Your favorite contemporary bands using traditional Japanese instruments

General
#1

I thought it would be fun to share your favorite contemporary bands that use traditional Japanse instruments - not limited to just the Shamisen. Sharing your favorite song(s) from the group would be fun too. These are some of mine:

http://youtu.be/x_CzD0GBD-4
Yoshida Brothers - Rising


Yoshida Brothers - Nightmare Revisited - Nabbed


Rin’ - Sakura Sakura

http://youtu.be/zi24j5APsHY
AAA - featuring Rin’ - Samurai Heart

I’m sure the Yoshida Brothers are well known by Shamisenites already, I love their blend of rock and Shamisen, and their energy. Rin’ is one of my all time favorites, I love the variety of traditional instruments they use and the variety of music they do too.

#2

Great choices, I’m liking a band called Chaba one of the guys plays the Okinawan Sanshin - unfortunately they have split up :frowning:

#3
#4

I never heard of Chaba before, thanks so much for sharing! What a great group! I know what you mean, Rin’ has also split up. But I still enjoy their music quite a bit.

I find it really encouraging to see these groups use traditional instruments in a contemporary way. I guess some folks can see it as destroying culture, but to me, that’s like saying you can only paint a certain way. I think for an instrument, or any art to survive, you have to be able to apply it to the present to help it connect with the new generation. As long as we take responcability to preserve the tradition of the instrument, I see no harm applying the instruments to contemporary songs. If anything, it encourages new interest! It would be sad for these instruments to just be displayed in a museum someday, I think.

#5

Wow, I haven’t heard Rin’ before. Samurai Heart was really cool. (Perhaps it’s my headphones, but the shamisen seemed a little quiet)

Shakuhachi, Shamisen, Koto and Biwa! They can do it all and, if I may I say, are easy on the eyes. :wink:

This is one of my favorite fusions: Yoshida Kyoudai and SMAP.

#6

Actually your right Kyle - the poor Shamisen got a little muted in that Samurai video. But I still found it cool they were there. Rin’ is quite a group, they play just about every traditional Japanese instrument - very talented ladies! It’s a shame they split up, but I guess life goes on and their music will always be around.

Now I had no idea SMAP did a mash up with the Yoshida Brothers! I have to show this awesomeness to my husband. Good ol’ SMAP! Thank you so much for sharing!

#7

wow I did not know that nightmare piece and its become one of my favourites of the yb on first hearing :slight_smile: uh I am not sure whether this is an active band or whatever but I like the following clip . . .

#8

I was surprised when I found the Yoshida Brothers doing that Nightmare Before Christmas piece too. It’s great huh? ^^

Nice clip by the way B H, I wonder what the name of that group is. It’s so great seeing all these new groups I never heard of before.

#9

Although I don’t have any recording samples,
Ryoichiros other band ‘Wasabi’ is pretty cool

He keeps pushing me to go and check them out live.
For anyone in the Tokyo area, they are playing on the 27th of this month if you are interested in checking them out!!
If you are, let me know (^-^)

#10

I wish they had some YouTube videos, but looks interesting! I wish I could check them out, but I am busy this month and will probably not have the money next month. But maybe in the future!

#11

This guy is, by far, my favorite Japanese “contemporary” composer… (I mean… 70’s is like 40 years ago but isn’t Edo period music right?) Benzaiten Album is A MASTERPIECE!!!


HARUOMI HOSONO ON THE BASS!

Minoru Muraoka is another nice composer/Shakuhachi player


I Love his take five version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0VTc9tO43k

Love this tune too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpEzsEFLykw

I’m more on the funky-jazz-psycho-rock side as you can see ^^

#12

Great bands everyone! But why isn’t the Naruto anime soundtrack here? There are so many songs that are awesome. The combination of rock music with shamisen and shakuhachi is really awesome. Imo the main theme is the best song. Fast forward to 2:10 for some solo shamisen and shakuhachi.

#13

You know, as soon as I started sharing some of these videos with my husband, Natuto was the first thing he asked about! I’m glad you added it! Just goes to show being “contemporary” with these traditional instruments isn’t just a silly “foreigner” idea. hehe

#14

Katoh-san gave me a CD called Bolinho De Arroz by a band called Soothe that has some cool Latin inspired stuff with Tsugaru Shamisen and Wadaiko in it. I don’t know where you’d find it other than his shop though. Band doesn’t seem to be doing much currently.

#15

ohh yeaaa :smiley: i love naruto songs :smiley: Rising fighting spirit and Strong and strike are awesome

#16

Soothe as in “Oyama Yutaka?”
He plays with Masahrio Nitta a lot.
Cool!

#17

Yeah, that’s the guy on shamisen. Not a fan of everything on the album, but there’s some pretty neat stuff on there. I’m guessing you know the guy? :stuck_out_tongue:

#18

Ooh! Latin music with shamisen would fit so nicely.

I recommend Nitta and Oyama’s duet (not vocal) album Karma. Though the only instruments on the CD are shamisen, it really is just as musically satisfying as a full band.

Their album is quite unique because usually, albums with only shamisen just consist of traditional Go Dai Tsugaru pieces which are most appreciated by listeners who are already interested in shamisen. Karma is very easy to listen to, and is musically appealing to those who’s never even heard shamisen before.

To also note, the sound quality is so good, you can really hear how expensive their shamisen are. :wink:

Masahiro and I are working on getting his albums available for online download (which doesn’t seem to be a marketing tool used much for albums in Japan).

#19

It would be great if more of his work came up on Spotify. I know that some artists are a bit disappointed with how much money they get from it but I don’t know if that’s the case for everyone.

Anyway, buying cds is a dying thing. I just love the idea of subscribing every month and getting access to almost all music. The songs I play generates revenue for the artists of those songs.

Note: Agatsuma and the Yoshida brothers both have albums there. I remember listening to Agatsuma on spotify way back like 3 years ago so his record label must feel that it’s worth it.

#20

I gotta be honest I hate J-POP and “J-Rock” with a passion. The only Japanese band I really like is Maximum the Hormone. However, there is a band I love from Taiwan called Chthonic that use the pipa and erhu etc etc.
Turn it up LOUD!

© 2020 Kyle Abbott