Updated 6/1/15

The following video, “The Nenes Koja Misako” (ネーネーズ 古謝　美佐子), was uploaded to YouTube by Saison TV on 14 Aug. 2013. It’s a documentary on Koja and the Nenes, shot in 1995 when Koja was 41.

At about the 19-minute mark, Koja sings a few lines of a minyo a cappella, and you know why, instantly, she’s one of Okinawa’s most gifted and talented minyo singers and song writers¹. Three of the four original members, Misako Koja, Namiko Miyazato, Yukino Hiyane plus Emiko Shimabukuro have recently formed a new version of the Nenes, calling themselves Unaigumi². For more on the Nenes, see Paul Fisher’s “Nenes – Akemodoro Unai (Sleeve Notes),” Far Side Music, 21 Dec. 2014.

Koja Misako

Koja Misako

Nenes

Nenes

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¹ See “Warabi-gami 童神.”
² “Nenes/Sadao China/Yasuko Yoshida,” Far Side Music.