In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 on (sound) with the kanji 楽 gaku. Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.
Shoukichi Kina, is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was "Haisai Ojisan" in 1972, which he wrote when he was in high school. Songs from the 1980 album Blood Lines, like "Hana" and "Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana o", are frequently heard in international markets.
Tinsagu nu Hana (天咲ぬ花), also erroneously called Chinsagu nu Hana, is an Okinawan song about traditional Ryukyuan values such as filial piety and other Confucian teachings in the Okinawan language.
Okinawan music is the music associated with the Okinawa Islands of southwestern Japan. In modern Japan, it may also refer to the musical traditions of Okinawa Prefecture, which covers the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands in addition to the Okinawa Islands. It has its roots in the larger musical traditions of the Southern Islands.
The sanshin is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese shamisen. Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings.
Begin is a Japanese pop rock group from Ishigaki Island in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Their sound contains many elements of traditional Okinawan music, and prominently features the sanshin.
"Shima Uta" is a 1992 song by the Japanese band The Boom. It was written by the lead singer, Kazufumi Miyazawa, based on his impressions from visiting Okinawa for a photo shoot. It is the band's best selling song, well known throughout Japan and Argentina, and one of the most widely known songs associated with Okinawa although the band members are all from Yamanashi Prefecture. The song uses a mix of modern pop and rock styles as well as min'yō. Okinawan musical instruments and Okinawan vocabulary have been incorporated into the song.
Yoko Utsumi is a Japanese musical artist. Her solo music is a blend of punk, rock and ska influences, with some blues and jazz thrown in. During her long career, she has also played Japanese traditional music.
"Never End" is Namie Amuro's 16th single on the Avex Trax label. it serves their lead single for her fifth studio album Break the Rules, The single was made specifically for the G8 Summit that took place in Okinawa, Japan that year. Released in July, the song debuted at #2 becoming Amuro's 16th consecutive top 10 solo single. This was Namie's last single to debut with over 100,000 copies in sales until 60s 70s 80s in 2008.
Kakegoe (掛け声) usually refers to shouts and calls used in performances of traditional Japanese music, Kabuki theatre, and in martial arts such as kendo.
Local Ground is the ninth studio album by Irish folk music group Altan, released in March 2005 on the Narada label.
Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies hōgaku as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as gagaku or shōmyō, but most ethnomusicologists view hōgaku, in a broad sense, as the form from which the others were derived. Outside of ethnomusicology, however, hōgaku usually refers to Japanese music from around the 17th to the mid-19th century. Within this framework, there are three types of traditional music in Japan: theatrical, court music, and instrumental.
Nēnēs (ネーネーズ) is an Okinawan folk music group formed in 1990 by China Sadao (知名定男). The group name means "sisters" in Okinawan. Nēnēs is composed of four female singers who perform traditional Okinawan folk songs in traditional costume with sanshin accompaniment; they have also performed with a backing band, Sadao China Gakudan. They toured Europe and played New York City in 1994. An independent release, IKAWŪ, landed them a recording contract with Sony Records and a collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto. They hold a resident gig at the Live House Shima-Uta club in Naha, Okinawa.
"Nada Sōsō" is a song written by Japanese band Begin and singer Ryoko Moriyama. It was first released by Moriyama in 1998, but achieved popularity through the cover version by Rimi Natsukawa in 2001.
Paraiso is Haruomi Hosono's fourth solo album and Yellow Magic Band 's first album. This album continues the tropical style of Hosono House, Tropical Dandy and Bon Voyage co., while being influenced by the music of Hawaii and Okinawa, incorporating electronic sounds that would be later developed on Hosono's and YMO's careers. YMO, The Yellow Magic Band at this point in time, was composed of Tin Pan Alley members and studio musicians, such as Hosono's former Happy End bandmate Shigeru Suzuki and future YMO members Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, as well as guitarist Hirofumi Tokutake.
Live from the Powerhouse is an album rehearsed in six days, starting on 1 March 2002 in the seaside town of Rye, Victoria in Australia, by multicultural group Mozaik featuring Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny, Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov and Rens van der Zalm.
Andy Irvine & Dónal Lunny's Mozaik [a.k.a.Mozaik] is a multicultural folk band consisting of Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny, Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov and Rens van der Zalm. Created in 2002, the band have toured Australia, Europe, USA and Japan, and recorded four albums.
Matt Hsu is a Taiwanese-Australian musician and composer who records and performs as Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra. Hsu was born in 1986 to immigrant Taiwanese parents in Brisbane. As a child he listened to metal and punk music, in an effort to distance himself from Asian stereotypes, but later embraced his Taiwanese heritage, using music to express overcoming internalised racism. In 2020, he became a Queensland Music Awards winner in the world music category and has been identified as "one of the freshest feeling projects in Australian music right now." Matt is also known as the co-founder, trumpet player and songwriter for the folk punk band The Mouldy Lovers. Matt's 2019 debut album 'The Shirt Album' is notable for having been released "in the form of an organic fair-trade T-shirt in place of a CD" with the aim of reducing potential plastic waste. The album features collaborations with noted Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal, Triple J Unearthed Sprung Hip Hop winner Blaq Carrie, and Japanese musician Kenta Hayashi. As a 'one-person orchestra' he has performed at TEDx and Australia's BIGSOUND Festival, and has been featured on SBS World News.
Ryukyuan culture are the cultural elements of the indigenous Ryukyuan people, an ethnic group native to Okinawa Prefecture and parts of Kagoshima Prefecture in southwestern Japan.
China Sadao (1945–) is a Japanese musician active in the Okinawan music and shima-uta scene, as a performer on the sanshin, min'yō folk singer, song-writer, and producer, having been responsible in 1990 for the formation of the Nēnēs.
