Songs of Okinawa: The Ryukyuans

Songs of Okinawa: The Ryukyuans

Performed at the Freer Gallery on February 26, 2014, and presented as part of Music From Japan Festival 2014

The Ryukyuans

Yukito Ara, vocals and sanshin
Isamu Shimoji, vocals, guitar, and sanshin
Shinobu Matsuda, vocals and sanshin
Satoshi “Sunday” Nakasone, percussion (shima-daiko and hayashi)

Folk song from the island of Yaeyama

Yunta Shora	0:00-1:35
Yukito Ara, vocals

Folk songs from the island of Miyako

Irabu Togani	1:35-6:15
Tarama Shunkani	6:15-10:50
Isamu Shimoji, vocals and sanshin

Folk songs from the island of Okinawa

Naakuni/Yanbaru Timatu	10:50-15:20
Kadhiku/Acchame Gwa	15:20-17:45
Moashibi Chijuya	17:45-21:35
Shinobu Matsuda, vocals and sanshin
Hirokazu Matsuda, additional lyrics and music

Folk songs from the island of Yaeyama

Tsuki nu Kaisha (The Moon is Beautiful)	21:35-26:30
Agarouza	26:30-30:50
Kurushima Kuduchi	30:50-36:40
Yukito Ara, vocals and sanshin
Shinobu Matsuda, vocals and sanshin (third song)

Ryukyu dance song

Kanayo/Amakaa	36:40-43:40

Contemporary songs from Okinawa

Kajiyu Iyari	43:40-50:00
Yukito Ara, lyrics
Masaaki Uechi, composer
Jazzy Myahk	50:00-57:25
Isamu Shimoji, lyrics and music
Sakishima Theme	57:50-1:01:45
Yukito Ara, lyrics, vocals, and sanshin
Isamu Shimoji, composer, vocals, and guitar
Sakishima Meeting with Sunday Nakasone, percussion

Folk song from Okinawa

Tinsagu nu Hana (The Balsam Flowers)	1:02:01-1:05:50
Yukito Ara, vocals and sanshin
Isamu Shimoji, vocals, guitar, and sanshin
Shinobu Matsuda, vocals, sanshin
Sunday Nakasone, percussion

Contemporary song from Okinawa

Kaa chi pai (Summer Solstice, Southerly Wind)	1:06:00-1:12:00
Yukito Ara, lyrics
Isamu Shimoji, composer

Encore 1		1:12:00-1:16:00

Encore 2		1:16:00-1:20:50

Yunta Shora

Since it belongs to the yunta genre, this song originally would have been sung to clapped rhythms and without sanshin accompaniment. Many yunta shora songs from different localities have similar melodies and are close in feeling. Singing the Jiraba accompanies a dance to celebrate the building of a new house.

Irabu Togani

A girl living on Irabu Island longs for her lover, who must cross the rough seas from Miyako Island to reach her. Created during the nineteenth century some time from the late Edo to the Meiji period, Irabu Togani is celebrated today as an exemplary love song from the Miyako region.

Yanbaru/Timatu

This song belongs to the genre of asobi-uta (play songs), and as such it is less about the meaning of the words than the pure pleasure of the music.

Kadhiku

At the end of a party in Okinawa, it is customary for everyone to get up and dance improvisationally (kachashi or acchame). These are two typical melodies of the kachashi. The words are composed on the spot so their meaning is not very important. Men and women, young and old, all dance together to the spirited music. The intention is that everyone has a good time.  Kadhiku is a classical Ryukyuan piece that has been handed down from early times. One version of the music accompanied traditional female dance.

Moashibi Chijuya

Moashibi is a historical folk song term that refers to a traditional song and dance of the Ryukyus enacted in the fields by young men and women. Moashibi Chijuya is a play song, so the lyrics are relatively meaningless, and the rhythmical music is meant simply to amuse and delight.

Tsuki nu Kaisha

This children’s song is from Ishigaki-jima. Before electricity was introduced to the island, people depended on the moon to light the dark nights. During the period between the thirteenth and the sixteenth of the lunar month, when the moon is at its apogee, the moon sheds enough light for people to recognize one another’s faces at night. This lovely time gave birth to many folk songs. Tuki nu Kaisha, a truly loved and famous work, has been sung through the generations, and many contemporary musicians have added their arrangements to the tradition.

