The Boom is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese rock band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

. Its members are Kazufumi Miyazawa (vocals), Kobayashi Takashi (guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

), Yamakawa Hiromasa (bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

), and Tochigi Takao (drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

).

History

The four musicians, friends from Yamanashi Prefecture

Yamanashi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Kōfu.-Pre-history to the 14th century:People have been living in the Yamanashi area for about 30,000 years...

, formed the band in 1986 as a hokoten street band in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. They soon began getting club gigs and a record deal with Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

, with whom they released their first album, A Peacetime Boom, in 1989.

Vocalist Kazufumi Miyazawa who is the composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and lyricist for The Boom was inspired by the music of Okinawa. A single CD "Shima-uta" was released in 1993 with high sales, which reached approximately 1.5 million and brought fame to the band, around the world as well as at home. On December 31, 1993, The Boom participated in Kōhaku Uta Gassen

Kohaku Uta Gassen

, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on both television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK's networks and some overseas broadcasters which bought the program...

, an exclusive show usually reserved for elite musicians.

After they released "Shima-uta," the group went on to perform "Kaze-ni Naritai," "Kaero-kana," and "Tsukisaemo-nemuruyoru," but Miyazawa wanted to write more Okinawa songs, so an album comprised purely of Okinawa songs was released.

Miyazawa released several solo albums and composed songs for other musicians, including Akiko Yano

Akiko Yano

is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer. She was born as Akiko Suzuki in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Aomori, and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s...

, Kyōko Koizumi

Kyoko Koizumi

' is a Japanese singer and actress. Her music is released through Victor Entertainment . She is also known by the nickname Kyon Kyon. She had singles reach the Top ten for 12 consecutive years between 1983 and 1994, a female solo artist record, until this was broken by Namie Amuro...

, and Rimi Natsukawa

Rimi Natsukawa

is an Okinawan singer. She is best known for her 2001 single "Nada Sōsō."- Childhood :Natsukawa was born in Ishigaki, the largest city in the Yaeyama Islands chain. From a young age she enjoyed singing, and wanted to be a singer after hearing her father sing Yaeyama folk songs, such as and...

. He also started a new band named Ganga Zumba who released their first album Um in April 2007.

Singles

• 'Kimi wa TV-kko' (21 May 1989)
• 'Hoshi no Love Letter' (21 September 1989)
• 'Kikyu ni Notte' (1 December 1989)
• 'Tsuri ni Ikou' (21 March 1990)
• 'Sakadachi sureba Kotae ga Wakaru' (21 July 1990)
• 'Kyofu no Hiruyasumi' (22 May 1991)
• 'Michizure' (21 November 1991)
• 'Soredake de Ureshii' (2 May 1992)
• 'Shima Uta (Uchinaguchi Version)' (12 December 1992)
• 'Tsuki sae mo Nemuru Yoru' (21 April 1993)
• 'Shima Uta (Original)' (21 June 1993)
• 'Manatsu no Kiseki' (21 July 1993)
• 'Karatachi Nomichi' (1 October 1993)
• 'Yuzai' (21 November 1993)
• 'Kaeroukana' (21 October 1994)
• 'berangkat -Buranka-' (1 July 1994)
• 'Kaze ni Naritai' (24 March 1995)
• 'Teida Akara Nami Kirara' (Summer 1995) - Not sold at store
• 'Tegami' (13 December 1995)
• 'Toki ga Tateba' (22 May 1996)
• 'Chuousen' (21 June 1996)
• 'Tsuki ni Furu Ame' (28 April 1999)
• 'Osaka de Momareta Otoko' (12 May 1999)
• 'Furusato ni Nattekudasai' (8 October 1999)
• 'Kamihikoki' (31 December 1999) - Not sold at store
• 'Itsumo to Chigau Basho de' (16 March 2000)
• 'Kuchibue ga Fukenai' (4 October 2000)
• 'Kamisama no Hoseki de dekita Shima' (5 October 2001)
• 'Shima Uta - Shima Uta' (22 May 2002)
• 'Kono Machi no Dokoka ni' (5 June 2002)
• 'Boku ni Dekiru Subete' (4 December 2002)
• 'Kaze ni Naritai' (6 August 2003)
• 'Hikari' (5 May 2004)
• '24 Jikan no Tabi' (8 May 2004)
• 'Yume kara Samete/All of Everything' (20 May 2009)

Albums

• A Peacetime Boom (21 May 1989)
• Sairen no Ohisama (1 December 1989)
• JAPANESKA (21 September 1990)
• D.E.M.O. (21 March 1991)
• Shisyunki(Puberty
  Puberty
  Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
  
  ) (22 January 1992)
• THE BOOM (21 September 1992)
• Kyokuto Sanba(Far East Samba) (21 November 1994)
• REMIX MAN '95 (21 April 1995)
• Samba do Extremo Oriente (5 February 1996)
• TROPICALISM-0 (1 July 1996)
• THE BOOM2 (Red) (22 January 1997)
• THE BOOM2 (Blue) (21 March 1997)
• Singles + (27 February 1999)
• No Control (12 May 1999)
• LOVIBE (4 October 2000)
• THE BOOM STAR BOX EXTRA (5 December 2001)
• OKINAWA -Watashi no Shima- (19 June 2002)
• SHIMA UTA -Grandes Exitos- (19 September 2002)
• Singles + a (1 January 2003)
• Hyakkei (30 June 2004)
• 89-09　THE BOOM COLLECTION 1989-2009 (20 May 2009)

External links

• THE BOOM MUSIC GALLERY - The official website, operated by Avex/Five-D
• Nippop Profile | The Boom
• Official Website for Ganga Zumba http://www.gangazumba.jp