NHK appearance

Kyla, Brenna and Shana appeared on NHK TV last week. Here is the video clip. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year ! Thank you for your support and interest in the sisters in 2009. The sisters are enjoying some down time from a very busy year of performances and school work. Kyla is in the US visiting grandparents. The future is a bit uncertain for the three as a tsugaru shamisen trio since they no longer have a teacher or belong to any shamisen group. But they will continue to compete in national competitions and promote intercultural exchange.

DSi

Brenna plays with her new DSi game. She saved up her money and finally got it . Don't forget to practice

New!

The sisters stand in front of Koyo hotel in Yamagata before they go on stage tonight. They are wearing their Yukata/jeans outfit and love it!

Homepage

The sisters homepage has recently been updated and some of the links have changed.

Last of July

The sisters played at a large gathering of companies in Yamagata this evening. There were about 500 guests in attendance. They got to eat a good meal after the show. The sisters finished their busy performance schedule this month and will leave for the national competition in Nagoya on Friday.

Day 2

The sisters finished the second day of four in a row for a summer gourmet party.

on Stage Tonight

The sisters played for a private party tonight with about 150 people in the audience. Afterwards, they ate at a quick meal at McDonalds (but of course would not get out of the car wearing their Kimono!)

Taking turns

The sisters made a special Tuesday night appearance at KOYO hotel onsen in Kiminoyama tonight. Kyla's skin is being replaced so they only had two shamisens. In this photo, Brenna and Shana play while Kyla waits in the back to take her turn. There were over 100 people watching as this is peak cherry season in Yamagata.

Two + one

Kyla tells the audience that one shamisen is getting repaired and that they will take turns playing in pairs. They did a good job tonight with a loud, enthusiastic audience. Now is cherry season in Yamagata, so the hotels are very full and busy. Brenna wants to go cherry picking!

Sagae Performance

The sisters played in front of 360 people at this evenings performance in Sagae city, Yamagata. They met a lot of really nice people. and played in two different places in the same event. Next, they move on to Kaminoyama-city for their weekly performance at Koyo hotel.

on with the (last) show

The sisters finished up a busy weekend performance schedule tonight at Koyo hotel. They were a little tired as their performance finished at 9 p.m. Tomorrow school starts back.

Follow-up

Kyla, Brenna and Shana just returned back home to Yamagata last night from Tokyo. They had a really good time and got to meet some famous people including Konishiki, Verbal and even Zac Efron. Their performance was to promote study abroad for Japanese to American universities. The venue was in front of TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) which happened to have Zac Efron there doing a TV show. The sisters decided to ride up the elevator to his floor since they had passes and got lucky when he suddenly walked out and posed for a photo with them (see below). Tonight they have another performance in Yamagata and then back to their normal school life on Monday!

Zac Efron

The sisters got to meet Zac Efron backstage at TBS. Kyla almost passed
out!

Awards

Brenna and Kyla display their awards they won at the Aomori National Tsugaru Shamisen Contest. Shana plans to be in the next award photo! Congratulatons!

Cherry Blossom Party

Tonight the sisters played in downtown Yamagata city at a beautiful traditional inn called the Chitose-kan. You can see the lit up cherry blossoms outside the window.

Sakura Performance

The sisters played outdoors in Yamagata-city today with the cherry blossoms in full display today. It was a bright and sunny day. We really enjoyed meeting different people and promoting the tsugaru shamisen. Ironically, the group that went on before, was a group of Japanese girls dancing to American hip-hop while the sisters performed in kimono playing traditional Japanese tsugaru shamisen music ! Reverse international exchange!

Dog Practice

Kyla gets encouragement from her two Labrador Retrievers at tonights
practice. The loud sound doesn't bother them. The black one "Mac" is a
Japan Champion Show dog.

Improving

Kyla, Brenna and Shana play the last song of the evening in front of quite a few hotel guests in Yamagata. It is really good study for them to play regularly on stage. Kyla is getting comfortable speaking and introducing her the sisters (in Japanese of course).

TV clip

Check out the latest TV clip of the sisters that aired last week in the Tohoku region.