Kurushima Kuduchi

This song originated on the island of Kurushima in the eighteenth century and remains widely recognized throughout the Okinawan area today. In kuduchi (or kudoki as it is known on the mainland), a song has alternating lines of five and seven syllables. Each phrase is broken into halves that are sung back and forth as a dialogue between the performers. The melody of the first half follows the standard pattern of kuduchi: an official sent by the imperial court to inspect the area praises the beauty of the island and its people. The second part provides a contrast as it describes the cheerful and relaxed life style of the people and their festivals in a vivid, lively manner. In contrast to their unsavory image in Western countries, rats in Asia are a symbol of fruitfulness (for obvious reasons) and are therefore a felicitous sign.

Kanayo

Kanayo and Amakaa, folk songs from the islands of Okinawa, were originally two separate pieces, but since early modern times it has become customary to sing them together as a set. They are also combined as Kanayo/Amakaa in a Ryukyuan dance number performed at a fast tempo for male and female dancers. Minsaa were sashes that the women of the Yaeyama region in Okinawa wove with patterns signifying “yours forever.” They were given to the woman’s true love when he came to her house.

Amakaa

In the Dance of the Milky Way (amakaa udui), the sanshin modulates to honchoshi tuning only for a moment after the third descending phrase kanayo-o. The leisurely Amakaa then begins, moving effortlessly from high to low with a sense of total freedom. Although the picking on the sanshin is rapid, the lyrics are sung in a relaxed manner. The song tells of the mutual love of a boy and a girl.

Music in Okinawa

The music of Okinawa generally falls into two categories. The more exclusive classical music belonged to the Ryukyuan court at Shuri Castle on Okinawa Island during the period of the Ryukyu kingdom from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. The folk music that was enjoyed by the rest of the population spread widely and was assimilated into everyday life. It continues to be greatly popular to this day.

The Okinawan scale, sometimes known as the Ryukyuan scale, is the pentatonic do-mi-fa-so-si-do that prevails in folk and traditional music throughout Japan and is heard throughout Southeast, East, and Central Asia. What is distinctive about the Ryukyuan scale is the sequence do-mi-so-si followed by the half-steps mi-fa-si-do. The musical scale of the Okinawan islands, however, is not limited to the Ryukyuan scale. In older folk songs, such as the yunta or jibara from the Yaeyama island cluster, the do-re-mi-so-la-do of Japanese gagaku is heard.

Okinawans have been so prolific in their composition of new songs that the richness of their creativity has become a distinguishing characteristic of the islands’ music. In recent years, folk songs composed throughout Okinawa have increasingly been performed outside the region and they are rapidly becoming known well beyond Japan’s shores.

Sanshin

The most important instrument of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost islands of Japan, is the long-necked lute called the sanshin. Due to its similarity to the sanxian (lute) of China, it may have come to the islands from China during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when many immigrants arrived from Fujian province. In the mid-sixteenth century, the sanxian was introduced (via Okinawa) to the larger Japanese islands, where it developed into the shamisen. Smaller than either its Chinese predecessor or its northern Japanese descendant, the sanshin has no frets and features a neck made of lacquered ebony or red sandalwood. The sound box, carved from mulberry or camphor wood, is covered with snakeskin (python) imported from Vietnam or Thailand. The strings are silk or synthetic, and the plectrum is carved from the horns of a water buffalo or goat. The sanshin is so close to the hearts of Ryukyuans that it has been dubbed “the instrument of the Okinawan spirit.”

• Notes on the sanshin adapted from Kanesiro Atumi, “Ryukyu Islands,” in R. Provine et al., East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea, vol. 7 of Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Routledge, 2002).

