Thursday, October 3, 2013

Concert: Yoshida Kyodai

Last night we drove into Sapporo to take in a concert to see Yoshida-Kyodai (Brothers), who are originally from Hokkaido themselves and are very well known all throughout Japan.  They are unique in that their choice of instrument is the shamisen - a traditional three stringed "guitar".  When they perform there's a lot of interplay back and forth, think of it as almost the american equivalent of "dueling banjos".

Click below to see a performance and get a little taste of Yoshida-Kyodai

The duo are known for doing both traditional tunes as well as doing modern renditions and new pieces of their own.  Here's a take on Radiohead's "National Anthem":


I was surprised last night was a fairly, umm geriatric crowd.   I thought there would be a greater mix of ages given their popularity. Regardless, the crowd still rocked out and gave the crew a good response - though, they seemed more receptive when the duo were doing their more traditional themes.  Taiga was by far the youngest and there appeared to be no other school children in the hall.  All the nice senior ladies around us commented on how well behaved Taiga was afterwards.  

Hopefully they'll be some other good acts that will come through Hokkaido; we just bought tickets to see Ryuichi Sakamoto in November - I will do a blog post on him once we see him, but he's basically a more classically trained Japanese version of David Bowie.  In fact, David and Ryuichi starred in a film together entitled "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence".  Anyways, shall discuss Ryuichi at a later date; he's someone who I am very excited to see!

1 comment:

  1. Wow, Taiga - from Ultraman one weekend to these talented artists! They have a nice sound. It's great that you're not too far from Sapporo to catch some concerts over the next year. So, Michael, a "geriatric-like" crowd, eh?!! Taiga will develop an eclectic taste in music while in Japan I'm sure. Keep rockin' guys!!

    Hugs,
    Grandma

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