1.
Tsuyama
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Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the city had an population of 89,974. The total area was 185.73 km², the area increased in 2005 as the result of a merger with adjacent towns, which also boosted the citys population to more than 100,000. The city was founded on February 11,1929, Tsuyama is known for the 17th century Tsuyama Castle, whose grandeur was said to rival that of Himeji Castle in neighboring Hyōgo Prefecture. The castle was destroyed in 1874, and today only the foundations remain. It was considered for decades to be the worlds largest massacre committed by a single criminal. On February 28,2005, the town of Kamo, the village of Aba, the town of Shōboku, Tsuyama has a humid subtropical climate with very warm summers and cold winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is lower in winter. Cherry Blossom Festival - This event is held in Kakuzan Park where around 5000 cherry blossom trees attract people from all over western Japan, Many picnickers arrive before dawn and set down blue tarps and then remain until dusk, grilling out and drinking sake. Gongo Festival - The Gongo, or Kappa, is an animal said to live in rivers. The festival is based around the legend that the Gongo can be seen in the Yoshii River in summer, local people congregate on the banks of the river wearing traditional Japanese clothing and eat and drink at the many temporary stalls set up there. The festival culminates in a firework display on the Sunday evening. Tsuyama Autumn Festival - Many people parade through the town pulling danjiri, Lion Dance Festival - The Lion Dance Festival, held at Takata Shrine, began around 710 A. D. to thank the gods for a good harvest. A male and female lion, each controlled by twelve dancers, the lions keep time with a flute and drum. The dance is believed to drive away the devil and impurity, old Izumo Street Festival - A festival on Joto Street during which they wear traditional clothes and open a theater, tea houses, and various stalls. The station is served by the Tsuyama Line, the Kishin Line, all services are operated by JR West. Tsuyama is one of the cities along the Chūgoku Expressway. As with many Japanese cities, cycling is a common form of transport
2.
Hard rock
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Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums. Hard rock developed into a form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC. During the 1980s, some rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock. Hard rock began losing popularity with the success of R&B, hip-hop, urban pop, grunge. Out of this movement came garage rock bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Interpol and, later on, in the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers. Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music, the electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument. Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong drum and a backbeat on snare. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice. In the late 1960s, the heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock. Heavy metal took on darker characteristics after Black Sabbaths breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s, in the 1980s it developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands frequently standing on the boundary of, other antecedents include Link Wrays instrumental Rumble in 1958, and the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as Lets Go Trippin and Misirlou. In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming. From the late 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody. In contrast, hard rock was most often derived from rock and was played louder. Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, in songs like I Feel Free combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia, particularly in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz, blues and rock, from 1967 Jeff Beck brought lead guitar to new heights of technical virtuosity and moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band, The Jeff Beck Group
3.
Mandolin
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A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family and is usually plucked with a plectrum or pick. It commonly has four courses of doubled metal strings tuned in unison, although five, the courses are normally tuned in a succession of perfect fifths. It is the member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello. There are many styles of mandolin, but three are common, the Neapolitan or round-backed mandolin, the mandolin and the flat-backed mandolin. The round-back has a bottom, constructed of strips of wood. The carved-top or arch-top mandolin has a shallower, arched back. The flat-backed mandolin uses thin sheets of wood for the body, each style of instrument has its own sound quality and is associated with particular forms of music. Neapolitan mandolins feature prominently in European classical music and traditional music, carved-top instruments are common in American folk music and bluegrass music. Flat-backed instruments are used in Irish, British and Brazilian folk music. Some modern Brazilian instruments feature a fifth course tuned a fifth lower than the standard fourth course. There has also been a type and an instrument with sixteen-strings. Much of mandolin development revolved around the soundboard, pre-mandolin instruments were quiet instruments, strung with as many as six courses of gut strings, and were plucked with the fingers or with a quill. However, modern instruments are louder—using four courses of metal strings, the modern soundboard is designed to withstand the pressure of metal strings that would break earlier instruments. The soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections, there is usually one or more sound holes in the soundboard, either round, oval, or shaped like a calligraphic f. A round or oval sound hole may be covered or bordered with decorative rosettes or purfling, Mandolins evolved from the lute family in Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the deep bowled mandolin, produced particularly in Naples, became common in the 19th century. Dating to around c.13,000 BC, a painting in the Trois Frères cave in France depicts what some believe is a musical bow. From the musical bow, families of stringed instruments developed, since each string played a note, adding strings added new notes, creating bow harps, harps. In turn, this led to being able to play dyads and chords, another innovation occurred when the bow harp was straightened out and a bridge used to lift the strings off the stick-neck, creating the lute
4.
