Wagakki definition
Wagakki simply means Japanese instruments, and the eight members of Wagakki Band fill the stage with them: Tsugaru jamisen, koto and shakuhachi are joined by taiko drums, boosted by rock guitar, bass and drum kit. Singer Yuko Suzuhana flails fans as she spins across the stage, but everyone involved is hyperactive. Kaminaga, his face half covered in kanji tattoos, raises his flute to the heavens like an ecstatic trumpeter in Duke Ellington’s orchestra. When not being blown, the shakuhachi spins around his black-varnished fingernails as if morphing into a martial arts weapon. At one point Kaminaga executes a trill by manically quivering his whole right hand, before shooting his arm skywards as the phrase climaxes. It’s a shock to see the shakuhachi, that tool of spiritual exploration and inner calm, employed in showboating heroics associated with V-shaped electric guitars.