Em Records presents Wandering Shadow Of Southern Streets, 1970s recordings from Sato Kunitaka, dark star of the southern islands of Japan. Sato Kunitaka was born in 1919 in the Amami Islands, south of Kyushu. He lost his sight at eight months; his grandfather taught him to play sanshin, the southern shamisen, to ensure that Sato would be able to earn a living when he grew up. When he was 12, he began to play tategoto, a vertically-held form of koto. He developed a unique style on both of these instruments. From the age of 17, he began his wandering lifestyle, travelling through the Ryukyu Islands, a thousand-kilometer subtropical archipelago including Okinawa. He supported himself as a travelling musician, performing island folk songs, pre-War popular songs and his own compositions. Although he was a fine instrumentalist, Sato's real power resides in his voice: a powerful, wailing, howling sound dredged up from the depths of his being. Some have likened the impact of his voice to that of Charley Patton -- a dark, intense sound-world most unlike the relatively smoother, sunny vocal styles of other Ryukyu/Okinawa singers. After World War II, Sato's popularity spread to the U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa, and it is rumored that his wanderings took him to Hawaii. He continued his itinerant ways, travelling through the archipelago, singing, playing, living and loving (a man of rumor and mystery, he is said to have married at least eight different women during his lifetime). In the early 1970s, he came to the attention of Takenaka Ro, a writer and political activist, and through Takenaka's enthusiastic support, Sato travelled to Tokyo in 1975 to record his first album. Sato's fame continued to spread, and he performed at various folk festivals and made other recordings, some of which were released posthumously. Travelling and playing throughout the islands to the end, he made his last public appearance in Okinawa in 1985 and died the same year. "WSOSS" features recordings of Sato Kunitaka made in the late 1970s in Okinawa. These recordings, by Harada Kennichi, show Sato in his element, playing Ryukyu Island songs on his home turf, capturing his innate wildness and his elemental, raw spirit. Released on 12" vinyl, one side of "WSOSS" features Sato playing tategoto; the flipside is devoted to his sanshin. Both sides, of course, spotlight the mystery and majesty of his voice. Includes a 4-page insert with liner notes in both English and Japanese.