane and Rokucho. Price: £24.99
Sadao China is a living legend of Okinawan music. He is one of the greatest exponents of pure traditional minyo and court music, he was one of the first to combine shima uta and pop back in the 70s, he formed and produced pioneering female quartet Nenes, and he's written some of Okinawa's most loved songs. On his first DVD he sings 15 tradititional shima uta songs from his latest album and is joined by two guests, Yasuko Yoshida, singer with the original Nenes, and Kiyoshi Hasegawa on guitar. Filmed in July 2005, 70 mins, NTSC.
Documentary film of one of Okinawa's greatest musicians who died in 1999. Features live performance footage and interviews filmed in 1994 by Go Takamine, an Okinawan veteran film director. The live footage includes Rinsho with the wonderful female musician Misako Ohshiro and his son, Rinji Kadekaru. Price: £26.99
Live footage plus interview with possibly the greatest living Okinawan musician. Filmed by NHK (national Japanese TV) but never broadcast. Directed by Yuji Nakae, the fantastic director of the hit films Nabbie no Koi and Hotel Hibiscus. Filmed in the late 1990s. 59 minutes.
Swap all weapons for Musical instruments. 60 minutes, 6 track DVD from the original Okinawan roots rebel rocker. Hana, Agarisachi, Mori No Hito Yo, Arirang and Haisai Ojisan.
Price: £26.99
Documentary of singer Tomoko Uehara, Teruya Rinken and his band, Rinken Band with the main focus on the musical background of Uehara. Directed by Shinji Aoyama, the well known young film director who made the acclaimed 'Yuriika'. Comes with English subtitles.
Excellent film written and produced by Rinken in 1994 finally gets a DVD release. The story follows a girl growing up in Okinawa. All music is performed by Rinken Band including live footage, totally 13 tracks plus a short film. Songs include Nankuru, Arigato, Eisa. Extremely well made, high quality DVD, with some great music and gives a taster of life for an Okinawan. Comes with English subtitles. Price: £26.99
Promotion video clips of all Rimi's big hits, such as Nada Sousou, plus behind the scenes at her Taiwan concert in October 2006.
Live DVD from the current darling of Okinawan music, from December 2004. 16 tracks, 122 minutes. Price: £29.99
Delightful film set in a cheap one room 'hotel' starring musician Masao Teruya (who released the album Chon Chon Kijimuna ) featuring a charming mother, a sanshin and pool playing father and a Japanese guest in search of kijimunar (friendly monster). Also stars traditional musicians Seijin Noborikawa and Misako Ohshiro. With English subtitles.
Film set in Okinawa that became a huge hit and helped to popularize some some great local veteran musicians such as Rinsho Kadekaru, Seijin Noborikawa, Yukichi Yamazato and Misako Ohshiro. A love story, beautifully acted that is funny and charming. Ashley McIsaac, the Canadian fiddler makes an appearance with the main theme composed by Okinawa music fan Michael Nyman. No English subtitles. Price: £30.99
Shirayuri is a group formed just after the second world war. They sing 1940s and 1950s songs from Ishigaki, in the Shiraho town style, the hot bed of the local music scene, playing western instruments but sounding sort of Okinawan anyway. The members are now in their 70s, and this documentary film is about their trip to Tokyo for a concert. There they meet the Boom, Okinawan musician Takashi Hirayasu and others in the big smoke. Okay, it's billed as the Okinawan Buena Vista, and it is, sort of. Hugely enjoyable.
Fantastic value, excellent quality, CD and DVD set. The CD includes 8 tracks of nature sounds; waves, breeze blowing through sugar cane, birds, forest. The DVD has 10 chapters, scenes from Okinawa main island, Ishigaki and Iriomote, simple and beautiful. The beach, sugar cane, mangrove swamp, filmed in Okinawa, Kurima, Hateruma, Taketomi and Ishigaki, some accompanied by instrumental songs played mainly on sanshin but also acoustic guitar. Experience the nature of Okinawa, the sun, sand, sea, sky and a few songs too. Price: £15.99
Performance intersperced with scenery of Ishigaki and the main island of Okinawa. Rimi Natsukawa only appears on 4 of the 7 tracks, includes Akata Sundunchi, Asadoya Yunta, Tinsagunu Hana, Nada Soso and Warabigami (video clip).
Various scenes of Okinawa; the traditional culture, historical spots, people's lifestyle, and the sea. Accompanied by some of Okinawa's most famous songs, some performed by the original artists. The Boom's 'Shima Uta', Nenes 'Bye Bye Okinawa' and 'Akemodoro' plus Rinken Band, Shang Shang Typhoon and traditional tunes performed by Toru Yonaha. Nice mix of music and film.
Price: £24.99
Scenes of the beautiful islands of Iriomote and Taketomi in the deep south of Okinawa set to music. 85min
One of the more bizzare DVD releases. Superman, Popeye and Betty Boop all speaking in the Okinawa dialect, Uchina Guchi! Designed to help you improve your Okinawan speaking skills. Price: £10.99
For any sanhsin players (or budding ones) out there, then this book is for you. Fourteen songs with western notation, with TAB beneath that and separately at the back (or front depending on how you open it!) the Okinawan notation. There are picture guides on tuning, changing strings and positioning the bridge, a diagram for where to press the strings, and a guide with western tuning. The writing is in Japanese but the diagrams and notation make it quite understandable for those with a basic knowledge of music and the sanshin. The lyrics are not written in romaji unfortunately, just Japanese hiragana, kanji and katakana. The songs are: Hana, Nada Sousou, Shimanchu nu Takara, Shimauta, Warabigami, Satoukibibatake, Juku nu Haru, Haisai Ojisan, Asadoya Yunta, Tinsagu nu Hana, Bashofu, Endou no Hana, Akata Sundunchi, Yuuna no Hana. There is an accompanying CD with all the same songs for you to listen to or play along to, FSD2644, Sanshin Plays Okinawan Songs played by Kenji Yano.
The first Okinawan music guide book in English written by Japan resident John Potter, with foreword by Paul Fisher. It's important to provide the background, the history, and an overview of the current music scene in Okinawa. If you're living on the other side of the world from Okinawa, hopefully this book can make you feel a bit closer to the action, and give you an insight into the minds of Okinawan musicians and moreover, the Okinawan way of life. John has done a fine job, with this, the first book of it's kind in English. Unravelling what could be a complex subject, he strikes a nice balance, being both informative and readable. An outsiders guide to the inside. Price: £9.00
