Shamanz was formed in 2011 by singer, songwriter, and guitarist TAMA TSUBOI. His aim was to spread an acoustic based sound that could crossover genres and race. Their songs feature bilingual vocals. Each one is a fusion of Latin, reggae, pop, soul, Japanese music, world music etc. The current lineup consists of KAI PETITE (Hentai Guitar), MIKE MARRINGTON (Drums), WINTERHAWK SPENCER (Percussions), YASUO NISHIMOTO (Saxophone), NAOTO MIYAZAWA (Keys).
As I mentioned in an early post (I think) the Japanese underground is an amalgamation of different styles of music. It is impossible to point to one particular type of music and say, “There! That’s the Japanese underground sound!”. Dub, reggae, rock, punk, soul, hip hop are all in there. As the Shamanz have said, the goal is to transcend race and nationality in order to become one human being expressing him or herself to other human beings through music.
I believe that is what makes the Shamanz sound seem nomadic and almost gypsy like. It travels from on place to the next all the time but not in confusion. On the contrary, there is form and purpose to their sound. There is also clear evidence that they love what they do.