Sado

Folk Music of Japan
Ethnic Folkways Library FE 4429
© 1952 Folkways Records, New York

My luckiest  thrift store day in 2011 was the day my wife and I took a road trip to Kiwanis in Cape Coral for the sole purpose of finding records. Among the loot that day were two Folkways records dedicated to Japan. Folk Music of Japan was recorded by Edward Norbeckin 1952 and Traditional Folk Dances of Japan from 1959 by Mary L. Evans. For the sake of comparison (and collecting) I downloaded the liner notes and a few songs from the Folkways record Traditional Folk Songs of Japan recorded by Ryutaro Hattori in 1961. Each downloaded song cost me 99 cents, exactly the price Kiwanis charges for their records. The two vinyl records from Cape Coral were in excellent condition and both contained the original customary booklet with liner notes, commentaries and photos.

Sado Okesa is a love song that originates from the island of Sado. Unlike the word lesbian and the island Lesbos, Sado bears no relationship to the Marquis de Sade or the word sadism. A version on Traditional Folk Songs of Japan was actually recorded on that island but the version that you can listen to below (and download here) comes from Yokohama. It's from Folk Music of Japan. It was sung by a Geisha and is an urbanized version quite different from the original (de Sado version on Traditional Folk Songs could be considered the original version but was recorded nine years later—the true original is of course hundreds of years older).