Improvised Music from Japan / "IMJ 2009" Festival

Bon-no-Kubo

photo Rémi Photon

Masahiko Ota: guitar
Shintarou Takasugi: contrabass
Naoto Yamagishi: drums, percussion

Formed in 2007, Bon-no-Kubo is an improvisation group consisting of guitar, contrabass, and drums/percussion. The trio's sound, which is mainly acoustic, continues to speak and transform by way of its uniquely Japanese textures.

Masahiko Ota
Born in 1980. Plays electronic, acoustic, and gut guitars. Of the group's members, Ota has the edgiest musical background--punk, hardcore, slash metal, black metal, etc. In Bon-no-Kubo he plays mainly gut guitar.

Shintarou Takasugi
Born in '79. Plays contrabass. Heavily influenced in recent years by Japanese traditional performing arts, Takasugi explores the possibilities of improvisation on contrabass.

Naoto Yamagishi
Born in '79. Drummer, percussionist. Performs music of various genres with artists from Japan and other countries. Using drums and percussion, Yamagishi invokes the rhythms, reverberations and space born of natural sounds and streams, placing them all on a giant wave.


Last updated: May 2, 2010

Improvised Music from Japan homepage

"Improvised Music from Japan 2009" Festival homepage