Читосэ Хадзимэ: Певица из Амами Осима и её музыкальное наследие

Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima (born 1979)

Chitose Hajime (元 ちとせ) is a Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima. She sings in the shima uta style particular to that region, with distinctive falsetto effects.

Chitose Hajime began learning shamisen under her mother's encouragement from a young age. At age 10 she began to pick up shima uta, a style of singing passed down through generations. She won many folk and other song competitions during her teens, traveling to events across Japan. followed later in the year. It sold 800,000 copies, charted for 57 weeks, and was the 16th highest selling album of the year. She released three more singles before her second major album, Nomad Soul (ノマド・ソウル), was released in 2003. Shortly after a concert tour, and the release of a live album and DVD in 2004, Hajime announced that she would be getting married, and was to have her first child in 2005. She returned to the music industry in November 2005 with the single "Kataritsugu Koto" (語り継ぐこと), the ending theme for the anime series BLOOD+. The single was a hit, reaching No. 12 on the Oricon charts. She followed this success with "Haru no Katami" (春のかたみ), the ending theme for the anime AYAKASHI – Japanese Classic Horror. The single sold 6,050 copies in its first week, and remained on the charts for seven weeks total. A third single, "Ao no Requiem" (青のレクイエ), was the theme song for the Studio GAGA film Hatsukoi. The following week, Hajime released her third original major album, Hanadairo (ハナダイロ). A limited edition version featured a 13th track, "Shinda Onna no Ko" (死んだ女の子) with Ryuichi Sakamoto), as well as a DVD containing the music videos for "Kataritsugu Koto", and "Haru no Katami". Following Hanadairo (ハナダイロ), Hajime took an extended break to spend time with her family and moving to Okinawa. She returned in 2008 with the release of "CASSINI" (カッシーニ), based on the theme of family and bonding. In August 2010 she released two albums simultaneously, the Japanese language "Orient" and the English language "Occident".

Studies have revealed that her particular style of singing, including aspects of traditional Amami Ōshima music, has a relaxing effect that has been observed in electroencephalograms taken from the brains of people listening to her singing.