The are Japanese shamisenist musicians who have released several albums on the

Domo Records Domo Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. Domo Records was established in 1993 by Eiichi Naito, a record producer, recording engineer, and artist manager. ''Domo'' is an abbreviation and romanization of the ...

label. The two brothers are performers of the

traditional Japanese music Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolog ...

style of

Tsugaru-jamisen or refers to both the Japanese genre of music originating from Tsugaru Peninsula in present-day Aomori Prefecture and the instrument it is performed with. It is performed throughout Japan, though associations with the Tsugaru remain strong. ...

which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

. Their first album sold over 100,000 copies and made them minor celebrities in Japan, a fact that surprised the Yoshida Brothers themselves. They have since attracted an international audience. Their music has been a fusion of the rapid and percussive

style along with Western and other regional musical influences. In addition to performing songs that are only on the shamisen, they also use instruments such as

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. The commercials for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

video game console that began airing in North America in November 2006 featured the Yoshida Brothers song "Kodo (Inside the Sun Remix)".

Members

and were born in

Noboribetsu is a city in Iburi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park, it is southwest of Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Japan. The two brothers have played the shamisen since a very young age. They both began to study and play the shamisen at the age of five under Koka Adachi, learning the Minyō-shamisen style; from about 1989 they studied the

style under Takashi Sasaki.

Discography

International albums

* ''Move'' (2000) * ''Yoshida Brothers'' (2003) * ''Yoshida Brothers II'' (2004) * ''Yoshida Brothers III'' (2006) * ''Hishou'' (2007) * ''Best Of Yoshida Brothers'' (2008) * ''Prism'' (2009) * ''Ibuki'' (2010)

''Nightmare Revisited''

The 2008

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 ...

album, ''

Nightmare Revisited ''Nightmare Revisited'' is a cover album of songs and score from the 1993 Disney animated film ''The Nightmare Before Christmas''. It was released on September 30, 2008 by Walt Disney Records to commemorate the film's 15th anniversary of its th ...

'', which consists of 20 remade tracks from the original ''

The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick (in his feature directorial debut) and produced and ...

'', featured the Yoshida Brothers' remake of the track "Nabbed". The song kept true to the Yoshida Brothers' shamisen style yet contained added electronic elements. 12. "Nabbed" (7:35)

Japanese albums

* ''Ibuki'' (1999) * ''Move'' (2000) * ''Soulful'' (2002) (a.k.a. Yoshida Brothers 2003) * ''Frontier'' (2003) (a.k.a. Yoshida Brothers II 2004) * ''Renaissance'' (2004)

Other appearances

* "Renovation" (with Akira Inoue) from the album ''Spectacle.'' (2009) by

Daishi Dance Daishi Dance (born in 1976) is a male Japanese DJ and record producer. Summary Daishi Dance performs in the heart of Sapporo, creating melodious house mixes that feature vocals conveying grief and discontent, and using three turn tables in a hyb ...

* "

Nippon Egao Hyakkei is a single that the Japanese female idol group Momoiro Clover Z released under the alias of . The single was published in Japan on September 5, 2012. Details The first verse of the song is simply the full name of Japanese folktale character ...

" (2012) by Momoclo Tei Ichimon (alias of the girl group

Momoiro Clover Z is a Japanese idol girl group, commonly abbreviated as MCZ or . The four members of MCZ are known for energetic performances, incorporating elements of ballet, gymnastics, and action movies. MCZ is notable for being the first female group to ho ...

)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Shamisen players Traditional musicians Sibling musical duos Japanese musical groups World music groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Hokkaido 1999 establishments in Japan Domo Records artists Fantasy on Ice guest artists