Akira Ikuma/Chuning Candy -- Dynamic Ryukyu（ダイナミック琉球）

 

The encounter of this song goes back several months by my reckoning since I first saw singer-songwriter Akira Ikuma（イクマあきら）on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）earlier this year. If I'm not mistaken, he was on the show with the Okinawan duo D-51 who jogged my memories with their hit song "No More Cry". It just so happens that Ikuma was the composer for this 2005 creation.

But let me provide some background for Ikuma. He originally came from Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture and in the 1990s, he was the vocalist for the funk group, E-ZEE BAND, from whom 13 singles and 9 albums were released. In 1997, the band broke up and Ikuma opted for a solo career in pop music with the intent of moving to Tokyo. A vacation to Okinawa though changed his direction in terms of his life and career as he fell in love with Japan's southernmost prefecture, and the eventual result was that he instead moved there.

In 2008, Ikuma collaborated with poet Daiichi Hirata（平田大一）for a stage play titled "Ryukyu Renaissance"（琉球ルネッサンス）, and the former came up with a theme song called "Dynamic Ryukyu" which was put out as a limited-release single in Okinawa. A powerfully proud song fit for prefectural pride and dancing, people responded favourably and it was used for an Orion Beer commercial and a local TV drama. "Dynamic Ryukyu" has even been used by several dance troupes specializing in the Okinawa folk dance known as eisa. Finally, Ikuma's 2nd album from August 2009 would have that title brandished on the cover.

The Okinawan song-and-dance group Chuning Candy, which had its run between 2013 and this March, released a cover of "Dynamic Ryukyu" as their final and their one-and-only digital download single in their final month of existence. Its more frenetic arrangement was handled by Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）.

Considering that it's been 50 years since Okinawa was handed back to Japan, perhaps the Kohaku Utagassen is thinking of devoting some of its ample time to Okinawan music. Maybe "Dynamic Ryukyu" and Ikuma could get that invitation.