Transcience and durability: music industry initiatives, Shima Uta and the maintenance of Amani culture

This article analyses the contemporary situation of the traditional Amami shima uta song genre and, in particular, the role of the music industry in promoting and marketing it. This discussion engages with debates about the nature of 'world music' and international product marketing articulated in popular music studies over the last decade and, in particular, the analysis offered by Feld (2000) - inflecting these to address local cultural maintenance.