Gocoo

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Gocoo

Gocoo , or GOCOO ( Jap. ゴクウ ) is a Japanese Taiko - band from Tokyo . The group essentially consists of seven female and four male musicians and is on stage with up to 16 artists on tours.

style

GOCOO does not play a classical style or reinterprets classical Japanese music . The band creates cross- genre rhythms. East and West merge, tradition and pop, rite and party. The sound is often declared as crossover or world music , but terms such as techno and trance taiko are also used to define GOCOO's music.

history

Atypical for a Taiko formation, the band, founded in Tokyo in 1997, made their debut at the Rainbow 2000 techno festival that same year . Nevertheless, GOCOO is also recognized in the circle of the classic taiko scene. For example, in 2001 GOCOO performed at the 35th Nihon no Taiko: Taiko ha Koeru (Japanese Taiko Drums Transcend) in the Japanese National Theater . In June 2005, GOCOO performed in Tokyo with the classic Taiko ensemble Kodo at the Earthbeat Festival .

Since it was founded, GOCOO has had several opportunities to work and perform with well-known artists, including the Korean Kim Duk-soo with his Samulnori group, the West African Djembé player Mamady Keïta , and Seiichi Tanaka from the San Francisco Taiko Ensemble .

GOCOO's first solo album healing asia vol. 2 , which was released by Consipio Records in January 2000, was produced by Shinichi Tanaka and recorded without additional studio processing. In early 2002 GOCOO went into the studio with Juno Reactor from Great Britain. The result was the maxi single Hotaka, released in August. In June of the same year GOCOO's first live album Live '01 was also released on Universal Music .

In January 2003 GOCOO came to Europe for the first time. In the same year there were joint recordings with Juno Reactor: The titles Tea House and Tetsujin were created for the soundtrack of the films Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions . Japanese companies such as B. Nissan or Hitachi, already use GOCOO's sound for their TV commercial campaigns.

In 2004 GOCOO came back to Europe. In addition, GOCOO's second live album LoveBeat! . In Hamburg, GOCOO went to the studio to make recordings for the soundtrack for the computer game Gothic 3 .

A third tour followed in autumn 2005 with a total of 34 concerts in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Mexico. In 2006 concerts followed in Australia, Eastern Europe and Greece. GOCOO also performed in several cities in Germany as part of the 2006 FIFA World Cup fan festival. The 2007 European Tour was the most successful to date with 22 concerts in 10 countries.

In 2008 GOCOO represented the Asian continent musically at the UN Conference on the Conservation of Species in Bonn. a. next to Bob Geldof and Daniela Mercury on stage. In addition, GOCOO gave concerts in countries on all 5 continents within a year.

Abroad, GOCOO performed in many countries in Europe in China, Morocco, Mexico, the USA and Australia.

NEWSWEEK Japan included GOCOO in its July 8th 2009 edition of the list of the “Top 100 Japanese personalities who cross cultural boundaries and shine in the world” because their “boundless sound, mixed with ethnic music from all over the world and rock music, is appreciated worldwide will ", so the NEWSWEEK.

After the European tours in 2008, 2009 and 2011, there was another summer tour in 2012. GOCOO performed at the MONTREUX JAZZ Festival and were once again on stage at Europe's largest music event, the SZIGET Festival. After GOCOO were guests on the SZIGET world music stage in 2007, this time they appeared on the main stage. Thus, for the first time ever, an instrumental world music artist stood next to the international mainstream rock / pop acts on the main stage of the SZIGET, the winner of the “Best European Major Festival” Award 2011. The concert was broadcast live worldwide on YouTube.

In 2013, GOCOO's music was used for a Coca-Cola TV commercial campaign. In addition, the group performed live for the second time after 2005 and without playback on the ZDF TV garden. The concerts in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb were broadcast live or with a time delay on TV. In July the new live album ELEVEN was released.

In 2015, GOOO was the only artist to give two concerts at the Paleo Festival Nyon (Switzerland) as part of their Mighty Beats Tour 2015. The concert of July 24th Concerts was broadcast on ARTE.TV.

particularities

Lead drummer Kaoly Asano ( Japanese 浅 野 香 ) attracts a lot of attention as the first taiko player, who is also the head of a large taiko ensemble like GOCOO. When she's not on stage with GOCOO, she teaches taiko at her Tawoo Taiko Dojo school in Tokyo.

Discography

Albums

  • 2000: healing asia vol. 2 featuring Gocoo
  • 2001: Migwitch Gitchi-Manidoo (compilation of recordings from the America tour 2000 in limited edition)
  • 2002: Live 01
  • 2004: LoveBeat!
  • 2005: Joy -healing asia- (studio album, Gocoo + GoRo)
  • 2007: "MatsuRhythm" vol.1. EarthBeat (Gocoo + GoRo)
  • 2011: Roots of Joy
  • 2013: Eleven
  • 2017: Best of Gocoo
  • 2019: Ancient river

Collaborations and contributions to compilations

Albums

  • 2000: healing asia vol. 3 featuring LI BO
  • 2000: Wish compilation. Hybrid acoustic ground
  • 2002: Odyssey 1992-2002 ( Juno Reactor Best-Of-Album )
  • 2002: 武 尊 祭 '01 '02 ~ Hotakasai ~ Hotaka Mountain Festival '01 '02
  • 2003: Matrix Reloaded. Music from and inspired by the motion picture (soundtrack album for the film)
  • 2003: Matrix Revolutions. Music from the motion picture (soundtrack album to the film)
  • 2003: 天 土 の 間. AMATSUCHI NO AIDA ~ best of healing asia ~ (compilation of pieces from the 'healing asia' series)
  • 2006: Gothic 3 Original Soundtrack (soundtrack album for the PC game)
  • 2009: Spectacle. (Daishi Dance Album)
  • 2015: SAKANAQUARIUM 2015-2016 "NF Records launch tour" LIVE at NIPPON BUDOKAN 2015.10.27- (完全 生産 限定 盤) [DVD]
  • 2017: The Sounds of Shangrila vol. 2

Singles & EPs

Video

  • 2003: Live (DVD)
  • 2011: Roots of Joy (DVD)
  • o. J .: Japan's Magic Taiko Drummers (Promo double DVD)

Other

  • Kaoly Asano: 太 鼓 を 打 つ! 1996, ISBN 4-938170-28-0 , Japanese, A5, 232 pages (introduction to Taiko)

Web links