China Sadao (知名定男, China Sadao) (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]
China Sadao 知名定男 | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 21, 1945 |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Parents |
|
Biography
editChina Sadao was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1945, the family moving to Amagasaki in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1951.[1] His father, China Teihan (知名定繁), 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 Deigo Flowers (でいごの花), on the Marufuku Record Label (マルフクレコード).[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 Suuki kannaa (スーキカンナー).[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
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f Takahashi Miki 高橋美樹 (2002). 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]. Popular Music Studies ポピュラー音楽研究 (in Japanese). 6. The Japanese Association for the Study of Popular Music 日本ポピュラー音楽学会: 17–37 (esp. 24–27, 35). doi:10.11385/jaspmpms1997.6.17.
- ^ "World Routes: Japan, Tokyo and Okinawa - Sadao China, Yoreko Genako, The Rinken Band". BBC. 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ Justin McCurry (17 April 2014). "Okinawa's musicians provide a focus for Japanese protest against US bases". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d 島唄、海超え時超え 知名定男さん [Shima-uta, Crossing Over Seas, Crossing Over Time: China Sadao]. The Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 3 July 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ 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]. Ryūkyū Shimpō (in Japanese). 25 November 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
- ^ 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]. The Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 14 December 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
