Wagakki Band – ‘Wagakki’ is the collective term for traditional Japanese musical instruments.
The blond drummer plays ‘western’ drum kit; the dark haired drummer plays ‘wagakki’ drums and other percussion instruments.
No idea why the bass guitar has such a long neck. Maybe it’s just a 24 fret bass? I haven’t counted.
The big zither is called a ‘koto’ – apparently it’s the national instrument of Japan. Usually 13 or 17 strings, the one he’s playing seems to have at least 20 strings – that’s Rock Roll, baby!
The woman is playing a ‘sanshin’ – a 3 stringed ‘banjo’ style instrument where the ‘drum’ was, traditionally, made from the skin of a Burmese python and the strings were, traditionally, made from silk. Why she plays it with a plasterers comb scratcher I have no idea, other than it looks cool. Again with the ‘Rock and Roll’ thing. 🙂
I think the big recorder is a ‘shakuhachi’ – a bamboo flute with four holes at the front and one at the back for the thumb to cover, or not, to double the ‘range’ to 2 octaves.
Oh, and the vocals are ‘shigin’ – a performance of Japanese poetry, normally chanted but in this case, sung.
It’s original and I rather like it.
Pretentious? Watashi?