Uema Ayano – Taiyou Tsukinu Hikari~ Amazing Grace
Uema Ayano (上間綾乃) is an Okinawan folk singer who has been in activities since 2006, winning songwriting competitions and performing in local events and outside of Okinawa Prefecture.
She released two albums titled Wishing Star (願い星) and Majun (まじゅん) in 2006 and 2009, respectively. She has been signed to Columbia Japan and her major label debut, titled Utaja (唄者, which means “song person“), is set for a May 23rd release.
The first single to promote the album is titled Taiyou Tsukinu Hikari~ Amazing Grace (太陽 月ぬ光 ～アメイジング・グレイス), an Okinawan-styled rendition of Amazing Grace shot against a beautiful view of the sun.
There’s a YinYueTai version available.
This is so ethereal. I don’t pretend to know anything about Eastern languages (let alone dialects of those languages), but this has the feel of something spiritual. She sounds like an Indian monk. I know that sounds stupid, but seriously, there’s something incredibly holy about the way she sings it (I mean, never mind the fact that she’s singing Amazing Grace).