Music of Japan

[7] Blind women, known as goze (瞽女), toured beginning in the medieval era, sang and played accompanying music on a lap drum.

It has become particularly popular in recent years as the central instrument of percussion ensembles whose repertory is based on a variety of folk- and festival-music of the past.

Musical groups to arise from this wave of popularity included Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, founded by Seido Kobayashi.

[10] Other instruments that could accompany include a transverse flute known as the shinobue, a bell known as kane, a hand drum called the tsuzumi, and/or a 13-stringed zither known as the koto.

[11] An ondo generally describes any folk song with a distinctive swing that may be heard as 2/4 time rhythm (though performers usually do not group beats).

This system originally developed for transmitting classical genres such as nagauta, shakuhachi, or koto music, but since it proved profitable to teachers and was supported by students who wished to obtain certificates of proficiency.

Other Okinawan instruments include the sanba (which produce a clicking sound similar to that of castanets), taiko and a sharp finger whistle called yubi-bue (指笛).

After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western musical instruction, Shuji Isawa compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne" for use in public education.

Famous enka singers include Hibari Misora, Saburo Kitajima, Ikuzo Yoshi and Haruo Minami.

A number of Japanese jazz musicians, such as June (born in Japan) and Sadao Watanabe have a large fan base outside their native country.

Japanese idol musical artists are a significant part of the market, with girl groups and boy bands regularly topping the singles chart.

Hikaru Utada's debut album, First Love, became the highest-selling album in Japan selling over 7 million copies, while Ayumi Hamasaki became Japan's top selling female and solo artist, and Morning Musume remains one of the most well-known girl groups in the Japanese pop music industry.

[27] Late 1960s, Group Sounds bands such as The Tempters, the Tigers, the Golden Cups, the Spiders, the Jaguars, the Ox, the Village Singers, the Carnabeats, the Wild Ones, the Mops[28] were popular.

In 1980, Huruoma and Ry Cooder, an American musician, collaborated on a rock album with Shoukichi Kina, driving force behind the aforementioned Okinawan band Champloose.

In the 1990s, Japanese rock musicians such as B'z, Mr. Children, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Glay, Southern All Stars, Judy and Mary, Tube, Spitz, Wands, T-Bolan, Field of View, Deen, Lindberg, Sharam Q, the Yellow Monkey, the Brilliant Green and Dragon Ash achieved great commercial success.

More conventional indie rock artists such as Eastern Youth, the Band Apart and Number Girl found some success in Japan[citation needed], but little recognition outside of their home country.

In the 1980s, hardcore bands such as GISM, Gauze, Confuse, Lip Cream and Systematic Death began appearing, some incorporating crossover elements.

[citation needed] The independent scene also included a diverse number of alternative/post-punk/new wave artists such as Aburadako, P-Model, Uchoten, Auto-Mod, Buck-Tick, Guernica and Yapoos (both of which featured Jun Togawa), G-Schmitt, Totsuzen Danball and Jagatara, along with noise/industrial bands such as Hijokaidan and Hanatarashi.

as well as international performances including at the UK's Sonisphere Festival 2014 and Canada's Heavy Montréal alongside the likes of Metallica and Slayer.

United performed in Los Angeles at the metal festival "Foundations Forum" in September 1995 and released a few albums in North America.

In the 2000s, Japanese metalcore bands such as Tokyo's Crystal Lake, Nagoya natives Coldrain and Deathgaze, Kobe's Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Osaka's Crossfaith formed.

This was mainly due to the music world's belief that "Japanese sentences were not capable of forming the rhyming effect that was contained in American rappers' songs.

"[49] Grime is a British electronic genre[50][51] that emerged in the early 2000s derived from UK garage and jungle,[52] and draws influence from dancehall, ragga, and hip hop.

[53] The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, generally around 140 bpm,[52][54] and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound.

[60] Another scene sprung up in the Tokyo region of Shibuya led by Carpainter, Double Clapperz, MC ONJUICY, PAKIN and Sakana Lavenda.

While musicians and bands from all genres have recorded for Japanese television and film, several artists and groups have spent most of their careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media.

Koichi Sugiyama, who composed for various anime and TV shows, including Cyborg 009 and a feature film of Godzilla vs. Biollante, got involved in the project out of curiosity and proved that games can have serious soundtracks.

Undaunted by technological limits, Sugiyama worked with only 8-part polyphony to create a soundtrack that would not tire the player despite hours of gameplay.

Uematsu's earlier compositions for the game series, Final Fantasy, on Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in America), were arranged for full orchestral score.

Yuzo Koshiro composed electronic music-influenced soundtracks for games such as Revenge of Shinobi and the Streets of Rage series.