Since Ki&Ki are getting a lot of attention here on bachido, we decided to take some time to give their Cd a thorough listen. Here is our little review of the new cd by the Two (Tsu) Girl (Garu) Shamisen duo featuring two very talented performers who are now taking the leap into becoming pros!
spot the bit where you dont get to see kevin’s most excellent dancing
When I started out with Shamisen I watched all the Ki&Ki vids I could find. Duo shamisen is just the best. Well, until you get 3, or 4 or more.
I just realized that it would be really cool if someone was able to legally produce and sell a compilation of the notable shamisen artists. Maybe the top brass would get 2 songs and the rest 1 song each. The idea would be to show the different flavours that this one instrument can create and to give people that are new to the shamisen world a chance to find out what it’s all about.
And great video btw 
someone? I see Awesomeness vol. 1 brought to you by the International Shamisen Society on the cover 2013?
wow those Ki&Ki tracks sound great I only stumbled upon a few of their videos so far . . . and cool review too . . .
Excellent excellent! Haha, this was really fun to watch!
“Is there any doubt that this is a Bachido related video” 笑笑笑
Yeah, it sounds like a nice CD. They make good use of dynamics.
Man, this brings back memories. Luke and I used to film many videos like this (“news reports”) when our ages were mere single digits.
spot the bit where you dont get to see kevin’s most excellent dancing
Wha??? Did that part get removed?
Great vid guys, it’s nice to be able to put yet another face to the name
Motsu-nabe as disc art - love it!
Ki&Ki’s style and music (and especially the second track) reminds me a bit of Anmitsu - anyone else hear the similarity? (A select few of Anmitsu’s sound samples here (altho’ not the one that sounds like K&K’s track 2): http://www.anmitsu.info/discography.html). Anmitsu used to have more YouTube vids and sample clips on sites that sell their CDs, but the clips seem to have disappeared now(?), judging by how hard I had to look for this today…
Karl- That compilation would be cool. I immediately saw it in 2 volumes: One, old school and one, new school.
Kevin- I’m having visions of a future in which a glowing Bachido dot com review is a thing sought by shamisen players wanting to extend thier audience beyond Japan.
[Ah, dreams.]
Linda- Yes, I definitely thought of Anmitsu more than once.
Chet,
Yeah, I’m sure that will soon be the case. As Bachido becomes more well known I think many Japanese Shamisen players will recognize the value of this as a doorway to reaching beyond the Japanese audience and into the heart of a truly international Shamisen scene. Like many here I am dedicating myself to expanding the knowledge of Bachido’s exsistance throughout the world.
Linda ,
WAAA! natsukashiiii! I used to listen to Anmitsu all the time. I see some contrast as well as similarity between them and Ki&Ki . But so far I think I like this new duo better. Not to be misunderstood though cause Anmitsu had some crazy stuff that I absolutely loved.
One clip I can’t find… I have no idea what it is called but it is Anmitsu with some reeeeeally weird Japanese punk dude. He was kinda like trying to be a Japanese David Bowie but way more sinister. That’s the best description I can come up with. Do you know the clip I am talking about? if so is it one of the ones that has been taken down like you mentioned?
In case you do find it please share the link!
woke up at 6-7 and made coffee… came on bachido and listening to this
Good morning Cana! I will soon join you with coffee. Of course it’s 19 hours later and the other side of the planet but well . . .we can just ignore those little details right?
WOW! Talking about Motsunabe CD Art, I realized we must include the cool music video by Ki&Ki . Some of you may have already caught this on YouTube but if you haven’t check out this classic piece of 21st century creativity!
Kevin and Shmoolik were a good attractive team as a DJ show introducing Kiki! I enjoyed it so much.
Let me go with a bit of title explanation on Motsunabe. It means a Pot dish, you put five internal organs of beef or pork, vegetables, and season with miso(soybean paste) , garlic, red pepper and so on.U tube shows how they go shopping and how to cook.
Titled star related song, 星合I do not know how to read, but according to the album explanation, it means “star festival” which we Japanese celebrate on July 7th. The story to this is very romantic. Two stars being in love are separated by the galaxy and so sad, but they can meet only on July 7th. This is said to be a mixture of old Chinese story and Japanese SHinto belief.
