"The Soul of Japanese Okinawan 『Rimi Natsukawa』　folk　Music　singer"
夏川りみの「島唄」はファーストアルバム『てぃだ 〜太陽・風ぬ想い〜』2002年9月21日発売に収録している。「島唄」はTHE BOOMが1992年1月22日発売のアルバム「思春期」で三線や琉球音階など沖縄音楽の要素を取り入れた「島唄」を発表した。 またその年の12月12日には沖縄の方言（ウチナーグチ）で歌われた「島唄（ウチナーグチ・ヴァージョン）」を沖縄県限定でリリース、沖縄だけで1万枚を超える売り上げを­記録した後に全国発売され、50万枚近くを売り上げたヒット曲です。

✩✩✩　夏川りみ　Rimi Natsukawa　✩✩✩
Rimi Natsukawa was born in Ishigaki City in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Rimi debuted in 1999 with her single Yuubaeni Yurete. In 2001, her third single Nada Sou Sou became a tremendous success: the song remained on Japanese music charts for 116 consecutive weeks. In 2002, Rimi performed for the first of five consecutive years on Kohaku Uta Gassen, the acclaimed New Year’s Eve television special that features the year’s best-loved musicians. 2002 was an exciting year for Rimi overall as she also claimed The Japan Record Awards prize for Best Singer.

「Japanese folk music is wonderful.」
Surrounded by beautiful blue ocean and fringed with coral reefs, the Okinawa islands lie in the far southwest of Japan. For 450 years, Okinawa was an independent nation, known as the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed its own distinctive colorful culture - especially its music.Gow has come here to discover the soul of Okinawan music.