anyways, i was just scrolling through some Avexnetwork youtube and saw Senbonzakura in one of the title! YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW HYPED I WAS?! CAUSE IM A HUGE FAN OF WHITE FLAME!!!!
White Flame best known for his mega-hit Senbonzakura and it's all over the internet not just among vocaloid song lovers!
Anyways back to my point, (lol, I easily get sidetracked) this version of Senbonzakura is done by Wagakki Band and in my opinion, it's the best version I've ever heard! previously my favourite was Hanatan's from her Byakko Sengaku single (purchasable here)... but now, Wagakki Band jumps straight up to my favourite version of Senbonzakura~ I really love this band work with the traditional japanese music and the rock element of this song~
you know what, enough of me ranting and let's listen to some awesome music!~ X3
Who's Wagakki Band?
"Wagakki Band is a new rock entertainment band that combines Shigin, Japanese traditional instruments and rock music. After releasing their debut album 「Vocalo Zanmai」in April 2014, which ranked in 5th in its first appearance in the Oricon weekly rankings, the album achieved top 10 status twice. Wagakki Band’s debut album remained in the top 100 after 22 weeks of its release. In addition, the「Senbon Zakura」music video in Wagakki Band’s debut album achieved 10 million views as of October 2013.
In July, the band excited over 4000 fans at the「15th JAPAN EXPO 2014」held in Paris, France. In Japan, the band hosted concerts in July and August and both of these events sold out within minutes. Wagakki Band’s next live will be held at Shibuya Kokaido on January 7,2015. This will be the band’s first ever concert hall live and tickets sold out on the day they were released."
It's an 8-membered band:
Vocalist: Suzuhana Yuko (鈴華ゆう子)
Yuko began studying the piano at age three and shigin from age five. She graduated from the Tokyo College of Music’s Piano Program.
Yuko is currently active as a shigin instructor, singer-songwriter, and pianist. In December 2011 she won the Grand Prize at the Nationwide Contest of the Nippon Columbia Japan Poem Recitation Competition. At present, she is in charge of vocals, shigin, and piano for Hanafugetsu, a Japanese-style band.
Koto: Ibukuro Kiyoshi (いぶくろ聖志)
Kiyoshi was born in Tokyo. During high school he began performing in China when he was dispatched there by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. He has performed in a total of eight countries outside of Japan, including Vietnam, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, and South Korea.
In Japan, Kiyoshi’s performances have been covered in a wide range of media, and he has also published a collection of arrangements from ZEN-ON Music Company.
Kiyoshi explores the possibilities of the koto as a Japanese instrument. In addition to traditional Japanese music.
Shakuhachi: Kaminaga Daisuke (神永大輔)
Daisuke was born in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. He began to play the Shakuhachi at the age of 18, then he was awarded a master license of Tozan-style Shakuhachi and got a master name called “YoZan.”
Daisuke appeared on the stage in more than 10 countries and of numerous large-scale events including the world biggest music convention, SXSW (Texas, USA) and Japanese cultural event, Japan Expo (Paris, France).
Since Daisuke loves video game music, he conveys its charm through “Playing Works" series, the collaboration project with the well-known composers.
Daisuke has his own school in Tokyo, and teaches in several colleges and universities. He also enjoys the activities for young people through the performance in local schools in Iwaki, Fukushima.
Tsugaru Jamisen: Ninagawa Beni (蜷川べに)
Born in Kyoto, She started to take lessons of a traditional folk song in Osaka school at the age of 4.
She was awarded the Grand Prix of "Japanese Folk Song Junior Festival", "Sankei Folk Competition"and "Honjyo-oiwake National Competition", also received the Minister of Education Award and the Chief Cabinet Secretary Award.
When she was 15 year old, she had gave high priority to playing the Tsugaru-jamisen for reason of hurting her throat.
Starting her music career in Tokyo to purchase the possibility of the music with Wagakki.
Wadaiko: Kurona (黒流)
Kurona encountered the wadaiko at age three, and joined a professional wadaiko group in Tokyo at age nine, where he studied traditional performing arts. Afterwards, he became an independent musician.
In addition to performances in more than 15 countries, Kurona is active in a wide range of fields inside and outside Japan including magazines, TV, and stage performance.
Kurona uses the wadaiko, a traditional instrument, to create new types of music. He also collaborates frequently with other musicians and artists.
Kurona has served as a judge for the Central Competition in the Tokyo High School Culture Festival’s Folk Entertainment Division sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education.
In addition, Kurona takes part in performances and recording with a variety of artists, including wadaiko choreography guidance for the Blazing Rhythms, Countdown, and The Legend of Mythica events at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.
Guitar (and vocal) : Machiya (町屋)
Machiya take a part of Wagakki Band's Vocal and Guitar.
Machiya is also the guitarist and vocalist of m:a.ture, a tremendously popular band in the Indie music scene.
In addition, Machiya participates in performances and tours with a diverse range of artists.
Bass: Asa (亜沙)
Asa is gaining ever-greater popularity on Niconico Douga as a user of Vocaloid.
The video she posted in July 2012 of “Yoshiwara Lament,” a Vocaloid song, has been viewed more than 1,200,000 times. This song has also been performed by different artists on Niconico Douga. Moreover, it has been turned into a novel (published by AlphaPolis) that has drawn great praise.
A member of EXIT TUNES, Asa also participates in its EXIT TUNES ACADEMY festival.
Drums: Wasabi (山葵)
Wasabi was born in China. His father is Chinese, and his mother is half Chinese and half Japanese. This drummer is hugely popular on Niconico Douga’s renowned “Played It” category.
Wasabi is the youngest member, but he is a sophisticated musician. In particular, his fast-paced double bass drum—in collaboration with Kurona’s wadaiko—is one of the most recognizable parts of this band.
That's what it says in their website (Links: | English ver)~ Seeing there's a few who gained popularity through Nico Nico Douga, no doubt they will cover vocaloid songs to some extend~ (I mean, goodness! even an EXIT TUNE member's there!) Their discography includes few albums of covers for vocaloids songs including some titles i'm familiar with such as Kagaribi, Setsuna Trip and I found this live performance of Kagerou Days! (note: i'm really outdated with everything so despite calling myself a vocaloid song fan... I really only know a limited number of songs... and mostly older ones...)
ermagad!!! Kagerou Days never sounded better!!!~
and this is a cover to be expected from the rock genre~ TENGAKU!!!!
I personally feel that Hanatan's vocal made her version the best Tengaku I've ever heard so far.... but I totally love their arrange of this music piece!!!~ X3
also not forgetting one of their original song (i think... not absolutely sure though...)
It's Ikusa from their single "Ikusa / Nadeshiko Zakura" and Ikusa is a song for Sengoku Musou
I love this song!~ It's darn cool!!
Anyways.. I really find myself becoming a fan of Wagakki Band! Really love how they preserve the traditional japanese element~ and also as a typical rock fan, i sure hope to see em live someday! Hopefully they'll come to AFA SG and stuff like that so that it's easy for me to go~ or better still! come to Melbourne! cause I'm there right now!! //shot small chance, i know...
Oh well~ Signing out! I'll try to keep this blog alive again!~ :3
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