Hope to help for your understanding of our culture. ( ^_^)/~~~
a heartwarming story I am a big fan of star stories . . . universe and so on . . .
Yes thank you Kyoko San for those extra explanations. You filled in some spaces that me and Shmoolik could not fill because of our lack of knowledge. Now the Ki&Ki report is much more legit!
By the way do you talk to the two girls much? I hope they see and/or know about their review here.
Oh, Kevin san, it is my pleasure to give any explanation about Japanese culture. It is really enjoyable to read and write English on Bachido.
It is not that I talk to Kiki often. I just placed an email order for the CD and tickets for their September concert in Nagoya. As for the tickets they realized my coming to Tokyo gathering and offered to buy at Ueno park.
Anyway, Kiki have come to know me and it makes me feel easy to email them. I was thinking of telling them about the CD review here but not yet. Ok, I do it right away before I forget ( ^_^)/~~~
BTW it was Norm who introduced Kiki Bachido directly,maybe at Ueno park.
Even if the famous players don’t have time for hanging around on the forums (Except for Kevin, but he get reborn every now and then so it’s like a new and fun experience every time he’s online), it’s an interesting thought about letting them realize that Bachido through interviews can be a pretty successful marketing strategy.
It would also help Bachido tremendously if the Bachido Blogcast came up as a linked youtube video from these players.
I understand what you mean, Karl! As a second strategy it hopefully and possibly could happen as Kiki and Kevin collaborated concert.
Say, somewhere on network or somewhere in Japan.
Btw I will be away from Bachido hang around for a while maybe from Aug.10-14 because of OBon festival. All the family and relatives try to get together and have fun eating drinking and welcoming and seeing our dead ancestors off going back to the heaven.
It is like, well, in a sense, Halloween, and second important event next to New year’s three days in Japan. Talking on OBon festival aside, farewell to Bachido just for a while－－－m(_ _)m
It would also help Bachido tremendously if the Bachido Blogcast came up as a linked youtube video from these players.
Karl, doesn’t YouTube have a way of “answering” a comment with a video these days? So Kyle (or whoever he authorizes) just has to go to the players’ vids, plug in the appropriate Bachido blogcast YouTube link, and voila! 
Even if the famous players don’t have time for hanging around on the forums
Karl, I’m not sure, but I think it’s the language barrier which keep famous players from hanging out here. Of course, that doesn’t answer why Mike Penny doesn’t grace us with his presence more often. 
Let me go with a bit of title explanation on Motsunabe. It means a Pot dish, you put five internal organs of beef or pork, vegetables, and season with miso(soybean paste) , garlic, red pepper and so on.
Mmm… that actually sounds really delicious, Kyoko! Especially with the miso and garlic. I would like to have that sometime.
Last year, Masako came to California and we all took a trip to San Francisco. We were in a Chinese neighborhood, and so went to a resturaunt there. It seemed pretty authentic. Many items on the menu were what I would’ve seen in Beijing (later that year). Anyway, one of the menu items looked interesting, so we tried it out. It was called “Beef Varieties”, which ended up being all the insides. Whoa. I’m sure it would’ve been better if they used garlic, or some kind of seasoning.
I’m having visions of a future in which a glowing Bachido dot com review is a thing sought by shamisen players wanting to extend thier audience beyond Japan.
Very interesting idea, Chet! With Bachido slowly-but-surely gaining awareness in Japan (I still need to Skype with Norm, who has many ideas about that), I see that definitely being a reality.
Btw I will be away from Bachido hang around for a while maybe from Aug.10-14 because of OBon festival.
Have an enjoyable time, Kyoko! Thanks for telling us! Sid is returning home for a few weeks as well, so we’ll have to have an big Bachido “welcome back” party online!
Will you bring your shamisen, and take some pictures?
doesn’t YouTube have a way of “answering” a comment with a video these days? So Kyle (or whoever he authorizes) just has to go to the players’ vids, plug in the appropriate Bachido blogcast YouTube link, and voila!
That iiiis possible… however, I always feel awkward about it. Posting a video to someone else’s feels like horning in and leaching viewers, or something. However, an Annotation feels better to me, as it shows that there is a already a connection between the two parties. For example, if we agreed with Ki&Ki to make a Bachido review, they would add an annotation to their video saying “Please see the Bachido Review for our new CD! [link here]” which pops up on their video itself.