If Paul Fisher's Rough Guide to the Music of Japan was rooted in clubland, his new compilation The Rough Guide to the Music of Okinawa takes us deep into the peasant past. Japan's southernmost archipelago--which the Japanese themselves regard as exotic--is pervaded by music that will strike Western listeners as both congenial and rivetingly strange. Many of the musicians in these excellently chosen tracks are passing on folk styles they learned from their grandparents and the dominant instrument is the sanshin, a three-stringed banjo with a snakeskin soundbox and a much more intimate sound than the shamisen, which is its bigger mainland counterpart. The ballad-singers here really compel you to listen: the greatest--Rinsho Kaderaku--died last year but his son Rinji has the same buttonholing sweetness. Some of the female singers are extraordinary, notably Ritsuki Nakano with her delicate ornamentation and Misako Oshiro with her clean, strong tone. There are some remarkable fusions, including Takashi Hirayasu and Bob Brozman (check out their Nankuru Naisa CD) and an English-American duo who combine traditional Okinawan folk styles with hip-hop, dub and various forms of electronica. --Michael Church
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