Masters of Sound live

As three of them have now completed their masters’ degrees, the band member’s will soon be scattered all over the world.

Starting an hour late, the band opens with a delicate intro on acoustic guitar. Then, the music erupts. ”You’re cra-ha-ha-ha-zy,” Japanese Kyoko sings, the only female member of the band and Urakawa’s wife. Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ does more justice to her strangely pitched voice (she’s a professional musician in traditional Japanese music).

The band is polished, transitions occur smoothly, the accompaniment is well-organised, and the band members are confident enough to walk, or rather jump, enthusiastically up and down the stage – especially when one of them plays a solo.

After Urakawa complains for a second time that he can’t feel the audience enjoying themselves in the stands, the band’s excitement does infuse the audience, prompting them to get out of their seats and dance in front of the stage.

”Now we’re going to play a song from Colombia, so you’ll hear Spanish from a Japanese,” keyboard player Diego Rosero Erazo announces. Besides the mainly mainstream rock & roll covers, the band also performs some traditional songs, treating us to accordion and harmonica sounds.

After ‘Living on a Prayer’, some overexcited fans jump up on stage during the encore. The Masters of Sound, complemented by their founder, Paul Mantilla, can look back on a very successful final performance.

They’ve left a reminder in the form of their CD, ‘Figuras’, named after the strong characters gathered in this band, Urakawa explains. However, Figuras isn’t as good as hearing the Masters of Sound live, as the songs sound a bit flat. So, a piece of advice for the new, already formed, MSc band: Record your CD live!

Figuras is on sale at the International or MSc office, costing fifteen guilders.

”Please don’t sit down, come to the front and dance and enjoy,” singer Atsushi Urakawa encourages the crowd. Last Saturday nearly all MSc students, it seemed, and many others, met in the cultural centre Mekelweg 10 for the final performance of their ‘own’ band, the Masters of Sound. As three of them have now completed their masters’ degrees, the band member’s will soon be scattered all over the world.

Starting an hour late, the band opens with a delicate intro on acoustic guitar. Then, the music erupts. ”You’re cra-ha-ha-ha-zy,” Japanese Kyoko sings, the only female member of the band and Urakawa’s wife. Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ does more justice to her strangely pitched voice (she’s a professional musician in traditional Japanese music).

The band is polished, transitions occur smoothly, the accompaniment is well-organised, and the band members are confident enough to walk, or rather jump, enthusiastically up and down the stage – especially when one of them plays a solo.

After Urakawa complains for a second time that he can’t feel the audience enjoying themselves in the stands, the band’s excitement does infuse the audience, prompting them to get out of their seats and dance in front of the stage.

”Now we’re going to play a song from Colombia, so you’ll hear Spanish from a Japanese,” keyboard player Diego Rosero Erazo announces. Besides the mainly mainstream rock & roll covers, the band also performs some traditional songs, treating us to accordion and harmonica sounds.

After ‘Living on a Prayer’, some overexcited fans jump up on stage during the encore. The Masters of Sound, complemented by their founder, Paul Mantilla, can look back on a very successful final performance.

They’ve left a reminder in the form of their CD, ‘Figuras’, named after the strong characters gathered in this band, Urakawa explains. However, Figuras isn’t as good as hearing the Masters of Sound live, as the songs sound a bit flat. So, a piece of advice for the new, already formed, MSc band: Record your CD live!

Figuras is on sale at the International or MSc office, costing fifteen guilders.