Ishigaki Island singer-songwriter Tidanomiyuki's album Now and Then was reviewed here earlier this year. Now she is organising a UK Night in Naha later this month when as well as her own songs the live show will introduce some of the indie bands from Okinawa who have been influenced by UK rock music.
Tidanomiyuki's album focused on her voice and acoustic guitar but she also loves music from the UK and spent a year there studying in London and Norwich. She is planning to arrange her songs with a band sound for the UK Night event. The bands joining her on the evening will be The You, Viridian, and Mekarujin.
UK Night takes place at Live House Output in Naha on Saturday 28th April. It starts at 19:30 and advance tickets are 1,500 yen.
The annual Trans Asia Music Meeting (TAMM) is coming up soon and will be held this year on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th February at Sakurazaka Theatre in Naha. As before, the stated aim of the gathering is to build a music network between Okinawa and Asian cities, deepen mutual understanding and make it function as a new music platform from Okinawa.
The music conference this year has invited ten delegates with experience in world music markets and international festivals. They represent Mongolia, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. These delegates will speak at six presentation and talk sessions over the two days. On Sunday there will also be an opportunity for a series of 'one on one' meetings. Admission is free and no advance application is required.
In conjunction with the Trans Asia Music Meeting is the Sakurazaka Asylum 2018 music festival featuring a large number of musicians from Okinawa and overseas. This year around 100 singers and bands will take part over the two days at Sakurazaka Theatre and nearby venues. As well as familiar names such as Maltese Rock, Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara, there's a most welcome return to Okinawa by outstanding Korean alternative rock duo Laybricks.
On Monday evening I was invited to the first solo concert by Okinawan singer and sanshin player Mutsumi Aragaki who was recently featured in the UK magazine Songlines. Her performance was at 'tomari', an art space close to Naha port. The tomari venue is small, friendly and flexible and is used for exhibitions and 'all kinds of creativity'.
Aragaki invited her audience to enjoy 'another world of Okinawan music' and performed original compositions and her own take on old favourites such as 'Asadoya Yunta' and 'Tinsagu nu Hana' as well as a video collaboration. Many of the songs were given unusual treatments with the use of loops, drones and sound effects added to voice and sanshin and it reminded me in some ways of Anna & Elizabeth's latest experiments in Appalachian music.
There is always the fear that such things can end up in directionless noodling but Aragaki kept it interesting and relevant throughout. Her singing is already becoming well-known but even more rewarding was the adventurous use of sanshin as an instrument in its own right as well as just an accompaniment to vocals. The audience were understandably impressed.
The duo David Ralston and Merry who go under the name Okinawa Americana have been touring far and wide this year with dates across America and Japan as well as their home base of Okinawa. Their recent shows have been in support of the release of their self-titled album which has already been reviewed on this blog.
On Friday I finally managed to catch the tail end of this tour when they played at Live House Mod's in Chatan, This was the full band version of Okinawa Americana with the pair joined on stage by an electric bass player and a drummer to flesh out some of the songs from their album and also to rock loud and hard on several other songs and instrumentals.
This line-up probably suits David Ralston's slide guitar and vocal style best but Merry's singing, sanshin and sanba were hardly neglected either and she showed what an important presence she is, especially on the three 'acoustic' songs that began the second half of the set.
It was also unusual to find an audience with such a large and vociferous contingent of Westerners who seemed to appreciate 'Waido Bushi' and some of the more traditional Okinawan songs just as much as the more familiar rock and reggae. The soaking I received from a sudden downpour on my way to the venue was soon forgotten as Okinawa Americana revived the spirits with a fine performance.