Friday, July 24, 2009

Japanese banjos.

I first saw Masahiro Nitta perform at a taiko concert held at Diamond Bar High School when I was still a senior there (I even got his signature!). Anyhow, watching him perform was the first time I saw or heard of a shamisen in my life (a "Japanese banjo", essentially). This is my favorite original song by Nitta, called "Yuki No Hana". In this video he is playing with Kevin Kmetz, a member of a shamisen rock band called God of Shamisen.

Anyway, here is "Yuki No Hana", followed by one of my favorite pop-rock songs with the shamisen as a primary instrument... "Change" by Monkey Majik. ...I don't know what to label this post as! I guess "Japanese" works?



Masahiro Nitta - Yuki No Hana


Monkey Majik - Change

No comments: