Search - Kina Shoukichi & Champloose :: The Music Power from Okinawa

There is nothing that quite compares to these live recordings made in Kina's own nightclub in Okinawa, Japan, in 1977. He took a local style of music called katcharsee and turned it into a proto-punk folk music that has all the power of a good rock band yet holds on to the local flavor of Okinawa's sanshin music. By taking this ancient folk instrument and electrifying it and by then adding bass, drums, and a girl-group style chorus, Kina began his journey to redefine and localize the popular music of Okinawa and, to some extent, Japan. These recordings are pretty raw, even after a quality digital remastering, but they evoke a visceral response, whether it's in a lilting ballad or the thundering "Hasai Ojisan!" At the same time that bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span were expanding the folk roots of England, Kina and Champloose were making a revolution in Okinawa. --Louis Gibson