, is a Japanese guitarist, singer-songwriter, arranger and producer. Usually referred to by his stage name "Chachamaru", little is known about his early years and personal life. Besides being a member and collaborator with various bands and musical acts in the 80s and 90s, he is most known as being the

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist and associate music producer for

Gackt , better known by his mononymous stage name Gackt (stylized as GACKT), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Born in Okinawa, Japan, to a Ryukyuan family, Gackt learned the piano at a young age and was raise ...

Biography

Yukihiro "Chachamaru" Fujimura was born in Kyoto Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, on March 3, 1960. He was a student at the

Bukkyo University is a private university in Kita-ku, Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The school's predecessor was founded in 1912, and it was chartered as a junior college in 1949. Bukkyo means Buddhism in Japanese, and the university's philosophy is based on ...

, a

private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...

with a philosophy based on

Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most wid ...

. In 1983, Fujimura was the co-founder, leader vocalist and guitarist of the progressive rock band

Gerard Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

. The band were signed to King Records until 1986, when the band disbanded because the label no longer supported progressive music. After a two-year break, he joined Shusei Tsukamoto in forming the progressive/hard rock band

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, performing guitar and vocal duties. In the same year they released their first album "Overture". After recording one more album and a live record, Vienna went on a hiatus. In 1989, Fujimura worked as a session guitarist for

Minoru Niihara is a Japanese singer. He is the original and current lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Loudness. His first band was Earthshaker, in which he played bass and sang. His vocal style was influenced by blues singers, but he adapted quickly ...

's metal band Ded Chaplin on their first album "Ded Chaplin 1st." In 1990 he participated in the Gerard reunion for a new recording, although left the band shortly after due to musical differences. Not long after, he joined Minoru Niihara and re-formed Ded Chaplin. Over the next two years, they released two studio albums and a best-of compilation "The Best Works of Ded Chaplin" before disbanding. In 1994 to 1995 he joined Toshi from

X Japan was a Japanese rock band from Chiba, formed in 1982 by drummer and pianist Yoshiki and lead vocalist Toshi. Starting as a predominantly power/speed metal band with heavy symphonic elements, they later gravitated towards a progressive soun ...

on his second studio album "Grace" and on tour as a guitarist and backing vocalist. In the next year, he adopted his stage name "Chachamaru" and joined the sessions of the hard rock band Girl U Need's self-titled album. He also joined the Vienna reunion and released an album with them called "Unknown," before they disbanded once more. Since the year 2000, Chachamaru has worked with the solo artist

, serving as an associate producer and the lead guitarist for his live band, as well as backing vocalist.

Music style and technique

As a lead guitarist, Chachamaru is known for his technical playing style and also for his unique tuning. His playing style draws influence from many heavy metal guitarists who came to prominence in the 1970s–80s, with the most obvious being Eddie Van Halen. His musical style varies from progressive rock, metal, soul and blues and features some more experimental playing.

Guitar Legacy

At the time,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

Charvel Charvel is a brand of electric guitars founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and originally headquartered in Glendora, California. Since 2002, Charvel has been under the ownership of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. ...

luthier Itaru Kanno designed several guitar models for the companies, among them the 27-fretter „Jackson Falcon Custom“ for Chachamaru, Jackson*Charvel electric guitar & bass catalogue, Japan only, issued 1993 a guitar never sold outside Japan. When around 94s Jackson's contract with the Japanese trading company Kyowa-Shokai expired and they opted not to renew their contact with Jackson guitars, Itaru as one of the main designers at the Chushin Gakki factory, in 95s established a new guitar company, the Caparison Guitars. Their new model, 27-fretter „The Caparison Horus“ made its debut in the same year, and more than ten years later, the collaboration with Chachamaru is still improving, as the model being the most famous company guitar.

Discography

In 2002, Chachamaru released his solo album "Air," which involved him collaborating with Shusei Tsukamoto, Masafumi Nishida and Ryuichi Nishida, as well as You Kurosaki. Gackt Camui also took part as a guest vocalist. Albums

References

History of the first Japanese made Jackson guitars

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chachamaru 1960 births Living people Japanese rock guitarists Musicians from Kyoto Prefecture 20th-century Japanese guitarists 21st-century Japanese guitarists Bukkyo University alumni