Yoshida Brothers

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The Yoshida Kyōdai are Japanese musicians and have released several albums under the Domo label internationally as the Yoshida Brothers.

They are a pair of brothers and performers of the traditional Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the shamisen and have since attracted an international audience.

Their music has been a fusion of the rapid and percussive Tsugaru-jamisen style along with Western and other regional musical influences.

During their concert appearance on 8 June, 2006 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in (White Plains, New York) they performed with only the shamisens.

1 Album List
2 Trivia
3 About the Performers
4 External links

[edit] Album List

Yoshida Brothers:
Starting on a Journey
Blooming
Madrugada
Storm
A Hill With No Name
Tsugaru Jyongara Bushi
Labyrinth - "Modern"
Sprouting - Moyuru
Beyond the Deep Sea
Storm -TM Mix-

Yoshida Brothers II:
Frontier
Gales of Wind (Hayate)
Mirage (Shinkiro)
Lullaby of Takeda
Kodo
Indigo
Kagero
Evening Calm (Yuunagi)
Nikata
Old/New-"Modern" Third Movement
Arigato
Kodo-Inside the Sun Remix

Yoshida Brothers III:
Erghen Diado
Passion
Canon
Hit Song
Overland Blues
Cherry Blossoms in Winter
By This River
Morricone
Oh My Love
Tsugaru Jinku
My Heart Holds
Tsugaru Jongara Bushi

Hishou:
Prelude Hishou
Ibuki
Kodo
Ringo Bushi
Ajigasawa
Yasaburo
Panorama
Tsugaru Yosare
Time of Sand
Tsugaru Aiya
Modern
Dual
Tsugaru Jongara
Postlude Hishou

[edit] Trivia

In the Japanese rendering of their stage name, the Japanese kanji characters for "Kyōdai" 兄弟 is read as "brothers", but separately the characters mean "older brother" 兄 (read as "ani") and "younger brother" 弟 (read as "otōto").

On their third international album, they recorded a version of John Lennon's "Oh My Love". When asked, they said it had nothing to do with Lennon's being married to Japanese artist Yoko Ono, and that it was in fact their producer's idea.

The commercials for the Nintendo's Wii video game console that began airing in North America in November 2006 feature the Yoshida Brothers song, Kodo (Inside the Sun Remix).

[edit] About the Performers

YOSHIDA Ryoichiro (YOSIDA Ryôitirô) 吉田　良一郎 (b. 26 July, 1977) is the elder brother, and YOSHIDA Kenichi (YOSIDA Ken'iti) 吉田　健一 (b. 16 December, 1979) is the younger.

They were both born in the municipality of Noboribetsu in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. The two brothers have played the shamisen from a very young age. They both began to study and play the shamisen from five years of age under Koka Adachi, learning the Minyō-shamisen style; from about 1989 they studied the Tsugaru-jamisen style under Takashi Sasaki.