Koto (band)

Koto is an Italian synthpop group that originally consisted of Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari, later with the Dutch composer Michiel van der Kuy.

History

In 1982, Italian musician Anfrando Maiola (b. 1954 in Parma, Italy) teamed up with Stefano Cundari and Alessandro Zanni and released their first single "Chinese Revenge" on Cellophane Record (Studio Veronica's label). The following year, Cundari and Zanni formed Memory Records and re-released "Chinese Revenge". The single proved to be very popular in Italy, selling over 10,000 copies. It also proved to be a minor hit in Germany and the Netherlands.

After the success of "Chinese Revenge", they began writing songs for other bands, including Baby's Gang ("Happy Song", "Challenger"), and helped fellow Italian band "Hipnosis" cover Vangelis' song "Pulstar". It was released in 1983, going Top 10 in Germany and Top 20 in Switzerland. The same year, Maiola and Cundari released another single "Japanese War Game", under the Koto name, which became another hit.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Koto_(band)

Koto

Koto may refer to:

Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument

Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Creole women in Suriname

Koto (band), Italian/Dutch synth pop group

Koto, Tokyo, a ward in Tokyo, Japan

Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana

The novel The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata, originally titled "Koto" in Japanese

Hikaru Koto, former porn star

KOTO (FM), a National Public Radio-affiliated radio station licensed to Telluride, Colorado, USA

KOTO experiment, a particle physics experiment at J-PARC, Japan.

Pterygota bequaertii, a timber species referred to by the trade name "Koto"

Languages

Orejón language (also known as Koto language)

Coixoma language (also known as Koto language)

Koto (traditional clothing)

The koto or kotomisse is a traditional dress from the Afro-Surinamese women or Creoles in Suriname. The koto was developed during the slavery period in Suriname; its special purpose was to protect the Afro-Surinamese woman against their masters’ sexual interest.

Different kotos exist for various occasions like weddings or funerals. The development of the koto as regular dress is not complete but it is still used in special occasions like the koto-dansi.

With the koto, women wear a head or body covering called an angisa or anisa. The folding of the angisa sends a social message, for example “Let them talk.”

Gallery

1904-1933

Koto, 1885

Doll in koto

References

External links

Examples of traditional kotos

Examples of koto's currently used, traditional and modern

Examples of the angisa and the social message

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Koto_(traditional_clothing)

+/- (band)

+/-, or Plus/Minus, is an American indietronic band formed in 2001. The band makes use of both electronic and traditional instruments, and has sought to use electronics to recreate traditional indie rock song forms and instrumental structures. The group has released two albums on each of the American indie labels Teenbeat Records and Absolutely Kosher, and their track "All I do" was prominently featured in the soundtrack for the major film Wicker Park. The group has developed a devoted following in Japan and Taiwan, and has toured there frequently. Although many artists append bonus tracks onto the end of Japanese album releases to discourage purchasers from buying cheaper US import versions, the overseas versions of +/- albums are usually quite different from the US versions - tracklists can be rearranged, artwork with noticeable changes is used, and tracks from the US version can be replaced as well as augmented by bonus tracks.