Tadamaru Sakuragawa

From Okinawa came the 'musical anarchist' nihongo|Tadamaru Sakuragawa|桜川 唯丸|Sakuragawa Tadamaru, who sang in a style called goshu ondo. With the backing of the now disbanded Spiritual Unity, Tadamaru broke out of the festival circuit with his only album, Ullambana, released in 1991. "Ullambana" is a Sanskrit word that refers to a Buddhism sutra, and is the origin of the Japanese word "Urabonne" whose shortened form "Bon" or "Obon" is now widely used throughout Japan. Tadamaru's music is characterized as a radical new workout of summer festival music from Kansai area of Japan.

The song Yui Maru Bushi from the album can be found here:

* http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/guidejapan2.shtml

Sakuragawa retired in 1995 and passed his name to one of his pupils who now sings as Tadamaru Sakuragawa II (二代目 桜川唯丸).

Music of Japan

References

* World Music Volume 2 Latin and North America Caribbean India Asia and: Latin and North America,...by Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham