A Love Letter to My Roots

These songs are for my mother — Ritsuko Irabu-Tidwell — a beautiful soul born of Okinawa.

She was born in 1934 on Miyako, in the southern Ryukyu Islands — the daughter of a deep-sea fisherman and a farmer, and a survivor of war.

When her mother passed, her father worked the seas, her older brother was sent to serve in the Japanese Navy, and at only eleven years old she became the one who held the family together. With the steady support of her father, her aunt, and nearby relatives, she stepped into the role of mother and big sister, raising her younger siblings with quiet strength and unshakable love.

Her life was one of devotion. She endured tragedy and hardship with patience, carried herself with creativity and resilience, worked tirelessly, and held family at the center of everything she did. She carried her culture not in words, but in song, in story, and in the way she cared for others. Her Okinawan spirit was grace in motion.

As a child, I was raised between two worlds — life on the military base with my father and life among my relatives with my mother. It gave me the best of both worlds: a perspective rooted in gratitude, respect for nature, and the family traditions that shaped who I am.

She taught me to hear the ocean, to honor the winds and stars, and to recognize the breath of our ancestors in every song. In her voice — singing Okinawan folk songs of sorrow, beauty, and endurance — I felt the soul of our people.

This music, Umi no Koe (Voice of the Sea), rises from that bond. It is my love letter to where we came from — to the sea, the land, and the spirit of the Ryukyu Islands that still live in us.

And more than that — this project, created with my father and me together, feels like an extension of my mother’s spirit. I believe it is one of her gifts, a sign that she is still with us. Just as she shared reminders of love and strength while I was growing up, she continues to do so now through these songs.

Through this music, the voices of my mother, my ancestors, and the islands rise again. The ocean still calls. The wind still carries their strength. And the songs remind us that even across oceans and time, we are never far from home.

— Johnie Lewis Tidwell, Jr. Umi no Koe (Voice of the Sea) — Songs Inspired by the Ryukyu Islands returnofthenerdmusic.com