Ryukyus Roots.

The next 5 days is the Japanese holiday they call "Golden week" and for the last few years the mytea@om crew have headed off to Taketomi-jima in the Yaeyama Island group south of Okinawa, much closer to Taiwan, than mainland Japan. We always stay at a lovely family Minshuku in the town "Nohara Suo" (tel-85-2252) and every evening after a hard days sunbathing and delicious Okinawan dinner, the fun begins when free bottles of awamori appear, the 3 stringed sanshin comes out and a good old Okinawan singsong begins. Back in 2001 the first edition John Potter's book "The Power Of Okinawa" came out, which i never did pick up a copy, but now a completely revised, expanded and updated 2nd edition has surfaced with more chapters and more interviews with the people involved in making roots music from the Ryukyus. One such duo Ryukyu Underground, who are Keith Gordon, originally from the UK but now resident in Okinawa, and his cohort, American Jon Taylor have been fusing the sounds of the Ryukyus with contemporary westernized studio technology to bring a whole new sound to okinawan traditional folk music..Lifting two tracks from the 2005 Ryukyu remixed collection.
Njoy!

East Is East (Chaos Luda Coral Mix)



Sefa Utaki (Lelonek Mix)