Hayashi Kotoba

“Sa-a! Ei-i sa sa! A-a-i ya!” The lyrics to most Japanese folk songs are liberally spiced with so-called hayashi kotoba, spirited words and phrases that have little literal meaning today but are similar to cheers at sporting events. They might have been actual words in early times: a few are traceable to ancient Japanese forms of address or felicitous invocations, and one recent theory has their roots in ancient Hebrew! Nevertheless, hayashi kotoba fulfill several important roles in present-day Japanese folk songs: they create a convivial and exciting atmosphere; they bring focus to the narrative; they fill in syllables where they are needed for the lyrics’ rhythm; and through their familiar associations with festivals and with bounty and blessings, they lend an immediate sense of exhilarated celebration to the occasion. In all parts of Japan, where songs unify communities, the hayashi kotoba that the audience sings along with the performers often add a heightened fervor to an event. Nowhere is this truer than in the Ryukyus.

Yaeyama Island folk song: Yunta Shora

Yukito Ara, vocals

Sa-a! Let's sing the Yunta Song! Hi-i ha-a hi!
Hi-i! Let's sing the Jiraba! Sa-a yui ya-a sa!
I'm going to sing! Yo-o ho-o na!

As it belongs to the yunta genre, the song would have originally been sung without sanshin, to clapped rhythms. The present rendition with sanshin accompaniment added is also mainstream though, and now there are a large number of yuntashora songs with similar melodies and many other songs close in feeling from different localities. The Jiraba is a song accompanying a dance to celebrate the building of a new house.

Miyako Island folk songs:  Irabu Togani  and Tarama Shunkani

Isamu Shimoji, vocals and sanshin

Irabu Togani

A girl living on Irabu Island longs for her lover who must cross the rough seas from Miyako Island to reach her. Created during the nineteenth century some time from the late Edo to the Meiji Period, “Irabu Togani” continues to be celebrated today as an exemplary love song from the Miyako Region.

From here to Irabu Island,
From here to the distant island,
If only there were a ford,
If only there were a stopping place,
I would cross the ford in a little boat,
I would rest the boat in a watery nest.
Let me use my boat to travel back and forth by the watery nests.

The waves between here and the town of Hirara,
This mile of waves between us,
With my own hands I will make them gentle for you
During the time of evening calm, my beloved.
Because the sound of the wooden door is loud,
Please lower the reed blinds at the door
And wait there, wait for me.

Tarama Shunkani

From the road from last night’s lodging---Ma-n!
From the hill down to the beach, from the narrow path---Su-ri!
We go to greet the master’s ship---Su-ri!
Go down.

With one hand I lead our child---Ma-n!
In one hand I carry the bottle of sake---Shu-ri!
To send off the master’s ship---Shu-ri!
We go down.

Like the white clouds billowing up in the east---Ma-n!
Like the clouds rising---Shu-ri!
Go and become rich and famous---Shu-ri!
O master of the ship!

Okinawa folk songs:
Naakuni/Yanbaru Timatu, Kadhiku/Acchame Gwa, and Moashibi Chijuya

Shinobu Matsuda, vocals and sanshin
Supplementary lyrics and music by Hirokazu Matsuda

Naakuni

Maybe it did me no earthly good to learn it, the sanshin,
But when nights are lonely it takes his place,
Beguiles my heart and comforts me.

Your pillow next to mine, both speaking our thoughts,
Were they in a dream, those words I heard
From you, whose heart has changed?

Dew clinging to the leaves awaits the light of morning.
For the one who promised me
I am feverishly waiting.

Yanbaru/Timatu

This song belongs to the genre of asobi-uta (play songs) and as such is less about the meaning of the words than the pure pleasure of the music.

Ah, the beauty of the fishing boat fires, the night fishers of the seas at Chatan!
Oh, the beauty of the light from the lighthouse, the light from the lighthouse at Kerama!

Singing and walking from Chatan to Kuenumei — by the time I reached the beach at Sunabe, a girl charmed by the songs came following behind.

Walking back from the fun in Naha, I passed the curve at Ojana, and before I knew it I was home, in Nogun, in Nozato.

Kadhiku/Acchame Gwa

At the end of a party in Okinawa it is customary for everyone to get up and dance improvisationally (kachashi or acchame). These are two typical melodies of the kachashi.  The words are composed on the spot so their meaning is not very important. Men and women, young and old, all dance together to the spirited music. The intention is that a good time be had by one and all. “Kadhiku” is a classical Ryukyuan piece that has been handed down from early times. One version of the music accompanied traditional female dance.

