Sakishima meeting (Yukito Ara/Isamu Shimoji)
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Sakishima meeting (Yukito Ara/Isamu Shimoji)

Naha-shi, Okinawa, Japan | Established. Jan 01, 2004 | SELF

Naha-shi, Okinawa, Japan | SELF
Established on Jan, 2004
Duo World Acoustic

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"The Flute, the Flute Is Calling"

Except for its deadly snakes, and the warmth of its blue-green ocean, Okinawa might as well be Ireland. It is a chain of emerald isles whose people lived for centuries under the boot of an oppressive empire. (Think Irish-English relations are complicated? Try Okinawan-Japanese.) Poverty drove generations of strivers from its shores — not to Boston or New York, but Hawaii, Peru, Brazil and beyond.

They carried a rich and distinct folk music, a love of dance and merriment, and the emigrant ache, lodged deep in the heart. As in this song, whose melody you probably know, though not with these words:

Beloved child of mine,

From beyond the skies is heard the voice of the flute calling to you.

Summer has passed, the flowers of the season have fallen.

You are preparing for the journey to distant lands.

Through the summer when the grasses and flowers bloom and peak,

Through the winter when the north winds bluster and blow, here on this island I’m always waiting for you.

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!

I’m watching and waiting for you to return, gentle and brave.

As the seasons turn and you finally come home to the island of your birth,

Though you may no longer see my form,

my love for you is true through eternity.

With your gentle voice, call to me!

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!

Beloved child of mine, o beloved child of mine!

This is an English translation, by Sharon Nakazato, of a song recorded last year by an Okinawan duo, Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara. Mr. Ara wrote his own words to an old tune he loved, to capture his feelings for the island where he was born and longs to return someday. He played it on the sanshin, the snakeskin-covered, banjo-like instrument whose sorrowing twang is the soul of Okinawan music.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day, is a holiday lacquered in sentimentality, no more so than in the endless bar-stool renditions of ballads like “Danny Boy.” But under the kitsch lies an old vein of sweet suffering. In Mr. Ara’s “Danny Boy,” sung in his language, you can hear it anew, and cry just the same. - The New York Times  By THE EDITORIAL BOARD MARCH 16, 2014


Discography

Sakishima no theme(2008) Maxi Single
TOME DOME(2012) Single
Sakishima meeting THE BEST20131st.Album

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Bio

Sakishima meeting

Yukito ARA (leader; vocals, sunshine) 

Isamu SHIMOJI (vocals, guitar, sanshin, composition)

Born in Ishigaki City, Okinawa, in 1967, Yukito ARA (leader; vocals, sanshin) studied under his musician father, learning to sing the folk songs of the Yaeyama Islands and to play the sanshin. At 17, he took first prize at the 1985 Yaeyama Traditional Music Competition, becoming the awards youngest recipient at that time. The following year he relocated to Naha City, the Okinawan capital, to attend college, and has lived there ever since. His wide-ranging musical activities include serving as lead singer with Parsha Club and Acoustic Parsha; playing duos with Satoshi Sunday Nakasone, Parsha Clubs percussionist; and performing with Isamu Shimoji, of Okinawas Miyako-jima, as Sakishima Meeting. In 2003, Aras first solo album with Sunday, Gekkou (Moon Rainbow), was released; his second disc, 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, Ara received the Choho Miyara Music Awards 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, sanshin, composition) was born on Miyako Island, Okinawa in 1969. He moved to Tokyo after high school and then to Naha, Okinawa at the age of 25. 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 peoples heritage, and in 2006 he received the Choho Miyara Music Awards Special Prize for recent achievements in Okinawan music. Over the past eleven years, Shimoji has released ten CDs, which include the single The Island We Were Born On and his album tin, both issued in 2002. He performs with Yukito Ara as Sakishima Meeting, records with guitarist Masaru Shimabukuro, and has composed songs for a variety of singers, such as Hiromi Iwasaki and Rimi Natsukawa. Besides performing in Japan, he has appeared in Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, Jamaica, and Cuba.