++ tenzenmen ++ artists ++ ni-hao!

ni-hao!

ni-hao! was born when three girls met at University, in Kyoto. They formed a band bringing with them the instruments they could play - BLUE YUKARI and RED ARIKO had bass guitars and GREEN REO had some drums (and they all love to sing!).
They wanted a cheerful, happy sounding name and as one of the members was studying Chinese at University they decided on 'ni-hao!'. On stage they each wear a coloured jersey - RED, GREEN and BLUE and they put into their music the things that they love.

ni-hao!'s musical tastes encompass rock, pop, punk, new wave, phrases of the Orient to modern classical music that BLUE studied at University and traditional Japanese dance RED studied as a child. They are all combined to form an original sound realised from their wild and active imaginations.

sometimes perplexing ni-hao!'s shows make people dance, laugh and smile from the bottom of their hearts. The philosophy is "what we ENJOY is what others ENJOY". ni-hao are now a very popular band.

Curry Rice, introduced from India, is ni-hao!'s most favorite dish. they cook curry rice with their own recipe, and sometimes serve it at live events. Japanese style curry rice is much different from genuine Indian style curry. Japanese style curry rice is mixed up with Western, Asian and all kinds of Japanese spices. It must be served
with sticky Japanese rice. It's not like the original curry but a genuine original dish. In the same fashion, these three girls toss their favorite materials and spice in a pan and make an original sound. ni-hao!'s music is mixed up with lots of spices of music, just like their "Curry Rice".

ni-hao! released their first mini album "RED" in April 2004 on UMMO records.
Their second mini album "BLUE" was released in JULY 2004, also on UMMO, and was promoted by Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Rovo,OMOIDE HATOBA). They got attention all over the country with a Japan tour.

BLUE is also a member of the Kyoto-based Limited Express(has gone?), which released an album on Tzadik (NYC, USA) as well as toured the United States and was featured at the South by Southwest 2004 music festival.

ni-hao! are looking forward to an exciting year in 2005 with many projects in the pipeline.

ni-hao!

interview

ni-hao! is red, blue, green - if one colour left, could they be replaced by another colour?

no!!! because we like own colors!!!
yes. any colours are ok!
i think so, maybe.

could ni-hao! be red, blue, green, yellow? (would you ever consider getting a guitar player or other musician)

it could be. if anyone want to be.
not but idea! but can i find good musician for us???
yes. any instrumentals are ok.

why is yukari blue, reo green and ariko red? do they reflect your personalities?

i'm green because I love green colour.
mmm...there were no reason at first. but we became to like own color time by time. also i became just like blue!!!
red is one of my favourite colours. i had some reasons to be red.

what is your favourite ni-hao! song from red blue green? and why?

'opqr haramita' is so cool.
i cant choose!!! i love every songs! but try to answer...mmm...ta-tatata-ta(hand clap vir.)!!! because many musicians i like joined.
royal jelly. it's a exiciting song.

is ni-hao! popular in japan? are there musicians making music similar to ni-hao!? do you feel part of any scene?

the audience is increasing these days. i think ni-hao! is only one and #1 band not only in japan but also in the universe! we dont belong any scene. i want to get each good points from many scenes!
i think ni-hao! is belonging to nothing. ni-hao! is ni-hao!
i think so, and ni-hao! could be part of any of music scene in japan. but there are not any musicians similar us.

ni-hao! recently went to new york to record - what did you think of new york? did the recording go as planned?

i thought new york was a small city, but it has many faces. i want to know more. recording went very well more than i thought.
ny is the biggest city in the world. there is everything. but it is difficult to get what i really want. i want get something i want in ny. recording was finished earlier than the plan. we recorded 20 songs in 7 hours!!!
we had so much fun in ny! recording was not going as we planned in all of ways, but it worked so well.

does ni-hao! represent japanese culture in any way? are you trying to be different to the usual sick sweet pop of commercial music or do you think ni-hao! can be successful in japan in that environment too?

i think ni-hao! can be successful ....it is not easy, but will try!
ni-hao! can be successful even in that environment.
yes! i think japanese animations or games are king in the world. i want make ni-hao! to be a representative of japanese culture like them. but in japan, it is hard. because there is a bigger difference between music and other culture(animation, game and movies) than other country. but of course i dont care! i will be in japan, too.

do you listen to other people's music and take ideas and influences into ni-hao!? what are you inspired by?

at the begining of ni-hao!, i was inspired by ooioo, coa, buffalo daughter, the raincoats and so on. now, i like many many kinds of music and bands! i got biggest inspired from animations, arts and novels.
i like movie soundtracks and i like female vocals maybe it inspires me.
any music that think cool inspires me anytime.

some ni-hao! songs have a darker sound but still with your soft sweet vocal melodies - are your lyrics about anything in particular or are the vocals purely used as another instrument?

vocals are independent instruments.
both of them i think.
we dont have guiters or keybords. so, i use 3 vocals as instruments.

what's your favourite colour?

red!!!!!!????
blue!!!!
green, of course!!!

of course!

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