Ms. Uminabi-i of the Kadhiku family!
Haiya-a tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!
Ane! How beautiful is her dancing!
Tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!

The tobacco in the lovely patterned tobacco pouch!
Haiya-a tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!
Ane! How beautiful is her dancing!
Tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!

I’ll light it for you, so . . .
Haiya-a tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!
Ane! How beautiful is her dancing!
Tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!

Please have a smoke!
Haiya-a tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!
Ane! How beautiful is her dancing!
Tentou rurun! Tenshi-tou ri touten!

Acchame Gwa

Sa-a acchame yo! There is lots of drink and food here, so
I want to stay and have a good time!
Acchame yo! Fu nu nahya nanjin tona unari!

Sa-a! I’ve danced till I’m collapsing, let me grab those delicious potatoes!
Hey, brother, are you going to eat them? Ah, even the skins?!
Acchame yo! You and the young ones! Shi-i chi nai nai!

Sa-a! Dance! Dance! Anyway I can’t stop dancing!
So get up on your feet and show us your dance!
Shey yo shey yo! Tanme nobora kara toun ji harande!

Moashibi Chijuya

“Moashibi” is a historical folk song term and refers to a traditional song and dance of the Ryukyus, inacted in the fields by young men and women. “Moashibi Chijuya” is a play song, so the lyrics are relatively meaningless and the rhythmical music is meant simply to amuse and delight.

Your face appears in my mind and I can’t stay inside.
I jump out of bed and go to the place that calls.
(Plover, plover, with a “chui chui” going down to the beach.)

If I don’t have fun while I’m still young, what will I do?
Growing old and regretting, of what use is that?
(Plover, plover, with a “chui chui” going down to the beach.)

My love lives a whole mile away.  I visit her in the night.  It’s dark, it’s scary.
I shake with fear but…. I still want to meet her so I go anyway.
(Plover, plover, with a “chui chui” going down to the beach.)

Shall I go or come back I don't know which… Through the night till the morning we play in Chatan Tunnel.

I want to go! But if I go, when it gets to be morning I have to dig my potatoes for my breakfast and I won’t be able to dig them then…(It’s hard to do a hard day’s work on an empty belly…)
Plover, plover, with a “chui chui” going down to the beach.

Tsuki nu Kaisha

The moon is most beautiful on the 13th night.
A girl is most beautiful in her 17th year.

On the night of the full moon coming up from the east
Please illumine Okinawa, illumine the islands of Yaeyamas

In the night with the moon so bright and beautiful
Let us all go and party together.

Flowers like silk, on the large temple sign
Flowers like gold, please cause them to bloom

On the east side of your house, oh my beloved,
Let’s make them bloom, the jasmine flowers
Let’s pretend to pick them here, pretend to pick them there
The flowers at your house, my beloved

Beside the gate to the young girl’s house
Drop the handkerchief dyed with patterns of flowers
Let’s pretend to pick up this, pretend to pick up that
We’ll visit the house of the young girl

This song is a children’s song from Ishigaki-jima. Back before electricity came to the island, people depended on the moon to light the dark nights.  Especially during the period between the thirteenth and the sixteenth of the lunar month when the moon is at its apogee, the moon shed enough light so people could recognize one another’s faces at night, and this lovely time gave birth to many folk songs. “Tuki nu Kaisha” is representative among these; not only has it been sung through the generations but many contemporary musicians have added their varied arrangements to the tradition.  It is a truly loved and famous work.

Agarouza

Right in the middle of the town of Agarou, Yau yau-i!
Right in the middle of Tonusui Castle, Yau harinu kugana!
Beneath the citrus trees, beneath the fragrant trees,

Elbow to elbow they are watching the children,
They are gathered together embracing the children.
They care for the children until their arms ache.
I’ll embrace your children till my own wrists are sore. So,
Say you will travel to the main island of Okinawa
Say you will go to Shuri to the King.
Bring the robes with the design of the moon.
Bring the robes with the design of the stars.

Papiru (Butterfly)
Suri!
Spring comes and the mountains and fields are in full blossom!
The multi-colored butterflies dance about the flowers.
Suri saa sa!  Shuraa sa haiya!
Suri!
You are the butterfly, I am the flower.
The flower cannot go to the side of the butterfly,
So please come, darling, come to my side.
Suri!

