Shimauta by HappyFunSmile

This is a popular song by The Boom, inspired by Okinawan music, that has been frequently covered. HappyFunSmile is a New York area Okinawan pop and Japanese chindon band. I play the sanshin in the group. This is a rough edit from our upcoming album.

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posted by billtron (9 comments total)

typos :(

also, site and myspace
posted by billtron at 10:32 AM on January 30, 2007

This is fucking great. Please post more!

Also, cross-cultural hilarity—I love that you've played at Teabag Chinatown. Teabag! Ha! Yes.
posted by cortex at 11:18 AM on January 30, 2007

Although I am woefully uninformed about Okinawan folk songs and will have to take your statement that it is frequently covered, I love this song. Wonderful music. Hooray!
posted by sleepy pete at 11:39 AM on January 30, 2007

This is fantastic. Thanks so much for posting it.
posted by melissa may at 1:29 PM on January 30, 2007

This sounds really good. It's really fun being exposed to things from other cultures so thanks for this.

Forgive my ignorance, but is the sanshin the stringed instrument at the begining?
posted by snsranch at 4:09 PM on January 30, 2007

For all the sugar-pop sweetness, I think this has some serious Rock-Anthem potential. Anybody else hear that in there?
Nice work in there.
posted by isopraxis at 6:55 PM on January 30, 2007

Nice to know there's some Okinawan music happening live in ol' NYC! Very enchanting stuff. Yor sanshin playing sounds great! Several years back I had the good fortune to record and perform a bit (in Okinawa and in Tokyo) with sanshin player and singer extraordinaire Tetsuhiro Daiku, as well as with Chindon supergroup Cicala Mvta: maybe you know of one or both of these artists/units?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:37 AM on January 31, 2007

snsranch: Yep, that's the sanshin at the top of the tune.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:40 AM on January 31, 2007

I was actually wrong when I wrote that this song is a traditional folk tune from Okinawa. It was actually an original song by The Boom. Sorry for the confusion!
posted by billtron at 8:14 AM on March 2, 2007