Steve Vai
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Steven Siro Steve Vai is an American guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter, and producer. He was voted the 10th Greatest Guitarist by Guitar World magazine, a three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of 18 as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, and joined his band from 1980 to 1983. He embarked on a career in 1983 and has released eight solo albums to date. He has recorded and toured with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, as well as having recorded with such as Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap. Additionally, Vai has toured with live-only acts G3, Zappa Plays Zappa, Vai has been described as a highly individualistic player and part of a generation of heavy rock and metal virtuosi who came to the fore in the 1980s. The launch of the Ibanez JEM guitar developed and co-designed by Vai was described as the moment the entire guitar landscape was reshaped. He released his first solo album Flex-Able in 1984, while his most successful release, Passion, Steve Vai, a descendant of Italian immigrants, was born in Carle Place, New York on June 6,1960. He is the son of John and Theresa Vai. He described his first experiences with music as, at the age of five I walked up to piano, hit a note, in that very moment, I had a full-on epiphany. I was flooded with the realization of how music was created. I also understood immediately, instinctually, and unequivocally something that has only deepened through the years that the creation of music is a personal expression. I realized that I could do this, I could make music and it was my first recognition of the instrument. When I saw that guitar and I saw this kid playing it, I knew instinctually that I was going to play the guitar someday, dont ask me how I knew, I just knew. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, as a young child, Vai was influenced by the music his parents had listened to. One album in particular that he cites as his awakening was the original motion picture soundtrack to the 1961 film West Side Story. In 1973, Vai began to take lessons from fellow New York native Joe Satriani. In 1978, to pursue his interest in music composition and theory, Vai attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. While at Berklee, Vai began working for Frank Zappa as a transcriptionist, also while at Berklee, Vai met his future spouse Pia Maiocco, with whom he has been together since, they have two children
5.
Slash (musician)
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Saul Hudson, better known by his stage name Slash, is a British-born American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American rock band Guns N Roses, with whom he achieved success in the late 1980s. During his later years with Guns N Roses, Slash formed the side project Slashs Snakepit, after leaving Guns N Roses in 1996, he co-founded the supergroup Velvet Revolver, which re-established him as a mainstream performer in the mid to late 2000s. Slash has since released three albums, Slash, featuring an array of famous guest musicians, and Apocalyptic Love and World on Fire, recorded with his band, Myles Kennedy. He returned to Guns N Roses in 2016, nearly 20 years after he had left, Slash has received critical acclaim as a guitarist. During 2010 Gibson Guitar Corporation ranked Slash as No.34 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time, in 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N Roses classic line-up. Saul Hudson was born in Hampstead, London and he was named for Saul Steinberg, an artist. During his early years, Slash was raised by his father and paternal grandparents in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, when Slash was around five years old, he and his father joined his mother in Los Angeles, California. His brother, Albion Ash Hudson, was born in 1972, following his parents separation in 1974, Slash became a self-described problem child. He chose to live with his mother and was sent to live with his beloved maternal grandmother whenever his mother had to travel for her job. Slash sometimes accompanied his mother to work, where he met several film and he was given the nickname Slash by actor Seymour Cassel, because he was always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another. In 1979, Slash decided to form a band with his friend Steven Adler, the band never materialized, but it prompted Slash to take up an instrument. Since Adler had designated himself the role of guitarist, Slash decided to learn how to play bass, equipped with a one-string flamenco guitar given to him by his grandmother, he began taking classes with Robert Wolin, a teacher at Fairfax Music School. During his first lesson, Slash decided to switch from bass to guitar after hearing Wolin play Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones and his decision to play guitar was further influenced by one of his school teachers, who would play songs by Cream and Led Zeppelin for his students. As a result, Slash stated, When I heard him do that, I said, a champion BMX rider, Slash put the bike aside to devote himself to playing guitar, practicing up to 12 hours a day. Slash joined his first band, Tidus Sloan, in 1981, in 1983, he formed the band Road Crew—named for the Motörhead song The Road Crew—with his childhood friend Steven Adler, who by then had learned to play drums. He placed an advertisement in a looking for a bassist. They auditioned a number of singers, including one-time Black Flag vocalist Ron Reyes, Slash disbanded the group the following year due to them not being able to find a singer, as well as Adlers lack of work ethic compared to himself and McKagan
6.
Rock music
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It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of genres such as electric blues and folk. Musically, rock has centered on the guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of subgenres, including new wave, post-punk. From the 1990s alternative rock began to rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures and this trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. The basic rock instrumentation was adapted from the blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group, Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock, because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources, including the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music and rhythm, as a result, it has been seen as articulating the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality, according to Simon Frith rock was something more than pop, something more than rock and roll. Rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the concept of art as artistic expression, original. The foundations of music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll record. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
7.
