It's already three weeks ago that my wife N. and yours truly went to a concert of Yamato, the drummers of Japan. I saw them three times before, so this was the fourth time to see them, but for N. it was the first time. She was really impressed by their performance.
In all the performances that I saw there were similar elements, but the whole setting was different every time, but the energy and level of performance was the same every time.. The lighting on stage was beautifully done and like the three times before it was a real visual and energetic spectacle which was very enjoyable to watch.
Although the emphasis was on the drums and the rhythm (which shouldn't be a surprise for a percussion/drum group) there was also some musical variety with, next to the main instrument the taiko drums, the use in a few compositions of other instruments like the shamisen, a traditional three string instrument which sounds a little bit like a banjo, bamboo flute and the koto, another traditional Japanese instrument, which is played horizontal (see first video) and sounds a little bit like a harp.
I couldn't find any video's on YouTube from the last tour, but the two that I've embedded give a good impression of the stage show of Yamato. If they ever perform in a place nearby you definitely should go. We both can recommend it. Don't get a CD or DVD. It doesn't get close to a live performance. Yamato, the drummers of Japan is something you should feel and experience. Enjoy the video's.
Just a quick post.
Didn´t have much time the past weeks to post. Tuesday we´re leaving for a trip to South/Germany for 10 days.
I´m working on a more extended post about Frank Zappa, but for now you have to do it with a video from YouTube from a live performance from the music piece "Peaches en Regalia" shot in 1976 at the famous since October 1975 running (and still running) tv/show Saturday Night Live.
I'll get back to you on Frank Zappa when I get back from our trip.
See ya!
Last Night N., two friends and also former roommates and yours truly went to a concert of the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, a ten men formation from Tokyo (what a surprise), Japan. For those who are not familiair with their music you can describe their music as Madness meets The Pogues with a bit of punk-, jazz-, soul-, funk-, bigband- and even sometimes klezmerinfluences added to the overall mixture, creating a live performance that turns every musicevent into a partying, jumping and dancing whole.
N. and I saw the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra for the first time two years ago in 2005 at the Parkpop Festival, a free music festival at The Hague, which is always held at the last Sunday of June every year. Although they were playing early in the afternoon at the Parkpop Festival, they got the whole crowd jumping and dancing, including me and that's quite an achievement if you know that I'm not a big dancinglover. They have a great and very energetic live performance and they also proved that last night.
We had a wonderful and fun time last night N. and I manage to made a few pictures and I shot two videos that I uploaded at YouTube. I have embedded the videos in this posting. You'll find them together with some pictures below. The videos were shot with a compact digital photocamera, so the video- and sound quality is not extremely high, but good enough to get an impression of the live performance and the atmosphere. Because there was not enough light and because of the jumping and dancing crowd it was difficult to get sharp pictures, so some of the pics are a bit moved sometimes.
TSPO is touring through Europe now. You can check their schedule on their website (see below). If they are coming near you and you are in the mood for a great night with fun- and partymusic then don't hesitate and go. You won't regret it.
I also made a posting about the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra at my photoblog at BrownNoisePhotos.
Enjoy the videos!
They also do a great version of the thememusic from "The Godfather". They also played it last night, but this video was shot (not by me) in August 2006 at another concert of the TSPO in Barcelona.
Official website of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
Well this is the kick-off of my new weblog BrownNoiseMusic. I'm already running a photoblog called BrownNoisePhotos and this is my second weblog about music. As you can read in the header you'll find here reviews about new musical discoveries I did (old and new stuff), reviews about new CD's I've listened to, music-DVD's I've watched, interesting or fascinating musicvideos I found on the net. I don't want to limit myself to a certain style or genre, so you can find here things about classical music, jazz, pop, rock, indie, singer-songwritermusic, world music etc...
Later I also might start a blog about my other two hobbies/interests: movies and books/literature, but let's do one thing at the time.
I was thinking about starting a new weblog already for some time, but I didn't know where to start and with what. A blog about music with only reviews of CD's or recommended music would be pretty boring, I think. The idea started to take root a little more after I found interesting and fascinating videos on YouTube about some marvelous acoustic guitarplayers. YouTube is a huge treasury for interesting and beautiful music. After I found out two weeks ago on my BrownNoisePhotos-weblog how easy it is to embed a YouTube-video I thought it was about time to start launching a new weblog about music. And here it is.
This is just the opening post of my musicweblog I'll post some real music stuff later today. Be welcome and enjoy.
Ska
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra