The 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Nomura-Ryü Ongaku Kyö Kai, Hawaii Shibu, will be observed with the staging of an Okinawan sanshin concert, “Uta nu Hana,” on Saturday, June 3, at the Kaimuki High School Theater on the campus of Kaimukï High School. The 2 p.m. (doors open at 1:30) performance will honor the shibu’s (branch) founders — Seiko Ikehara, Kanyei Izumigawa, Kosuke Nakaganeku, Harry Seisho Nakasone, Katsumi Shinsato and others — who “worked tirelessly to ensure the Nomura style of classical Okinawan music would have strong roots in Hawai‘i,” noted the event’s co-chairs Grace Carmichael, Muriel Donnan and Norman Kaneshiro.
The late Harry Seisho Nakasone founded the Hawaii Shibu in 1967. He and his fellow musicians got together often to remember their old home in Okinawa, said Kaneshiro. “Uta nu Hana” will focus on the Hawaii Shibu’s students. It will also pay tribute to Katsumi Shinsato-Sensei, who is the only surviving member of the founders’ group.
The concert will feature Nomura Ryü Ongaku Kyö Kai members from O‘ahu, Maui and the Big Island, as well as from Okinawa.
Tickets for the show are $30 (presale) and $35 at the door. They can be ordered by calling (808) 623-6110.