His heart drawn by the beautifully opened blossom,
The butterfly flits to the side of the flower.
Suri!
With my heart so captured, how can I leave?
I wish to dally here forever and ever.

Kurushima Kuduchi

The Kurushima Kuduchi originated on the island of Kurushima in the eighteenth century and remains widely recognized throughout the Okinawan area today. The genre of kuduchi (or kudoki as it is known on the mainland) is a song comprised of alternating lines of five and seven syllables. Each phrase of the song is broken into halves sung back and forth as a dialogue between the performers.

The melody of the first half of the work follows the standard pattern of kuduchi: an official sent by the imperial court to inspect the area praises the beauty of the island and its people. The second part provides a contrast as it describes the cheerful and relaxed life style of the people and their festivals in a vivid, lively manner.

1.

Unchanging Kurushima Island! The currents of Kurushima form a tripod pot.
Celebrate its lovely and lasting scenery!
The crops raised here yield such bounteous harvestsI
The rains came down ten days and more, the winds tranquil and halcyon.
The crops raised here a bounteous harvest!
Nakantou, Arishiji, Ifuku, Furimura, Fukiya, Miyazatou, all the checkpoint stations along the way.
Having a good time, the sounds of song and sanshin pleasurable and amusing!
Read out, read out the refrains of the kuduchi!!
Sa-assa!

2.

Looking across the villages, they’re like the four heavenly constellations.
The people revel in abundance that will last a thousand generations!
Iya, iya! In the rope-pulling contest that took place last night
The captain of the west, the captain of the east, all together,
Legs and feet feel like the roots of a pine tree, brawny arms like steel! Draw them forward! Draw! Draw!
Iya! It’s snapped! We lost! We lost! We tied our sleeves and rendered homage!
Sa-assa!

3.

The seasons faithfully bring the great blessings of the rains. In this age both young and old together!
Iya, iya! They’re the signs of the years of blessings to come!
The rats in the house of me, the official*
Steal the official’s dried octopus, climb to the top of the high hill in front, shaking their heads.
Looking at the moon. If you can see them, it will make you laugh!
The scrawny cats are crying miauw miauw!
Ah-ha-ha! They got away easily.
Now, sing! Sing the kuduchi to the tune of the refrain!

*In contrast to their unsavory image in western countries, rats in Asia are a symbol of fruitfulness, for obvious reasons, and therefore felicitous.

4.

Truly the heart is drawn by the fragrance of plum and cherry steeped in the kimono sleeves.
Pulling along the beautiful young girls!

Iya iya! The season has come round. June, any moment, coming round.
In the celebrations of the prosperous year both old and young
Pulling each other along by kimono sleeves,
Pushed from behind, jubilantly, excitedly descending to the shore,
Cloud Mountain flowers woven into brocade, scents perfumed, ambrosial!
Iya! We of the Sabakui Office, we captains take hold of the rudder, urging them forward!
The beckoning open fans give courage and spirit to the boatmen!
Are, are! To see the boats so rowed
Is an exciting thing!
Read out, read out the refrains of the kuduchi!!
Sa-assa!

5.

Stronger than the light of the early morning moon is the longing in my heart!
It’s truly the sign of this transitory world!
Iya, iya! The girls of Kurushima last night going down to the beach!
Stepping high, stepping wide to catch the beach crabs!
Then the crabs reached out from the adan bush using their big pincers, snap, snap!
Ai! Ow! Ow! Ow!
Listen to the cheers:  Ugu yuna hamura!

Kanayo (Beloved)

Dance in fast tempo for one male and one female dancer
Folk songs handed down on the islands of Okinawa, “Kanayo” and “Amakaa” were originally two separate pieces, but since early modern times it has become customary to sing them together as a set. They are also combined, as “Kanayo/Amakaa,” in a Ryukyuan dance number. Both portray the love of a young boy and girl in a bright and fresh manner.

Minsaa were sashes, woven by the women of the Yaeyama region in Okinawa, with patterns signifying “Yours Forever” and given to the woman’s true love when he came to her house.

