Okinawan Ryuku Music

 My family spent three years in Okinawa, and loved it. To me Okinawa is Hawaii on steroids. It is very tropical, amazing history, great people, and delicious food. I would love to go back and visit. Doing this blog it brought back a ton of awesome memories. The Shuri Castle was a very beautiful place and glad we went there multiple times, a few years ago it was destroyed from a fire. We saw many live performances at this castle and all over the island with their many parades. Oh and learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road and from the wrong side of the vehicle was interesting. 

The sanshin is the three string instrument you see, with snake skin. It is the traditional sound of the okinawan music. This instrument was influenced by China in the 16th century, and is now considered the soul of Okinawan folk music. The folk music also has the traditional taiko drums as well, the shime-daiko (large),  hira-daiko (medium) , and the pārankū (smallest).

Tone:

The Okinawan music is different from mainland Japan. Okinawan folk music uses two different scales, the pentatonic and the hexatonic. The pentatonic scale uses 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 or Do, Mi, Fa, So, Ti. Where as the hexatonic scale uses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 or Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, Ti. The players use half steps between the third and fourth and the seventh and first scales. This gives the folk music its noticeable sound. You will also hear cadences called usually by the drummers throughout the songs. Also with the drum line you have someone that whistles in a high pitch, directing the next steps. When listening to the songs the singers are usually singing in an upper register, giving it that piercing sound.  Sometimes you will also find a few other instruments with this traditional sound like the sanba. This is three small flat pieces of wood or plastic that make a clicking sound. You will usually see the dancers holding these.

Texture:

This type of music is considered heterophonic. Heterophonic is when singers or the instrument players play the same melody at the same time, but give it a little different texture depending on the instrument being played or changing the pitch in the voice. You will also find Okinawan folk music with the additions of the Japanese harp, flutes, and the Chinese fiddle. Which really show case the heterophonic texture. 

Where ever you go in Okinawa you will always find a sanshin and some version of the taiko drum. The sanshin would always bring families and friends together to relax, listen to music, and unwind. As we would travel through the streets of okinawa you would hear the familiar sound of the sanshin playing. You could even find them in the local restaurants playing while you ate your food. The folk music were stories of the past, children songs, special songs for the regime that was ruling the dynasty at the time, ceremonies, festivals, or just the life of a hard working farmer. If you really think about it, this music story line is not much different than ours. Once you get past the different instruments, style, and language it is basically the same story. I was drawn to this music the first time I saw them performing with the sanshin and the taiko drum. To watch the drummers dance/perform while playing the drums and shouting the cadence is pretty awesome.

References:

"Sanshin." Wikipedia, 05 August 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanshin

"Okinawan music." Wikipedia, 03 October 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_music

"Traditional Okinawan Music." https://www.hisgo.com/us/destination-japan/okinawa/traditional_okinawan_music.html. Accessed 21 October 2021.

"Terms that describe music." https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicappreciation_with_theory/chapter/monophony/. Accessed 21 October 2021.