Wagakki Band

Konbanwa!

 I found recently a very interesting band - Wagakki Band, which represents a genre of music called J-Pop. The name J-pop is an abbreviation from Japanese Pop, but this band represents also other kinds of music, like Folk Rock and Metal. I must honestly admit that my knowledge about Japanese music is rather insignificant and mostly based on the basic informations about Japanese instruments and types of music. So far, unfortunately, I did not have a chance to know many Japanese singers or bands, nor somebody have recommended me some. That is the reason why the most of the Japanese songs I know comes from anime. The above mentioned band drew my attention because of the extraordinary sound of their songs, which like Japan itself combine tradition with modernity.

Looking at the pictures you can get the impression that we are dealing with some characters from anime or cosplayers. Their music compositions are accompanied by incredible attention to detail, lyrics, musical setting, video clips, balancing of tones and well-chosen clothes that create a unique atmosphere. Each of the above listed elements have contributed to the success of the band and in my opinion represents the essence of Japaneseness. Wagakki Band consists of eight people, including Suzuhana Yuuko as a singer and Kaminaga Daisuke (Shakuhachi), Ibukuro Kiyoshi (Koto), Ninagawa Beni (Tsugaru Jamisen), Kurona (Wadaiko), Machiya (Guitar), Asa (Bass), Wasabi (Drums)*. 

* In brackets I placed the names of the instruments.

The most popular song of this band is called Senbonzakura with more than 25 million views on You Tube. The band began its career recently and the first concert on a large scale took place during Expo 2014 in France. 

In the next post I will briefly describe Japanese instruments that the band members use and describe a few songs chosen by me. :)

My favorite song -  

~~ Roku Chounen to Ichiya Monogatari ~~