July 6, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Kyoji Yamamoto Tsunami Charity CD Now Available Through City Boy Records

2 min read


Two years on, and the images still remain burned in memory: black water surging uncontrollably over a sea wall; boats lodged on top of buildings or battered against a bridge; cars and houses tossed around like children’s toys. But for victims of the 2011 Japanese tsunami, and the people of the devastated city of Ishinomaki in particular, life does not remain frozen in time like those images. Two years on, and they are still trying to put their homes and their lives back together.

Moved by the tragedy, Japanese guitar idol Kyoji Yamamoto and long-time friend and collaborator Glenn Williams, founder of TKO Records and Asia Pacific Music, conceived Inori: Rebuilding Lives, a collection that blends Yamamoto’s signature guitar pyrotechnics with traditional Japanese influences and Western rock and jazz to produce a fitting tribute to the victims and survivors.

Fans of Kyoji Yamamoto’s work with Bow Wow will certainly enjoy his contributions to tracks by New Jersey singer/songwriter Lisa Bouchelle and German hard rock vocalist Tommy Heart. But Inori also showcases Kyoji’s musical diversity, thanks to an eclectic mix of fusion workouts with trios Jing Chi (Jimmy Haslip, Robben Ford and Vinnie Colaiuta) and Ten-Chi-Jin, improvisations with Hermien JD and X[iska], and standout duets with Paraguayan harpist Mariano Gonzalez, Japanese pianist Akiko Grace and US r&b singer Ellis Hall. It’s a collection that is as entertaining as it is moving.

Finally available in CD format in the US exclusively through the City Boy Records online store, proceeds from Inori will go to help restore and develop music education programs in Ishinomaki, giving children in that hard-hit city a chance to rebuild their lives through the healing power of music.

Source:  http://www.cityboyrecords.biz