Ōshiro Banesa(大城バネサ)

Ōshiro Banesa(大城バネサ) is an enka singer from Argentina (nisei or second-generation Argentine with Japanese ancestors). Her father and her mother's paternal grandparents were from Okinawa. As a result, she was exposed to traditional Okinawa and other Japanese music from an early age.

She first sang in public when she was three years old, singing "Along for the Ride(みちづれ Michidzure)" by Makimura Mieko(牧村三枝子).

In 2001, she won the "NHK Amateur Singing Contest(NHKのど自慢 NHK Nodo Jiman)" held in Argentina that year and the next year, she represented Argentina in the "NHK Amateur Singing Contest(NHKのど自慢 NHK Nodo Jiman)" in Japan and became the grand champion singing Kadokura Yuki(門倉有希)'s "A woman's Fishing Song(女の漁歌 On'nano Ryōka)." She moved to Japan that year, and made her professional debut the next year in 2003, singing "It's an Ocean where Even Seagulls Don't Fly(鷗も飛ばない海だよ Kamomemo Tobanai Umidayo)."

She wore pants suits when she made her debut but now wears dresses from time to time.

Though she has learned quite a bit of Japanese since she started living in Japan, she got used to the way men speak because most of her staff were men. As a result, she is extra careful when she is speaking in public.

This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article 大城バネサ which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.