China Sadao Explained

China Sadao
知名定男
Birth Date:21 April 1945
Birth Place:Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Occupation:Musician

(born 21 April 1945) is a Japanese musician active in the Okinawan music and shima-uta scene, as a performer on the sanshin, min'yō folk singer, song-writer, and producer, having been responsible in 1990 for the formation of the Nēnēs.[1] [2] [3]

Biography

China Sadao was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1945, the family moving to Amagasaki in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1951.[1] His father,, a musician from Okinawa Prefecture, had moved from Okinawa in search of work, making a living in a spinning mill and by gathering scrap metal from drainage ditches.[4] As a young child, Sadao disliked the nostalgic shima-uta performed by his father and tried to suppress his uchināguchi dialect; he would later recall his embarrassment when his father appeared at an athletics meet with a sanshin and taiko.[4] Nevertheless, he performed in folk songs and dances together with his parents, and in 1951 made his first recording, of the song, on the .[1] In 1957, father and son returned to Okinawa, where Sadao began his studies, at his father's recommendation, as an uchi-deshi with Okinawan musician Noborikawa Seijin.[1] [4] That same year he made his official debut recording, at the age of twelve, with a performance of the min'yō .[1] In 1963, after meeting composer Tsuneo Fukuhara, he began to study Western classical music and the classical guitar.[1] His career lasting over sixty years, in December 2020 he performed at a fund-raising concert for the rebuilding of Shuri Castle.[5]

Select discography

See also

Notes and References

  1. 10.11385/jaspmpms1997.6.17 . ja:戦後沖縄における民謡歌手の変容 世代別活動スタイルの比較を通して . Changes in the Performing Style of Minyou Singers in Post WWII Okinawa: A comparison of three generations . Japanese . Takahashi Miki 高橋美樹 . Popular Music Studies ポピュラー音楽研究 . The Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music 日本ポピュラー音楽学会 . 2002 . 6 . 17–37 (esp. 24–27, 35).
  2. Web site: World Routes: Japan, Tokyo and Okinawa - Sadao China, Yoreko Genako, The Rinken Band . . 2006 . 14 March 2021.
  3. News: Okinawa's musicians provide a focus for Japanese protest against US bases . Justin McCurry . . 17 April 2014 . 14 March 2021.
  4. News: http://www.asahi.com/area/okinawa/articles/MTW20999999480111341.html . ja:島唄、海超え時超え 知名定男さん . Shima-uta, Crossing Over Seas, Crossing Over Time: China Sadao . Japanese . . 3 July 2005 . 14 March 2021.
  5. News: https://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/entry-1230855.html . ja:知名定男、キヨサク、ネーネーズら出演 首里城復興チャリティーライブ 那覇で12月1日 . Starring Sadao China, Kiyosaku, Nenes, etc. Shuri Castle Reconstruction Charity Live, 1 December, Naha . Japanese . . 25 November 2020 . 14 March 2021.
  6. News: https://www.asahi.com/showbiz/music/TKY200912140125.html . ja:知名定男がアルバム発表 沖縄民謡の集大成101曲 . Sadao China Announces Album: A Collection of 101 Okinawan Folk Songs . Japanese . . 14 December 2009 . 14 March 2021.