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Hi! It's been a while since we had a musician spotlight. I find them extremely hard to write because of the descriptions and all that, but we're trying our best to bring it back! We hope you'll support this column like you do with Utaite/Producer Spotlights! I decided to restart with a rather popular personality :).


Osamuraisan / おさむらいさん

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There are many guitarists in Nico Nico Douga but probably no musician who uses acoustic guitar is as popular as Osamuraisan. He is currently not known only as a Nico Nico Douga ensoushitemita contributor, but also as a live performer, having guested in a variety of events. It can be safely said that people who are not even into ensoushitemita in general know of Osamuraisan and his talents.

Osamuraisan started his Internet fame in 2007, but he first uploaded an acoustic guitar cover of a song in NND in 2008. He said in his website that because of his exposure in an orchestra and a band, he has learned to play not only the guitar but also the piano, trumpet, and the harmonica, which you will often hear in his works. He is a composer himself, although he is mostly known in our community because of his Vocaloid arrangements. He is also often praised for having beautiful, long fingers, which are always seen in his uploaded videos.

His arrangements are purely acoustic, however, that doesn't mean that he only covers ballads. He is known for taking upbeat, even rockish Vocaloid songs and turn them into calming, gentle songs without ruining their theme. His guitar-playing has distinct, vibrating overtones that layer individually upon each other instead of colliding into one big melody, which makes the music fuller and yet serenely flowing. His balance in playing is impeccably consistent that his strums still sound distinct whether he plays loudly or softly. It doesn't sound echoey or sharp, and has very clean vibrating sounds.

As a composer, Osamuraisan has also made Vocaloid songs. Surprisingly, his two Vocaloid songs are polar opposites, one being a soft, gentle ballad with acoustic guitar accompanying Miku's high but sweet voice. The other one is a sharp rock song with very wild guitar-playing and mid-tone Miku.

Osamuraisan has released various albums, the first few ones mostly compilations of his covers of Vocaloid/anime songs. Recently, he has released his major debut album Kaeshi Uta. He also has played for SUMMER Sonic 2011 and has also performed live for fans in Taiwan. This May 2012, he will also perform in Vocafusion, an event to be held in Manila, Philippines.


Sample Arrangements
A. Vocaloid
• Melt (ryo original)
• World's End Dancehall -short ver- (wowaka original)
• Mozaik Role (DECO*27 original)
• Tell Your World (kz/livetune original)
• Vocaloid Medley -25 songs-

B. Others
• You (from Higurashi)
• Oshakashama (by Radwimps)
• Ren'ai Circulation (from Bakemonogatari)

Vocaloid originals
• Omikoshi Katsugi (Miku)
• Yoru no Uta (Miku)

* Please join his community because he has more uploaded for community members only :).


nikki says:
I first heard of Osamuraisan because of his impressive cover of "Ren'ai Circulation", but I wasn't really into acoustic guitar-playing back then so I wasn't able to follow his works closely. His cover of DECO*27's "Mozaik Role", however, sealed the deal for me. It remains my favorite arrangement by him because of the intense intro. I personally don't listen to acoustic guitar players unless they're utaite like ShounenT, but Osamuraisan's covers are always welcome in my playlist because they're so relaxing, whether they're rockish or soft ballads. My must-have in my playlist is his Vocaloid medley, because he's able to show/make us hear a variety of styles in that one long track. I honestly do not know much about him as a person, and I can only describe him in terms of his music, but I think the passion he has to bring out wonderful arrangements/compositions and his eagerness to reach out to fans is impressive and makes him so much worth a listen. If you're someone who is in the Philippines this May (like me), or if he's to perform in your country soon, please don't miss the opportunity to watch him live.

JimuinG / 事務員G

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As the first spotlight for musicians, I think G-san would be very fitting :).

G-san is quite popular in the ensoushitemitta scene. He was first known as "the guy who plays too many instruments" because he used to upload videos of him playing several instruments all at once that he was dubbed as "the one-man orchestra". He plays anime, Vocaloid and popular songs that time using different kinds of instruments but mostly centered on the piano.

Later on, he had solo piano performances uploaded and eventually, he got into collaborating with various Nico Nico artists (singers and musicians), the first of them Yonji and so on. Now, you may known him as part of big collaborations (e.g., absorb's Smiling) and events (e.g., Nico Nico Daikaigi 2010). Aside from that, he has appeared on TV, in radio and in tons of other events and is also known for being a good conversationalist. He is a much respected musician in the Nico Nico Douga community and wherever there is a big project, you quite possibly will see his name attached to it.

At least weekly, he holds namahousou in his community with him playing popular anime and Vocaloid songs on his piano/keyboard for more than two hours straight. He is quite close to singers such as the Asamakku family (Asamaru, Jack, Choucho, Faneru), etc.

I'm breaking down samples of his works into categories:

one-man orchestra works:
• 【1周年w】1人で同時に情熱大陸を演奏してみた
- here he plays the piano, pianika, high-hat, conga and xylorimba
• 一人で同時演奏：残酷な天使のテーゼを弾いてみた
- here he plays the Evangelion themes using a piano, guitar, pianika, 2 xylorimbas, xylophone, high-hat and a drum
• D.G.演奏は無謀なのか？【事務員G】
- here he plays the piano, violin, 2 xylorimbas, high-hat, xylophone, and pianika. he played the violin using his mouth w

piano solos
• Nanairo no Nico Nico Douga (piano arrange)
• Konbini
• Joe Hisaishi themes

collabs
• Air from Tori no Uta (with Usako on violins)
• Katsushika Parody (with Faneru)
• Kiseki no Chikyuu (with Yonji)


nikki says

I don't know anything about the ensoushitemitta category, to be honest, but there are a lot of musicians in it that people should know about, right? G-san is just one of them. So, we might be having musician spotlights, too! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu! :D

Anyway, I first knew G-san because I was randomly watching namahousou where they play the piano (funny I got to know most of my pianist favorites through nama jumping). G-san's namahousou are always SO amazing. He reads the requests through the comments and plays them one after another without even skipping beat ;_;. I don't know how he does it. Oftentimes, he holds namahousou with Yonji, Choucho, TEST, etc. and play in a studio. I highly recommend his weekend namahousou because they're longer and can be timeshifted (although recently, he seems to be holding namas more often O_O).