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Sanlele ‘Jumping’ on the Road of Glocalization: Sounds of Okinawa Tropical Champuru Culture and the World Youth Uchinanchu


 Sanlele, a three-stringed musical instrument emerged in 2004 in Okinawa, is a hybrid musical
instrument in-between Hawaiian ukulele and Okinawan sanshin. San, means three, comes from
Okinawan sanshin. The term ‘lele’, means jumping, has a direct connection with Hawaiian
ukulele. If this is true, the sanlele thus can be understood literally as ‘jumping sanshin’. During
the process of hybridizing, the sanlele developed at least four versions, reflecting everchanging
aesthetic preferences by musical instrument makers. This paper bases on regular fieldwork made
since 2018. It argues that if taking performer into consideration, it is clearly to see that sanlele’s
meaning is flexibly constructed and invoked in any performance. Through ‘switched meanings’
in performance, the sanlele switches on or off a connection with Okinawa and Hawaii. There are
several backgrounds contributing to its ‘jumping’ on the road of ‘glocalization’ (R. Robertson
1995), including the Okinawan unique tropical champuru cultural spirit, the Worldwide Youth
Uchinanchu Festival, and oversea Uchinanchu’s identity rethinking on the road of a
‘transnational homing’(Katie Walsh 2006). To make, to play, and to listen to the sanlele, can be a
chance for musical instrument makers, performers, and people who use it to open up in dialogues
with histories and cultures of Okinawa, Hawaii, and beyond.