HMV
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HMV Retail Ltd. is an entertainment retailing company operating in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index, the first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company on Oxford Street in 1921, and the HMV name was also used for television and radio sets manufactured from the 1930s onwards. The retail side of the business began to expand in the 1960s, and in 1998 was divested from EMI, the successor to the Gramophone Company, to form what would become HMV Group. HMV stands for His Masters Voice, the title of a painting by Francis Barraud of the dog Nipper listening to a cylinder phonograph, for advertising purposes this was changed to a wind-up gramophone, and eventually used simply as a silhouette. HMV owned the Waterstones bookshop chain from 1998 until 2011, and has owned the music retailer Fopp since August 2007 and it purchased a number of former Zavvi stores in February 2009, and also branched into live music venue management that year by purchasing MAMA Group. It sold the group in December 2012, on 15 January 2013, HMV Group plc entered administration. Deloitte were appointed to deal with the administration of the company, on 16 January 2013, HMV Ireland declared receivership, and all Irish stores were closed. A week later, on 22 January 2013, it was reported that Hilco UK would buy the debt of HMV, the sale of HMVs Hong Kong and Singapore business to private equity firm Aid Partners was completed on 28 February 2013. On 5 April 2013, HMV was bought out of administration by Hilco UK for an estimated £50 million to form the current company, HMV Group plc was liquidated in July 2014. HMV Canada is a subsidiary which was sold to Hilco by the HMV Group in 2011. HMV Canada went into receivership in 2017, the antecedents of HMV began in the 1890s at the dawn of the disc gramophone. By 1902 it had become the beginnings of the Gramophone Company, in February 1907 they commenced the building of a new dedicated record factory at Hayes, Middlesex. Disc records were sold in shops and independent retailers at this time. In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first dedicated HMV shop in Oxford Street, London, in a mens clothing shop. In March 1931 the Gramophone Company merged with Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric, from the 1930s onwards, HMV manufactured radio and television sets and radiograms under the HMV and Marconiphone brand names in their factory in Hayes, Middlesex. In 1966 HMV began expanding its operations in London. Throughout the 1970s, the continued to expand, doubling in size. It faced new competition, however, from Virgin Megastores, established in 1976, subsequently, HMV overtook Our Price in popularity and threatened their existence, having established a chain of newer, larger stores
8.
Maraca
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Maracas, sometimes called Rumba shakers, shac-shacs, and various other names, are rattles which appear in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. Players hold them by their handles, usually in pairs, maracas, also known as Tamaracas, were rattles of divination, an oracle of the Brazilian Tupinamba Indians, found also with other Indian tribes, and on the Orinoco and in Florida. Rattles made from gourds are being shaken by the natural grip, human hair is sometimes fastened on the top, and a slit is cut in it to represent a mouth, through which their shamans made it utter its responses. A few pebbles are inserted to make it rattle, and it is crowned with the red feathers of the Goaraz and it was used at their dances, and to heal the sick. Andean curanderos use maracas in their healing rites, modern maraca balls are also made of leather, wood, or plastic
9.
B'z
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Bz is a Japanese rock duo, consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro Tak Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, known for their energetic hard-rock tracks and pop ballads. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked the band at number 30 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts, in 2007, Bz became the first band from Asia to have their handprints and signatures put up in the Hollywoods RockWalk. Tak Matsumoto, guitarist in Tetsuya Komuros TM Network, had been busy with various recording sessions. On 21 May 1988, Matsumoto released his first solo album and he saw this as the end of his solo career, and began his search for band members. He later met vocalist Koshi Inaba, who would later found Bz with him, at the time, Japans music scene was loaded with many new bands being created. With all the sounds in mainstream music, the only sounds that they felt could not be expressed and replicated were the guitar. As a result, they decided to keep it a two-man unit, on 21 September 1988, Bz made their debut with their first album, Bz, and single, Dakara Sono Te o Hanashite. The two concentrated on recording, raising the quality of their music and their efforts resulted in a second album, Off the Lock, released on 21 May 1989. With this second album came their first series of live performances, Live-Gym No.00 started in Nagoya, continuing into Osaka, and finished in Tokyo. Tickets were sold out on the day became available. On 21 October, their first mini album, Bad Communication was released, the title track was a blend of rock and dance music, and is still a classic played during their Live-Gyms. It charted for 163 weeks on the Oricon Charts and their first nationwide tour, Bz Live-Gym No. 001, covered 16 shows around Japan, on 21 February 1990, their third album Break Through was released. To promote it, they started a tour with 22 shows nationwide and their single Taiyō no Komachi Angel, was released on 13 June and peaked at No.1 on the Oricon Chart. Every single since that release has debuted at No.1 on the Oricon charts, Wicked Beat, their second mini album, was then released on 21 June. In contrast to the promotional efforts for Break Through, Wicked Beat received little promotion. Their 4th album, Risky was released on 7 November and went platinum and their Risky tour, totaling 49 performances, also started in November. Their first music video, Film Risky, was recorded in New York City and London within 4 weeks, with a barrage of releases,1990 came to be the busiest year for Bz
10.
