Okinawan music


Okinawan music is the music of the Okinawa Islands of southwestern Japan. Ryukyuan music refers to the music of the entire Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa.

Genres

A dichotomy widely accepted by Okinawan people is the separation of musical traditions into koten and min'yō. Okinawa was once part of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Yukatchu class in the capital of Shuri developed its high culture while they frequently suppressed folk culture in rural areas. Susumu Kumada added another category, "popular music", to describe songs that emerged after the kingdom was annexed by Japan in 1879.

Classical music

Ryukyuan classical music was the court music of Ryukyu. Uzagaku was the traditional chamber music of the royal palace at Shuri Castle.
The texture is essentially heterophonic using a single melodic line. Pitched accompaniment instruments each play a simultaneous variation on the vocal line.

Folk music

Created and sung by the commoners, folk music gained positive evaluation with the rise of folklorists led by Yanagita Kunio. Folk music is described by the Japanese term min'yō. Since the kingdom was annexed, some members of the former Yukatchu class spread Shuri-based high culture to other areas of Okinawa. Some of such new elements are today seen as part of folk culture.
Okinawa's folk songs are generally accompanied by one sanshin.
The suffixes -ondo and -bushi may also be attached to the title of folk songs, however songs named without these clarifiers are more common. Eisa and kachāshī are Okinawan dances with specific music styles that accompany them.
;Warabi uta
Warabe uta is a general term for nursery rhymes and children's songs.

Popular music

New folk songs

"New min'yō", composed in the style of traditional Okinawan min'yō, have been written by several contemporary Okinawan folk musicians such as Rinshō Kadekaru, Sadao China, Shoukichi Kina, Seijin Noborikawa, and Tsuneo Fukuhara. These songs are often heard in contemporary pop music arrangements. Haisai ojisan, with music and lyrics by Shōkichi Kina, is typical of this genre.
Okinawa's folk songs are sometimes referred to as shima-uta. The term comes from the Amami language and was introduced in the 1970s. It was originally a genre of songs from the Amami Islands.

Okinawa pop

The music of Okinawa came under the influence of American rock music beginning with the end of World War II. Many musicians began to blend the Okinawan folk music style and native instruments with those of American popular and rock music. This is called "Uchinaa pop". One example is Ryukyu Underground, who combine both classical and folk music with modern Dub music.

Instrumentation

The instrument that defines Okinawan music is the sanshin. It is a three-stringed lute, very similar to the Chinese sanxian and a precursor to the Japanese shamisen. The body is covered in snake skin and it is plucked with a plectrum worn on the index finger.
Okinawan folk music is often accompanied by various taiko drums such as shime-daiko, hira-daiko, and paaranku. Paaranku, a small hand-held drum about the size of a tambourine, is often used in eisa dancing.
Other percussion instruments such as sanba, yotsutake and hyōshigi can often be heard in Okinawan music. Sanba are three small, flat pieces of wood or plastic that are used to make rapid clicking sounds, similar to castanets. Yotsutake are two sets of rectangular bamboo strips tied together, one set held in each hand, clapped together on the strong beat of the music. Traditionally they have been used in Ryukyuan classical music, but recently they have been used in eisa dancing.
A group of singers called a hayashi often accompanies folk music, singing the chorus or interjecting shouts called kakegoe. Also finger whistling called yubi-bue is common in kachāshī and eisa dance tunes.
Additional instruments are often used in Ryukyuan classical music, and sometimes incorporated in folk music:
The following is described in terms used in Western disciplines of music.
Music from Okinawa uses tonal structure that is different in music from Japan and Amami in particular the intervalic content of the scales used.
The chief pentatonic scale used in Japan, for example, uses scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, also known as Do, Re, Mi, So, and La in the Kodály system of solfeggio. This structure avoids half step intervals by eliminating the fourth and seventh scale degrees.
In contrast, music from Okinawa is abundant in the half steps. Common structures used in Okinawan music are a pentatonic scale utilizing scale degrees 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, or Do, Mi, Fa, So, Ti, or a hexatonic scale with the addition of the second scale degree, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, or Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, Ti. Half steps occur between the third and fourth, and also the seventh and first scale degrees. In particular, the interval from 7 to 1, or Ti to Do is very common. A folk tune can often be recognized as being Okinawan by noting the presence of this interval.

Notable Okinawan music

Okinawan musicians and musical ensembles

Traditional