is a Japanese
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
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* Folklore
** Folk art
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singer and songwriter who was born in
Urayasu, Chiba
260px, old Urayasu
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of the Tokyo ...
and raised in
Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. She releases music on her own label, hermine. Her main instrument is guitar, which most of her music is mainly composed of, but she also plays the piano,
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
,
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
, and flute on her own.
Aoba is known for her acoustic sound and songwriting, which is inspired by her dreams.
Early life
Ichiko Aoba began to learn how to play classical guitar at the age of 17, and her music has been inspired by
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
music and
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...
, both of which she listened to growing up.
Her mentor was Japanese singer-songwriter Anmi Yamada, who remotely taught Aoba the craft of the instrument.
Aoba's albums ''0'' and ''qp'' each feature two covers of Anmi's songs.
Career
Aoba released her first album, ''Razor Girl'' (Japanese: 剃刀乙女), at the age of 19 in 2010. Since then, she has released 6 albums, as well as a few live albums.
Around 2012, Aoba was introduced to Gezan frontman Mahi to the People by their mutual friend Koji Shimotsu (frontman of Odotte Bakari no Kuni). Aoba and Mahito formed the collaborative duo Nuuamm, which has since released two studio albums: ''Nuuamm'' (2014) and ''w/ave'' (2017).
In 2013, Aoba was asked to work for a theatre production of "9 Days Queen", a stage play by playwright Go Aoki. She has also worked with Takahiro Fujita's Mum & Gypsy company in a production of "Cocoon", as well as a revival of "Lemming" by
Shūji Terayama
was a Japanese avant-garde poet, dramatist, writer, film director, and photographer. His works range from radio drama, experimental television, underground (''Angura'') theatre, countercultural essays, to Japanese New Wave and "expanded" cinema. ...
.
Aoba was also featured in the soundtrack of the 2019
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
remake of ''
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening'', and her arrangement was used to promote the game in Japan.
Discography
Studio albums
* 2010: ''Kamisori Otome'' (剃刀乙女)
* 2011: ''Origami'' (檻髪)
* 2012: ''Utabiko'' (うたびこ)
* 2013: ''0''
* 2016: ''Mahoroboshiya'' (マホロボシヤ)
* 2018: ''qp''
* 2020: ''
Windswept Adan
is the seventh studio album by Japanese folk singer and guitarist Ichiko Aoba. It was released via her label Hermine on December 2, 2020. ''Windswept Adan'' marked a departure from Aoba's previously minimalist guitar instrumentation, instead us ...
'' (アダンの風)
* 2022: ''Amiko''
Live albums
* 2011: ''Kaizokuban'' (かいぞくばん)
* 2014: ''0%''
* 2017: ''Pneuma''
* 2020: '' "gift" at Sogetsu Hall''
* 2021: '' "Windswept Adan" Concert At Bunkamura Orchard Hall''
Other releases
* 2011: ''Hinoko'' (火のこ) – Ichiko Aoba &
Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Kazuhisa Uchihashi (内橋和久, ''Uchihashi Kazuhisa'') is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied j ...
* 2012: ''Meteor'' (流星) – Haruka Nakamura & Ichiko Aoba
* 2013: ''Radio'' (ラヂヲ) – Ichiko Aoba and the Fairies (青葉市子と妖精たち)
* 2013: ''Yura Yura'' feat. Ichiko Aoba –
Ovall (''Dawn'')
* 2013: ''Soto wa Senjou da yo'' (外は戦場だよ) feat. Ichiko Aoba – Cornelius (
Ghost in the Shell: Arise OST)
* 2020: ''amuletum bouquet'' – Ichiko Aoba
* 2020: ''"gift" BGM'' – Ichiko Aoba
* 2020: ''Seabed Eden'' – Ichiko Aoba
* 2021: ''Asleep Among Endives'' – Ichiko Aoba
* 2021: ''Windswept Adan Roots'' – Ichiko Aoba
References
External links
Official website
1990 births
Living people
Japanese women singer-songwriters
Japanese singer-songwriters
Singers from Tokyo
21st-century Japanese singers
21st-century Japanese women singers
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