Your face appears before me, Beloved.
I cannot remain in my house.
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
Oh, take me with you, my darling one!
Let me have pleasure and forget the cares of the world!
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
My darling one!
In the cottage before the grandly built house, my Beloved,
I’ll signal you with my bandanna designed with flowers,
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
To the one in my heart, my darling one,
Let me give all my love.
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
My Beloved,
You say you will love me, my darling one.
If you have my bandanna, what will you do?
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
Tie it tightly around my waist, my darling one.
Give to me your minsaa my darling one.
Haruyo n’zoyo!  Ship, Godspeed!
My darling one!
I delight in you, I will never forget my darling one.

I must dance to forget my melancholy.
Haruyo n’zoyo, Beloved, shii-shi!
It just grows and grows, my darling one,
The love of my Beloved,
Haruyo n’zoyo! Please, my Dearest, turn back and look at me!

Kajiyu Iyari

Every night she dominates my dreams.
Because we are far apart, it’s impossible to meet.
My feelings for that sweet girl from Ishigaki Island where I was born
Only continue to grow greater and greater.
I let my thoughts of love be carried on the northern wind
And await her reply brought by the southern wind.
O we cared for one another and pledged our faithfulness.
O we promised to be together to the end of time.
How could I forget the love she gave me?
I see it in my dreams . . . Ishigaki Island!

Jazzy Myak

You don’t do a lick of work, always chasing the girls,
Stinking drunk on sake, selling your house and all that you own
Drinking and sleeping, then getting up, drinking and sleeping
You have to be taken care of, your temper is short.
You’ve turned into nothing but a total lush.
Give you food, you eat; don’t give it to you, you get no food.
If there’s none you don’t eat, if you eat, there’s nothing left.
You’re a pure and genuine good-for-nothing guy, always lolling around,
Sex is the blade of the sword, sake is poison for sure.

Falling in love with the sea is truly falling in love, don’t they say?
Sleeping or waking
Fishing is all there is.
There are those, becoming gamblers, who’ll sell even the family cow.
Scold till you’re blue, do you think they are going to stop?

In the end they’ll even sell the house.
If they’ve got it they’ll spend it, they’ll spend all they have; they’ll borrow and spend every bit that they borrowed.
Any old way, it’s money they’ll spend.
It’s still better to be in love with the sea. Fish, the thing of fish.
Being in love with the sea is being truly in love.

They don’t want others to know
When their bad habits are pointed out.
It cuts them to the quick, their legs and backs begin to hurt.  They become so very dejected even their necks begin to hurt.
Is it the bad habit that’s to blame?
Or is the one who spoke it out so clearly to be blamed?
Everyone has a bad habit, maybe two
That are beyond repair, so it’s said.
A bad habit in the home won’t be fixed by going outside.
But if you can get along with others the world will be in good shape, so they say.
We were taught: if you go into the toilet, at least lock the door
Pronto.

If someone points out your faults it puts you in a very bad mood.
You must not ever
Think of receiving without doing anything yourself.
You have to cultivate the earth, till the soil, sow the seeds.
You have to fertilize.  If there’s no rain
You have to spray with water sometimes.
Just as you would care for a child of your own
Every day you have to let the sweat flow.
Only if you sow the seeds will you reap the fruits.
Only if you cultivate will there be growth.
Nonstop. Non-stop!
The seeds that you sowed become the harvest later on.

When you prepare the dishes for the evening meal
That is really living an authentic life.
When your clothes are pungent with the smell of your sweat
That is how you can buy the beautiful clothes.
When the sun goes down, rest and drink your sake.
Until the sun comes up, keep dreaming of your lover.

No matter how rich or how extraordinary,
You have to be healthy and skillfully make your way in the world.
The face can be twisted
But relations with the neighbors, we are taught, must never be twisted.
Take your parents’ teachings deeply to heart.  Get your fanny up off the ground.
“I’ll work forever,
“I’ll work till I die.”
Isn’t that the truly blessed, happy way of life?
Endure with patience resolute and unfaltering;
Good health is the most important thing of all.

SAKISHIMA Theme

Lyrics by Yukito Ara
Music by Isamu Shimoji

From Miyako to Yaeyama
The heart of the song is mounted on the wind!

