I went to see a show by the Yoshida Brothers last night. They're real brothers who play the tsugaru shamisen, a three-string traditional instrument, but they add elements of jazz, samba, and rock'n'roll to their tunes. It was really entertaining! They also had this awesome charismatic percussionist in a pink-ish beanie had an amazing collection of noise-making tools — wind chimes, rain sticks — that sounded so amazing when they were synced with the sounds of the shamisen. They're from Hokkaido and are in their early 30s. Super fun! They're on tour in the US now; you can get tickets to their final SF and LA shows this week on their web site.
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August 12, 2010
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About
Lisa Katayama's personal blog.
My Bio
- I write articles about culture, technology, and human rights for Wired, Popular Science, Fast Company, and the New York Times Magazine. I also produce radio segments for PRI's Studio360 and am a Correspondent for Boing Boing, one of Time Magazine's five most essential blogs of 2010.
In 2008, Chronicle published my book: Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan.
I am also the founder of The Tofu Project, a boutique program that helps Japanese entrepreneurs and creators think deeper, tell better stories, and go out into the world in a much bigger way. We work with companies like Mixi, Japan Airlines, and Salesforce.com.
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Thanks for the tip--I just bought tickets to see them in San Francisco tonight!
Posted by: amoderngirl.wordpress.com | August 12, 2010 at 11:58 AM
The Yoshida Bros are awesome. I have a couple of their records. It's too bad that they didn't come to Denver, or I'd be there.
Posted by: ninjagin | August 13, 2010 at 09:16 AM
Wow, those guys are awesome. For those with Spotify, there are two of there albums available at http://open.spotify.com/artist/1C08PKH51P2fcJMrPOFRwI
Posted by: Goldenhornet | August 14, 2010 at 05:19 PM