B'z (album)
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Bz is the self-titled debut studio album by the Japanese rock duo Bz. It was released on September 21,1988, and reached #47 on the Japanese charts, the album sold 3,790 copies in its first week and eventually sold 338,360 in total. The band did not tour in support of the album, because its nine songs were all the material they had at the time, and they felt it would not be a proper show with just 40 minutes of material. Unlike the hard-rocking music that most associate with Bz, the album was much a product of its times. One single was released from the album, Dakara Sono Te Wo Hanashite, all songs written by Kohshi Inaba & Takahiro Matsumoto. The song has been re-recorded twice, first in English for their Bad Communication EP and this second version is the one the band now plays live. Dakara Sono Te o Hanashite Heart Mo Nureru Number ~Stay Tonight~
11.
Slash (album)
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Slash is the eponymous debut solo album by Guns N Roses guitarist and songwriter Slash. In his 2007 autobiography, Slash mentioned he was planning a solo album and he stated that the album would be called Slash & Friends. Slashs wife Perla mentioned in a 2008 interview that the album would include everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Fergie. On January 16, Slash made an appearance at the NAMM show where it was announced that his solo album will be released in the U. S. on April 6. The CD will be available in Europe via Roadrunner Records. The song released was titled Mother Maria and featured Beth Hart, according to the track listing, Mother Maria will be featured as an iTunes bonus track for the record. On February 1,2010, Ultimate-Guitar. com revealed the track listing. The cover art was produced from a painting by Ron English, on February 8,2010, Slash announced that the album would be made available in the United States via EMI. A world tour was prepared for spring, to promote the album with Myles Kennedy as singer, the single By the Sword was premiered on February 27 on spinner. com. It was released as a single in the US on March 16,2010. Slash also announced that Izzy Stradlin is the other person who played guitar on the record, performing rhythm guitar on the song Ghost. On March 19,2010, Slash exclusively released in a newsletter the instrumental song Watch This, ultimate-guitar. com published on March 20 the session notes with the gear used for the recording of the album. On March 23,2010, the songs Crucify the Dead, on the same day, the songs Starlight and I Hold On were premiered on ESPN Radio. I Hold On was also featured on the one episode of Hawaii Five-0, entitled Malama Ka Aina. On March 26,2010, the song Back from Cali premiered on Amazon. com along with Beautiful Dangerous, on the same day, the song Nothing to Say premiered on his MySpace page. The next day, Promise premiered on Amazon. com, on March 29,2010, Gotten and Doctor Alibi premiered on Amazon. com. On April 6,2010, the Best Buy exclusive version was released, Best Buy also sells an exclusive digital version of the album that includes 2 bonus tracks on Napster. com, Baby Cant Drive and a cover of Guns N Roses Paradise City. On April 23,2010, Slash revealed that he would have wanted Thom Yorke to sing Saint Is a Sinner Too, as of April 18,2010 the album has gone gold in Australia
12.
Blues rock
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Blues rock is a fusion genre combining elements of blues and rock. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with similar to electric blues. From its beginnings in the early- to mid-1960s, blues rock has gone through several stylistic shifts and along the way inspired hard rock, Southern rock, Blues rock continues to be an influence, with performances and recordings by several popular artists. Blues rock started with rock musicians in the United Kingdom and the United States performing American blues songs. They typically recreated electric Chicago-style blues songs, such as those by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Howlin Wolf, and Albert King, at faster tempos and with a more aggressive sound common to rock. In the UK, the style was popularized by such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and the Animals. In the US, Lonnie Mack, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, in the US, Johnny Winter, the Allman Brothers Band, and ZZ Top represented a hard rock trend. Although around this time, AllMusic commented, the lines between rock and hard rock were barely visible, there was a return to more blues-influenced styles. Groups, such as the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the White Stripes, brought an edgier, more diverse style into the 2000s, Blues rock bands borrow the idea of an instrumental combo and loud amplification from rock & roll. It is also played at a fast tempo, again distinguishing it from the blues. The core blues rock sound is created by the guitar, bass guitar. Often bands also included a harmonica, usually called a harp, the electric guitar is usually amplified through a tube guitar amplifier or using an overdrive effect. While 1950s-era blues bands would still use the upright bass, the blues rock bands of the 1960s used the electric bass. Keyboard instruments, such as the piano and Hammond organ, are occasionally used. As with the guitar, the sound of the Hammond organ is typically amplified with a tube amplifier. Vocals also typically play a key role, although the vocals may be equal in importance or even subordinate to the guitar playing. As well, a number of rock pieces are instrumental-only. Blues-rock pieces often follow typical blues structures, such as blues, sixteen-bar blues