From Yaeyama to Miyako
The wings of my longing have just taken flight!

The sun illuminates the islands;
The moon illuminates the people.

O the coolness of the wind at dusk in Sakishima!
Aah! Sakishima! Forever and ever!

Joy and sadnes
Illumined by the stars in the nighttime sky!

The beauty of the melody of the island where I was born!
Aah! The island where I was born!  Forever and ever!

O the coolness of the wind at dusk in Sakishima!
Aah! Sakishima! Forever and ever!

O the coolness of the wind at dusk in Sakishima!
Aah! Sakishima! Forever and ever!

Amakaa

There is a dance called amakaa udui, or “Dance of the Milky Way.” After the third descending phrase kanayo-o, the sanshin modulates to honchoshi tuning only for a moment. Then the leisurely Amakaa begins, moving effortlessly from high to low with a sense of total freedom.

Although picking on the sanshin is rapid, the lyrics are sung in relaxed style. The song tells of the mutual love of a boy and girl:

May you love me like the mandarin ducks
who pair for life, like the Milky Way Well, whose depths are plumbless.”

Love’s yearning, Love’s promise:
Like the mandarin ducks playing by the Milky Way Well
Our enduring love is known to no one else.
Is the depth of the Milky Way Well a thousand yards?
May your love for me go far deeper yet.

Tinsagu nu Hana (The Balsam Flowers)

Balsam blossoms!
For a protecting charm, paint the tips of your nails.
What your parents tell you,
Paint in your heart.

Star clusters in the sky!
Try to count them, they can be counted.
The things your parents teach you,
These cannot be counted.

Night, ships going out past the offing,
Bearing toward the Northern Star.
The parents who gave birth to me
Are my compass and stars, they look after me.

Ka-chipai

Lyrics by Yukito Ara
Music by Isamu Shimoji

Eiya! Eiya! To-ryu-!
Resounding of the sailors’ song:
The wind’s a good wind, summer solstice southerly wind.
The ocean around’s a magnificent sight, summer solstice southerly wind,
Summer sun, shining sun, summer solstice southerly wind.

Refrain:
Sassa! Sassa! Dance and play! Sassa! Sassa! World, be righteous!
Sassa! Sassa! Dance and play! Sassa! Sassa! World, be righteous!

Under the summer sun, under the shining sun
The wind’s a good wind, summer solstice southerly wind.
Blue, blue skies! Blue, blue sea!
Send up prayers for the prospering of the world! (Send up prayers that the world may prosper!)

Refrain

The moon at midday bright in the heavens,
The wind’s a good wind, summer solstice southerly wind.
The Pleiades (Star clusters) in the night sky, the strains of the sanshin,
O how beautiful! Myriad scintillating stars in the Milky Way!

Refrain

Yukito Ara, vocals and sanshin, was born in Ishigaki City, Okinawa, in 1967. He studied under his musician father, learning to sing the folk songs of the Yaeyama islands and to play the sanshin. At age seventeen, Ara took first prize at the 1985 Yaeyama Traditional Music Competition, becoming the award’s youngest recipient at that time. The following year he relocated to Naha City, the Okinawan capital, where he attended college and now lives. His wide-ranging musical activities include serving as lead singer with Parsha Club and Acoustic Parsha; playing duos with Satoshi “Sunday” Nakasone, Parsha Club’s percussionist; and performing with Isamu Shimoji, of Okinawa’s Miyako-jima, in the duo known as Sakishima Meeting. In 2003 Gekkou (Moon Rainbow), Ara’s first solo album with Sunday Nakasone, was released. His second album, Jouya (Transfigured Night), was produced in collaboration with jazz pianist Yuuko Sato and issued in 2011 by Teichiku Entertainment. Ara has also participated on other artists’ recordings, including those of Toshiki Kadomatsu and Rimi Natsukawa. In 2008 he received the Choho Miyara Music Award’s Special Prize for recent achievements in Okinawan music. He served as music director for the Canadian-Japanese film Kara Kara (The Empty Sake Pot), which won two awards at the 2012 Montreal International Film Festival. He has appeared on tour in China, Mexico, Jamaica, and Cuba.