NPO Stage

You can see the sisters in the background of this photo. This afternoon they performed for an NPO convention for Yamagata. They have one more stage this evening!

late Performance

The sisters just finished a Sunday night stage which is a little hard for them if they have school the next day. They are starting to play really well together.

YBC TV crew

The YBC film crew finished today taking film of the three sisters at home rehearsing and at their performance tonight at KOYO hotel hot spring in Kaminoyama, Yamagata. Afterwards, they were interviewed. The show will appear on March 21st in the Tohoku region of Japan. See the stage calendar on the right for details. 

Singing

At tonight's performance, a hotel guest sang along to HANAGASA for the encore. He had a really good voice and everyone was surprised. Shana always gets the most applause from the audience. 

Recording

The sisters recorded themselves playing a song tonight. They only had one dog in the audience listening...

Wedding stage

You can see the sisters preparing to play at a wedding reception party at a fancy wedding hall in Tendo, Yamagata. They created a short wedding march introduction to one of the songs they played.

Warming up

The three sisters finished their performance at a local hotel hot spring last night. Shana is always a crowd favorite and has really improved her solo. She has been working on reading the sheet music as well. In last night's performance, an old man from the audience tried to sing along the sisters during the encore.

By ear or eyes

Brenna and Shana play a Yoshida Brother's song together this evening. Brenna is also teaching Shana how to read the sheet music so that she can pick up songs more quickly. Generally, it is better to learn by ear, but reading the sheet music allows the player learn more songs faster. So, now that Shana has learned by ear, she is studying how to read it.

Tsugaru Ohara Bushi

The sisters are in Sendai tonight for a lesson. Shana is seen here reflected in the mirror.

Leaving

The sisters just finished their Sunday night performance at a local hot spring hotel. They don't want to go to school tomorrow...

Morning news

The sisters were in this mornings Mainichi Shimbun in Japanese. You can click on this link to read it. The sisters will be performing a new song tomorrow night for the first time on stage. They are looking forward to it.

Mainichi Shimbun

A reporter for the Mainichi Newspaper came today to collect information about the sisters for a newspaper article. It will be published tomorrow or the next day.

Cold night

Tonight the sisters played at an Onsen hotel. They played a new song with Taiko drums in the background played from a CD. The timing was a little difficult for them but they did well. In this photo, Kyla warms up back stage. The temperature is -4C in Yamagata tonight!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Brenna's 14th birthday. That cake looks delicious...

New Years' practice

This evening the sisters worked on a new song to play together at a future performance. It is quite difficult as they must learn by ear. They usually sit on TATAMI to practice. In the background, you can see their Kimono.

Goodbye 2008

The sisters finished their last performance for 2008 tonight! They had a lot of performances this year and hope to do more next year. Thanks to all who supported them in 2008.

Traditional Hot Spring

This photo at the sisters performance tonight shows the front of the traditional hot spring hotel they play at regularly. Afterwards, the sisters enjoy some hot chocolate on a cold snowy Yamagata night.

Christmas in Shibuya

The sisters performed at three services of the Christmas Eve service at Tokyo Baptist Church in Shibuya tonight. Each service was packed and they played several Christmas songs. Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Eve performance

The sisters just finished their hotel stage tonight. Winter break has just about started. They will be playing several Christmas songs with other musicians in Tokyo for Christmas Eve at Tokyo Baptist Church. Please come!

Akayu Onsen

The sisters finished up three days of performances at Akayu Onsen in Yamagata tonight and are a little tired. Tonight's show had 70 guests and afterwards the sisters ate dinner with everyone and took an ONSEN. Takinami Ryokan has a very warm and friendly atmosphere combined with old Edo Japan feel. The sisters will take a day off and then prepare to go to Tokyo.

Cases

The sisters are packing to go to Osaka this weekend for the tsugaru shamisen national competition. You can see there small and soft cases in this photo. Traveling with three shamisens is quite an undertaking. All three must be broken down into 3 sections and put in the small square case for air travel and reassembled when you get there. The sisters are excited to go to Universal Studios as well. More posts coming as they travel...