Daiichi Hirata, the chairman of the Culture Promotion Association of Okinawa and a group of volunteers are calling for donations to support the conservation activities of Kazufumi Miyazawa, an ex-singer of the band “THE BOOM”. Miyazawa is working on a project to reserve the treasures of Okinawan traditional music,

Miyazawa started making CDs of traditional Okinawan music in 2012, and has already recorded 269 songs by 250 singers, including Sadao China, Misako Koja and late Seijin Noborikawa. His plan is to choose 245 songs and make 14-disc CD box sets as “Textbooks of Okinawan Music” with a 140-page instruction handbook of lyrics and explanations included. 750 of the sets will be distributed to schools and libraries in Okinawa. The sets are also distributed to “Kenjinkai”, associations of people of Okinawan descent living overseas, who are coming to visit Okinawa to participate in the Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival in October. Miyazawa is asking contributions of ¥25,000 each with the contributor receiving the CD box set.

The group has so far received 40 contributions, however, a total of 240 contributions are needed to cover the production costs. Hirata says that the CD box set would be worth ¥50,000 if sold.

Miyazawa has made the sets with his passion for traditional Okinawan music, with no support from any commercial company since the sets will not be sold on the market.

For details, call the project management office at 090-2961-9634.

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