美しき朝 (Utsukushiki Asa)

Kina Tomoko was born and raised on the Okinawan island of Yonaguni, immersed in min’yō folk music from a young age. She started performing as a vocalist in Okinawa’s most popular clubs as a teenager, eventually apprenticing under Shoei Kina — a famous min’yō musician. Shoei’s son Shoukichi, whom Tomoko would marry, started the band Champloose with her, and they would go on to popularize Okinawan sounds by blending them with Western rock & roll. Tomoko would take a hiatus following her exit from the band, coming back ten years later with her first and only solo album. The lion’s share of production is handled by Bun Itakura of Chakra and Killing Time, with Yasuaki Shimizu at the helm for two tracks — including the standout “INK,” which opens like a yawning chasm and lets her voice reverberate freely. On Utsukushiki Asa, she combines the undulating vocal style of min’yō with the unusual accompaniment of synthesizers and sequencers in addition to the traditional three-string sanshin, modernizing the Okinawan sound for the 90s just as she had done a decade prior.