Yoshida Brothers

>> Yoshida Brothers North American Tour 2008

Ryoichiro and Kenichi Yoshida don’t exactly come off as rock stars when you talk with them. Nor do they seem like classically trained musicians. Instead, they sound like enthusiastic young kids, quick to laugh, brimming with enthusiasm and full of an idealistic dream that the older brother, Ryoichiro, describes:

“We want the world to hear the sounds of the tsugaru shamisen, not just Japan — that would be a waste — because the instrument has such power. We want to take its sounds all over the world.”

The tsugaru shamisen is a three-stringed instrument that made its way from China and into Japan through Okinawa in the 16th Century. Its form resembles a banjo — especially when the Yoshida Brothers pick theirs up and start rocking out — but the sound is completely different, more raw and twangy. It’s a distinct sound that keeps the shamisen from blending in with other instruments, except perhaps the koto and taiko drums.

The Yoshida Brothers revived interest in the shamisen and became overnight sensations in Japan, playing pop tunes on the traditional instrument. From the moment they debuted, they played to packed houses across the country.

The brothers admit that they used to be a little shy about the fact that they play the shamisen, but no more. “When we were in school, kids would ask us, ‘Why are you playing the shamisen?’” Ryoichiro recalls. “Today, children don’t say that. They think it’s cool and want to do it themselves. We never had the confidence to tell people that we were practicing the shamisen. But when we first debuted, we played to a full house. Playing pop tunes on the shamisen is just a natural thing for us. We just want to make the shamisen a popular or familiar instrument. We are in the middle of the great experiment.”

So far, the “great experiment” is going quite well. The brothers debuted in the US with their self-titled 2003 release; after that, they recorded a song used to promote the hit film Memoirs of a Geisha; and in 2005, The New York Times wrote of one concert: “(t)heir set — like a shredding heavy-metal solo — was all about speed and twang. They played fast unisons that would have ruthlessly revealed any mistakes; they played solos that stayed close to the tunes and built pitiless crescendos. It was music of pure sinew.”

But not all of the Yoshida Brothers’ material is shamisen rock. They’ve dabbled in New Age music and their most recent release, the 2007 Hishou ,is more of a traditional turn for the brothers.

Ryoichiro and Kenichi are a mix of sincerity and ambition. They speak openly about their flaws. Younger brother Kenichi says he’s still practicing to be able to do a proper shamisen solo. “I can’t do it now,” he says, although many music critics would disagree. And yet they speak just as openly about their lofty ambitions: “We want to win a Grammy award,” Ryoichiro says. “Nobody’s ever won a Grammy playing a Japanese instrument.”

Perhaps the Yoshida Brothers will be the first. Their next US tour kicks off this May and includes their first ever concert in Seattle as they expand their great experiment.