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.
Deep Purple
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Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. The band is considered to be among the pioneers of metal and modern hard rock. Originally formed as a rock band, the band shifted to a heavier sound in 1970. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have referred to as the unholy trinity of British hard rock. They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as the globes loudest band for a 1972 concert at Londons Rainbow Theatre, Deep Purple have had several line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus. The 1968–1976 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and their second and most commercially successful line-up featured Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, and Ritchie Blackmore. This line-up was active from 1969 to 1973, and was revived from 1984 to 1989, and again from 1992 to 1993. The bands line-up has been more stable in recent years. Deep Purple were ranked number 22 on VH1s Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme, the band received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards. Deep Purple were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, in 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards, in the hope that he would manage a new group he was putting together, to be called Roundabout. Curtis vision was a supergroup where the members would get on and off. Impressed with the plan, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with two partners, John Coletta and Ron Hire, all of Hire-Edwards-Coletta Enterprises. The first recruit to the band was the classically trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, Lord was currently performing in a backing band for the vocal group The Flower Pot Men, along with bassist Nick Simper and drummer Carlo Little. Simper had previously been in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and survived the 1966 car crash that killed Kidd, Lord put the two on alert that hed been recruited for the Roundabout project, after which Simper and Little suggested guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, whom Lord had never met. Simper had known Blackmore since the early 1960s when his first band, the Renegades, debuted around the time as one of Blackmores early bands. HEC persuaded Blackmore to return from Hamburg to audition for the new group, Blackmore was making a name for himself as a studio session guitarist, and had also been a member of the Outlaws, Screaming Lord Sutch, and Neil Christian. Curtis erratic behaviour and lifestyle, fueled by LSD use, caused a sudden disinterest in the project he had started, but HEC was now intrigued with the possibilities Lord and Blackmore brought, while Lord and Blackmore were also keen to continue. The two carried on with recruiting members, keeping Tony Edwards as their manager
8.
Led Zeppelin
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Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, after changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Their fourth album, which features the track Stairway to Heaven, is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, Page wrote most of Led Zeppelins music, particularly early in their career, while Plant generally supplied the lyrics. Jones keyboard-based compositions later became central to the catalogue, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess, in the decades that followed, the surviving members sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off Led Zeppelin reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, Led Zeppelin are widely considered one of the most successful, innovative, and influential rock groups in history. They are one of the music artists in the history of audio recording. With RIAA-certified sales of 111.5 million units, they are the band in the US. Each of their nine studio albums placed in the top 10 of the Billboard album chart and they achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums. Rolling Stone magazine described them as the heaviest band of all time, the biggest band of the Seventies, and unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, in 1966, London-based session guitarist Jimmy Page joined the blues-influenced rock band the Yardbirds to replace bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. Page soon switched from bass to guitar, creating a dual lead guitar line-up with Jeff Beck. Following Becks departure in October 1966, the Yardbirds, tired from constant touring and recording, Page wanted to form a supergroup with him and Beck on guitars, and the Whos Keith Moon and John Entwistle on drums and bass, respectively. Vocalists Steve Winwood and Steve Marriott were also considered for the project, the group never formed, although Page, Beck, and Moon did record a song together in 1966, Becks Bolero, in a session that also included bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones. The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968 at Luton College of Technology in Bedfordshire, Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Pages first choice for the singer was Terry Reid, but Reid declined the offer and suggested Robert Plant. Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending former Band of Joy drummer John Bonham, Jones inquired about the vacant position at the suggestion of his wife after Dreja dropped out of the project to become a photographer. Page had known Jones since they were both musicians and agreed to let him join as the final member
9.
Aerosmith
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Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as the Bad Boys from Boston and Americas Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues. They were formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, in 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of gold and platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. In 1975, the broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic. Two additional albums followed in 1977 and 1979 and their first five albums have since attained multi-platinum status. Throughout the 1970s, the band toured extensively and charted a dozen Hot 100 singles, by the end of the decade, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the Blue Army. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing the album Rock in a Hard Place, which was certified gold, Perry and Whitford returned to Aerosmith in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records. After a comeback tour, the band recorded Done with Mirrors, the band also became a pop culture phenomenon with popular music videos and notable appearances in television, film, and video games. Their comeback has been described as one of the most remarkable, additional albums followed in 2001,2004, and 2012. Since 2001, the band has toured every year, except 2008, Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 70 million records in the United States alone. The band has scored 21 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, in 2013, the bands principal songwriters, Tyler and Perry, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1964, Steven Tyler formed his own called the Strangeurs—later Chain Reaction—in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Perry and Hamilton formed the Jam Band, which was based on free-form, Hamilton and Perry moved to Boston, Massachusetts in September 1969. There they met Joey Kramer, a drummer from Yonkers, New York, Kramer knew Tyler and had always hoped to play in a band with him. Kramer, a Berklee College of Music student, decided to school to join Jam Band. In 1970, Chain Reaction and Jam Band played at the same gig, Tyler immediately loved Jam Bands sound, and wanted to combine the two bands
10.
Guns N' Roses
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Guns N Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1985. The lineup, when first signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The current lineup consists of Rose, Slash, McKagan, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese, guitarist Richard Fortus, the success of the debut was followed by the eight-song album G N R Lies which reached number two on the Billboard 200. The cover album The Spaghetti Incident. was the bands last studio album to feature Slash and it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 but undersold industry expectations, despite mostly positive critical reception. Former members Slash and McKagan both rejoined the band in 2016, embarking on the Not in This Lifetime, Guns N Roses has been credited with reviving the mainstream popularity of rock n roll, at a time when popular music was dominated by dance music and glam metal. The bands classic lineup, along with later members Reed and drummer Matt Sorum, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, in 1984, Hollywood Rose member Izzy Stradlin was living with L. A. Guns needed a new vocalist, Stradlin suggested Hollywood Rose singer Axl Rose, Guns N Roses was formed in March 1985 by Rose and rhythm guitarist Stradlin, along with lead guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner of L. A. Guns. The band coined its name by combining the names of both previous groups, rejected names for the band included Heads of Amazon and AIDS. After a short time, during which the band played two or three shows, Beich was fired and replaced by Duff McKagan. Tracii Guns left the band after an argument with Rose leading to his replacement by Rose and Stradlins one-time Hollywood Rose bandmate, Gardner quit soon after and was replaced by another former Hollywood Rose member, Steven Adler. Slash had also played with McKagan and Adler in Road Crew. In June 1985, four days after the lineup was finalized, through the bands increasing presence on the Hollywood club scene – playing famed bars such as The Troubadour and The Roxy – Guns N Roses drew the attention of major record labels. The group was signed by Geffen Records in March 1986, receiving a $75,000 advance. In December of that year, the released the four-song EP Live. *@ Like a Suicide. The EP contained covers of Rose Tattoos Nice Boys and Aerosmiths Mama Kin, although billed as a live recording, the four songs were taken from the bands demo tapes and overdubbed with crowd noise. Live. *@ Like a Suicide was released on the Geffen subsidiary Uzi Suicide, Guns N Roses debut album Appetite for Destruction was released July 21,1987. The band stated the artwork was a symbolic social statement. The revised cover was done by Andy Engell, based on a design by tattoo artist Bill White Jr. who had designed the artwork for a tattoo Rose had acquired the previous year, the artwork featured each of the five band members skulls layered on a cross
