Fusing East and West with Old and New

WagakkiBand is an intriguing act that fuses rock music with wagakki (traditional Japanese musical instruments), shigin (Japanese poetry recitation) and Vocaloid songs (a Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer allowing users to input their own lyrics). Singer Yuko Suzuhana, who won the Grand Prize at Nippon Columbia’s nationwide shigin contest in Japan, is joined by seven others playing traditional instruments including the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), tsugaru-jamisen (Japanese three-string guitar-like instrument), koto (Japanese harp) and wadaiko (Japanese drum). Their hit song “Senbonzakura” has over 22 million views on YouTube and their single “Ikusa / Nadeshiko Sakura” is the theme song for the anime TV show adaptation of Koei’s Samurai Warriors video game series. They played their first U.S. show on July 4, 2015 as part of Anime Expo at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, and their new album Yasou Emaki is scheduled for a September 2, 2015 release. Tokyo Journal ’s Executive Editor Anthony Al-Jamie spoke with vocalist Yuko Suzuhana, shakuhachi player Daisuke Kaminaga, koto player Kiyoshi Ibukuro, tsugaru-jamisen player Beni Ninagawa, guitarist and backing vocalist Machiya, bass player Asa, drummer Wasabi and wadaiko player Kurona at Anime Expo 2015 in Los Angeles.

TJ: Who named your band and how did you come to choose traditional Japanese instruments for your music?
SUZUHANA: We decided the name together. We wanted to spread the word wagakki all over the world. First, we were thinking about something different, but by simply fusing the words wagakki and “band,” we thought WagakkiBand would be easier to spread. Shigin is accompanied by the koto and shakuhachi. The shakuhachi and koto players and I met first. We wanted traditional Japanese musical instruments to be more familiar to people, so we decided to make popular music. We asked our guitar player, Machiya-san, and our friends who play shamisen and wadaiko to join. We wanted to make our music catchy, so we started a rock band with a guitarist, bassist, drummer and traditional Japanese musical instruments to show the coolness of Japanese culture.

TJ: Why did you start singing Vocaloid songs?
SUZUHANA: Vocaloids are very popular in Japan right now, and they are becoming part of Japanese culture. By covering Vocaloid songs with our band that uses traditional Japanese instruments and modern instruments, we are hoping to create music that many people of all ages can appreciate. Keeping our tradition is important, but it is also important to keep up with new cultural changes. That is why we decided to combine the two.

TJ: Who creates your music? Isn’t it complicated to make music with eight people?
SUZUHANA: Mostly me, Machiya and Asa. But some other members also write lyrics and try to write music too. We use both electric and acoustic instruments, so it’s difficult to balance the sound and to make some sound audible depending on the arrangement. I think that’s the most difficult thing in this band.
KAMINAGA: Yes, it’s complicated. Each member arranges his or her own instrument. We overdub our own part one-by-one when we record.

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