Garnet Crow

아래 내용은 Wikipedia에 있는 내용을 붙여 놓았다.

'Garnet'은 '석류석'을 말하는데 이 보석의 '붉음'과 같은 음악적 깊이를 추구하는 이 밴드의 열망이 담긴 것이고 'Crow'는 어감상 좋게 하려고 붙였다는데....

 

예전에 좋아했던 'Kuraki Mai'와도 인연을 닿고 있는 이 밴드의 음악에 요 며칠 푹 빠져 지낸다.

변변한 앨범하나 없이도 국내 가요계를 싹쓸이 할수 있는 미남 미녀 그룹이 판치고 있는 요즘 우리나라 가요계에선 찾아보기 힘든 '음악에 대한 순수한 열정과 재능'을 보여주면서...

 

그들의 음악은 깊은 목소리라고 표현되는 리더 보컬 'Nakamura'의 단지 '깊은'만이 아닌, '순수'한 창법이 너무 좋다. 그리고 아련한 가사들...

 

 

Garnet Crow, or GARNET CROW, is a Japanese pop/rock band formed in 1999 and associated with the Giza Studio record label. Members include Yuri Nakamura, Hitoshi Okamoto, Nana Azuki, and Hirohito Furui, with Nakamura leading on vocals. Music produced by Garnet Crow has its roots in the Neo Acoustic genre, and representative works include "Flying," "Yume mita ato de," and "Spiral."[1] Despite prolific early singles, the band neither performed live nor appeared on TV prior to 2002.

The mixed composition of Garnet Crow and Nakamura's deep vocals set the group apart from its contemporaries. Each individual member has also seen industry success: Nakamura and Azuki often share the limelight for Garnet Crow, but Okamoto has achieved a solo career and Furui is a sought-after music arranger – one of the highest paid in Japan

 

The origin of the word "Garnet" in "Garnet Crow" emerged from the band's aspiration to achieve a musical depth akin to the depth of the color red often found in garnets. The word "Crow" was attached for its phonetic resonance. A further consideration in creating the band name was the enduring image left behind when it is translated to the eerie "scarlet crow" (深紅のカラス?) in Japanese. [2]

Since inception, the four-person line-up of Garnet Crow has remained constant. The two female and two male band consists of lead vocalist Yuri Nakamura (中村由利 Nakamura Yuri?), keyboardists Nana Azuki (ＡＺＵＫＩ七 Azuki Nana?) and Hirohito Furui (古井弘人 Furui Hirohito?), and guitarist Hitoshi Okamoto (岡本仁志 Okamoto Hitoshi?). Furui is the band leader, but members are introduced in official sources with vocalist Nakamura receiving top billing.[3] In 1999, the four members of what was to become Garnet Crow collaborated on the creation of a demo tape for singer Mai Kuraki's all-American independent record label.[4] Upon hitting it off during the production process, they decided to seize the opportunity to create a band of their own.[5] At that time, three of the members were already involved with the record production company Being Group distributing for and supporting other artists, leaving Nakamura as the sole newcomer. Nakamura herself was aiming for a position that didn't require her to front for the band like a musical director, but her associates made recommendations for her and she ended up in charge of vocals and musical composition.[6]

In the creation process roles are clearly divided, with primary duties like composition, creation of lyrics, and editing for most Garnet Crow songs being handled by the members themselves. Particularly Nakamura's scores and Azuki's lyrics are the core foundation for all the band's songs.[2] The works' roots lie in the Neo Acoustic genre, and at the time of its debut Garnet Crow's own musicality was hailed as "21st Century Neo-Neo Acoustics."[7] From the 1999 debut and lasting nearly 2 1/2 years the band mainly focused on CD production, but in 2002 Garnet Crow went live for the first time and since then has performed publicly more than 20 times, primarily in Japan's three major metropolitan centers around Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kyoto. Using the experience of their public performances, Garnet Crow began to consciously produce music with the live setting in mind,[8] incorporating elements of Latin American music[9] and Canzone into their work.[10]

There exist undisclosed gaps in the individual members' personal work histories. And, until the release of the 2002 single "Yume mita ato de," Garnet Crow did not once appear on television. It is thought that the check on mass media exposure for Being Group-affiliated artists was a media control strategy by the company.[11] However, since 2002 the band has performed on TV music programs. The members themselves have left remarks suggesting that television performances make them extremely tense.[12]