Album Notes

The brothers began to spread their wings with their follow-up, Move (2000). This re-release of their groundbreaking second album represents the first time this album has been issued in the U.S. It features more original compositions than its predecessor and shows the brothers expanding their musical horizons, incorporating a variety of instruments beyond the tsugaru-shamisen and exploring numerous disparate musical influences. One song features the otsuzumi, a small taiko (Japenese drum), while three songs showcase a cajon—an Afro-Peruvian hand drum popular in Spanish flamenco music since the 1980s. The release of Move proved that Ibuki was no fluke and that the Yoshida Brothers, despite their youth, were capable of producing musical masterpieces that bridged the sounds of old and new Japan. Using the traditional tsugaru-shamisen in a contemporary manner, the Yoshida Brothers produced an original sound that distinguished them as true musical visionaries.