Isamu Shimoji, vocals, guitar, and sanshin, was born on Miyako Island, Okinawa, in 1969. He moved to Tokyo after high school and then to Naha, Okinawa, at the age of twenty-five. Five years later he began creating songs in Myaakufutsu, one of the six Ryukyuan languages of Okinawa. His musical compositions serve as a cultural repository of his people’s heritage. In 2006 he received the Choho Miyara Music Award’s Special Prize for recent achievements in Okinawan music. Over the past twelve years Shimoji has released ten CDs, including the single The Island We Were Born On and his album Tin, both issued in 2002. He performs with Yukito Ara as the duo Sakishima Meeting, records with guitarist Masaru Shimabukuro, and has composed songs for numerous singers, including Hiromi Iwasaki and Rimi Natsukawa. Besides performing in Japan, he has appeared in Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, Jamaica, and Cuba.

Shinobu Matsuda, vocals and sanshin, was born into a family of musicians in the town of Chatan, on the main island of Okinawa Prefecture. She grew up listening to the music of her famous father, Hirokazu Matsuda, who was a professional sanshin player. She received the Ryukyu Folk Song Association’s New Face Award in 1990 and its Excellence Award in 2001. That same year she was honored with the Ryukyu Music Association’s top prize. Her first CD, Hariyoi Miyarabi (O Beautiful Girl), was released in 2002, followed by Tsuki Sayaka (The Moon is Bright) in 2010. Matsuda has made multiple appearances with Toshiki Kadomatsu, and she toured with Sakishima Meeting in 2011. With two additional female singers, she founded the vocal group Tsuku•Ti-da・☆ (Moon, Sun, Star), which released its first CD, Kanaganato (Lovingly), in 2012.

Satoshi “Sunday” Nakasone, percussion, was born in Osaka in 1970 and moved to his parents’ hometown on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, as a child. Much in demand for the distinctive sound he brings to traditional styles, he performs on shima-daiko as a member of Parsha Club and in concert with Yukito Ara. He also plays percussion with a number of other musicians, including Yasukatsu Oshima and Rimi Natsukawa. He has taken part in Japan Foundation tours of China, Mongolia, the Middle East, and Central America.

Hirokazu Matsuda, music and lyrics, was born in 1947 in the town of Chatan in Okinawa Prefecture. His father was a master and teacher of classical Okinawan music, and Matsuda learned sanshin at his father’s side from an early age. At age twelve or thirteen, he sang in folk song talent shows. Self-taught on guitar, he developed a personal style and organized a rock band. By age sixteen he had already begun serving as the vocalist for the band Eisa. After he reached the age of twenty, and under the tutelage of Kotoku Tsuha and Rinsho Kadekaru, Matsuda began his serious research into traditional Japanese folk songs and performed as a professional musician. He is known for such songs as Island Jowa and Jindama.

Masaaki Uechi, guitarist, composer, and producer, was born in Naha City, Okinawa, in 1962. He began his career as a professional musician while still in high school and after graduation worked as a composer and recording engineer. Beginning in 1990, he spent three years with Rinken Band. Presently an active member of Pasha Club, he produces a wide range of musical activities, including CM, television programs, and other events.

‒ English translations provided by Music From Japan

Music From Japan

Founded in 1975 by Artistic Director Naoyuki Miura, Music From Japan is the leading presenter of Japanese contemporary and traditional music in the United States and worldwide. To date, the organization has presented approximately 450 works, including 83 world premieres, 72 new commissions, and a wealth of traditional music, and it has showcased around 170 Japanese composers on tours of North and South America, Central Asia, and Japan. MFJ’s achievements were recognized with a commendation from the Japanese Foreign Minister in July 2007. Music From Japan Festival 2014 was made possible in part by public funds from the Japan Foundation.

This podcast was coordinated by Michael Wilpers, manager of performing arts. Audio recording and editing by Andy Finch. Web production by Gio Camozzi and Torie Castiello Ketcham. Copy editing by Nancy Eickel. This performance was presented as part of Music From Japan Festival 2014, made possible in part by public funds from the Japan Foundation. Special thanks to the artists for agreeing to share their music with the Freer and Sackler Galleries.