Kanako Horiuchi from Okinawa and Abdul Tee-Jay from Sierra Leone, together with Ghanaian percussionist Kofi, mix shima uta island songs with palm wine music. 24th June 2018 at Ivy House Nunhead
Find Kanako Horiuchi CDs here
www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/Solo_Female_Modern.html
and Abdul Tee-Jay Palm Wine a Go Go here
www.farsidemusic.com/acatalog/Far_Side_Label.html#aFSCD1001
EVENT INFORMATION
OKINAWA AFRICA
Featuring Kanako Horiuchi, Abdul Tee-Jay, Miharu Tamukai, Mina
Island Songs meet Palm Wine Guitar
An evening that promises to be a scintillating assault on the senses, with the shuffling, syncopated rhythms of Okinawan Shima Uta (island songs) and the sultry, summery sound of Palm Wine guitar. And probably, some never before heard mixtures!
One thing they share: in both Okinawa and Sierra Leone, they love nothing more than to drink their local alcoholic beverages, (in Okinawa, the rice fermented awamori) dance and enjoy their local music.
About the Music
The music of Okinawa has an indefinable island quality. A bit like everywhere but totally unlike anywhere. Okinawan music has developed from a unique set of influences down the centuries, as local traditions have mingled with those of sea faring and trading nations. Music has evolved organically until the present day, and while Japan’s musical traditions have been largely forgotten or ‘preserved’ by societies, Okinawa is the country’s only surviving enclave with a thriving and living local music rooted in a tradition.
Palm wine is made with the fermented sap juice of the palm tree. When people drink, they like to sing what became known as palm wine music or locally, maringa. Centred around a single performer on guitar, a couple of listeners add the accompaniment playing on bottles, cigarette tins or palm wine calabashes. The breezy, verse and chorus style sounds somewhat similar to Trinidadian Calypso, and could partly originate with the Caribbean slave immigrants that gave the Sierra Leone capital Freetown its name.
About the Performers
Kanako Horiuchi is one of the Ryukyu Island’s (of which Okinawa is the biggest) leading musical ambassadors, travelling the world, spreading the sounds of the islands and collaborating with local musicians. Originally from Hokkaido, in the north of Japan, she headed south to study the three stringed banjo like instrument, the sanshin, and local songs from some of the greats of Okinawan music, learning the real tradition from the real masters. At the same time, she developed a creative and experimental edge, playing ska, dance music, and collaborating with many musicians from around the world.
Abdul Tee-Jay grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He first picked up a guitar when he was nine. He learned from the old guys, listened to records and studied music theory out of books. While his friends were into the Beatles, Abdul liked the unique style of palm wine legend SE Rogie, the local street music, ‘milo jazz’, highlife music from Nigeria and Ghana, Bembeya Jazz from Guinea, and Congolese soukous. In 1979 he moved to London, eventually forming the Sierra Leone dance based group Rakoto. At the height of the initial ‘World Music’ boom, Rakoto achieved considerable success, releasing albums and touring the world. He went on to record his solo album Palm Wine a Go-Go in 2003, and has continued to play both styles ever since.
Miharu Tamukai is a singer and sanshin player from Amami island. Amami lies geographically and musically half way between Japan and Okinawa, a unique hybrid of its two neighbours. As on Okinawa, the main instrument is the three stringed snake skinned banjo, the sanshin, although the Amami version has thinner strings, is tuned to a higher pitch and has a sharper tone. The music however is played in a minor scale as in the rest of Japan. Amami has one of the most vibrant local roots music scenes with a host of young musicians playing traditional music and updating it in ingenious ways. Miharu Tamakai is one such young musician, who was born and grew up in Amami, and now lives in Tokyo.
Mina is a London based classically trained violinist, and player of the Okinawan sanshin. She explores new sounds with Oriental and Western aspects through her own Sayaconcept project and various other collaborations and activities. In 2017 she travelled to Okinawa to take part in a recording of an album of traditional Okinawan love songs together with 5 other female singers, including Kanako Horiuchi, titled ‘Uchina Love Songs’. The six artists met in Okinawa to record the songs and later met again in Tokyo to perform a special concert celebrating the release of the album.