Yasuko Yoshida

With the departure of Misako Koja, Yasuko Yoshida (吉田康子) is now the chorus leader of the female quartet Nenes. Nenes have been at the forefront of the Okinawan music scene for nearly a decade. Their fans around the world include Ry Cooder, with whom they recorded in 1994, Ryuichi Sakamoto for whom they provided the backup vocals for the song Neo Geo, and Talvin Singh for whom they provided backing vocals on Singh's album 'OK'. Nenes performed at the 1998 WOMAD festival in the UK, and took part in the subsequent Real World recording week. On her first solo album, Yoshida takes a more simple and traditional approach than the 'Uchina pop' of Nenes. This recent composition features Nenes mentor Sadao China on sanshin and also ryukin, the Okinawan koto or harp. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.