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The History of ' The Circle ' | |
| Japanese |
|
The History of ' The Circle ' | |
| Japanese |
In 1973 ' The Circle ' was born when Katoh, a banjo player, Aoki, a guitar player and Tsuji, a bass player quickly put together a band in order to take part in the Yamaha Music Contest held in Matsuzaka in Matsuzaka. We won the contest and also the right to participate in the finals which were going to be held in Nemu no Sato. Since it was organized so quickly, it didn't have a name.
Original members (at the contest)
Banjo: Katoh (He is our band-leader.)
But we needed a name in order to be addressed at the awards ceremony, when Aoki, the guitar player thought of a name ' The Circle' after a famous bluegrass music, 'Will the circle be unbroken ?'. Hence the name of the group , ' The Circle '. We all like this name. We hope you do, too. In fact, it may not be too much to say our long lasting friendship and successful performances over these many years owe much to this name.
Murabayashi, recruited by Katoh's wife while riding on a train carrying a banjo, Takahashi, a fiddle player, and Sofue, who was only 18 years old back then.
This is how ' The Circle ' came to have its full members as a bluegrass band.
In 1977 Kato ran into a woman named Enomoto on skiing trip who sang very well and asked her to join. She became the leading vocalist.
Leadvocal: Enomoto and Guitar: Murabayashi
In 1978 several amateur bands in Mie got together and held the first annual ' Light Music Concert ' and ' The Circle ' was chosen as one of the regular members to perform for the concert every year. This encouraged us to practice harder and work on our repertoire.
Leadvocal: Enomoto and Bass: Satoh
In 1982 Enomoto, the woman recruited on the skiing trip, sang at the 5th ' Light Music Concert ' for the first time. She fascinated the audience both with her charm and the beauty of her voice. She has many fans all over Mie and the number is still growing.
Around this time, the band was joined by three more members, Fukumoto, Shindoh and Satoh. But it became difficult for Takahashi and Sofue to stay with the band as they became busier with their jobs. With all of these changes, ' The Circle ' has six regular members at the moment.
Fiddle: Fukumoto and Mandolin: Shindoh
In 1992 We played a big role in the ' Mie World Expo ' by writing theme music for ' Mipola ', a mascot character for the Expo. The music entitled ' Mipola to tomoni (on together with Mipola)' , written by our members Katoh and Enomoto was officially adopted as Expo's theme music and was used as back ground music at the venue.
In 1998 Aug.28, we gave the 25th anniversary concert in Tsu City. Many audience arrived despite of heavy rain. We would like to appreciate this hearty encouragement. The concert ended in success.
The original band 25 years ago again appeared on the stage.
