China Sadao

China 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]

• Akabana「赤花」(1978)[4]
• Shima-uta Hyakkei「島唄百景」(2009)[6]

• Ryūkyūan music
• Kina Shōkichi