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.
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
4.
Harmonica techniques
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There are numerous techniques available for harmonica, including bending, overbending, and tongue blocking. In addition to the 19 notes readily available on the harmonica, players can play other notes by adjusting their embouchure. Although it is difficult and can be frustrating for beginners, one does this by relaxing and coordinating muscles in the throat, mouth. This technique is called bending, a term borrowed from guitarists, using bending, a player can reach all the notes on the chromatic scale. Bending also creates the characteristic of much blues harp and country harmonica playing. Bending on a guitar bends the pitch upward, however, typically bending on a harmonica means the pitch falls downward. Bends are essential for most blues and rock due to the soulful sounds the instrument can bring out. The famous wail of the blues harp typically required bending, in other words, on holes 1 through 6, the draw notes can be bent and on holes 7 through 10 the blow notes can be bent. Hole 3 allows for the most dramatic bending, in C, it is possible to bend 3 draw from a B down to a G♯, or anywhere in between. When bending, the forces the lower of the two reeds in a chamber to vibrate faster, while the higher pitched reed vibrates slower. When overbending, the player isolates the higher of the two reeds and by so doing can play higher pitched notes, by using both bending and overbending techniques a player can play the entire chromatic scale using a diatonic harmonica. This has allowed diatonic harmonica players to expand into areas traditionally viewed as inhospitable to the instrument such as jazz, the overbend is a difficult technique to master. To facilitate overbending, many players use specially modified or customised harmonicas, any harmonica can be set up for better overbending. The primary needs are tight tolerances between the reed and reed-plate and a level of air-tightness between the reed-plate and comb. The former often necessitates lowering the gap, the space between the tip of the reed and the reed-plate, while these modifications make the harmonica overbend more easily, overbending is often possible on stock diatonic harmonica, especially on an airtight design. Thus, the practice is still to use different keys of diatonic harmonicas. As for harmonica players who play mostly classical or jazz music, most would rather use chromatics, the vibrato might also be achieved via rapid glottal opening and closing, especially on draws simultaneous to bending, or without bending. This obviates the need for cupping and waving the hands around the instrument during play, Tongue Blocking and Lip Pursing are two different ways of playing the harmonica with your mouth
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Bertelsmann Music Group
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Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
8.
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
