Twelve Girls Band

The Twelve Girls Band started their quest to capture concertgoers in the United States with their music that combines classical Chinese and American music at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The group that sold out 32 shows in 10 minutes in Japan, had their debut c.d. (“Eastern Energy”) debut at #62 on The Billboard 200 and debut No. 1 on Top World Albums with its conservatory-trained musicians who play traditional Chinese instruments but combine them with modern music hoped to continue their past success in Asia in the United States.

Hearing familiar pop, Chinese folk, jazz and classical music with a New Age vibe music not normally played by Chinese instruments provided a unique experience for many in the Royce Hall crowd and American audiences. That night the group included within their performance their cover version of Coldplay's “Clocks,” Riverdance piece “Reel Around the Sun” and Enya's 'Only Time' – among other selections from their c.d.’s while demonstrating various instruments that they were playing between various song selections.

Recognizing the great musical skills that exists within its members and its live performances captured on DVD, one looks forward to the opportunity to hear the Twelve Girls Band perform with a live band. One anticipates that playing with other musicians (as oppose to playing to prerecorded tracks) would provide the interplay, interactions, emotional connection and creativity that allow them to elevate their music to new creative heights. This would also provide a diversion while the group learns how to interact with American audiences.

Recognizing that this concert was their tour’s first date, the audience overlooked various production inconsistencies (i.e. sound production, translation miscues, etc.) and the members’ command of the English language to provide the music that was greatly anticipated. It was odd having the ability to hear the individual instruments being demonstrated with great clarity while these qualities disappeared when the entire group was performing.

Various segments were included within their performance to feature the unique musical timbre and qualities that is inherent with several of the instruments (gu zheng - zither with movable bridges and 16 to 25 strings), pipa (four-stringed, pear-shaped lute), yang qin (similar to the hammered dulcimer), erhu (two-stringed fiddle) and dizi (bamboo flute) that the group utilizes within their music. During those times, the audiences were treated to the many musical delights previously unheard of by many audiences in the United States. The musical demonstrations provided ample evidence of the skills that exists while making one long for arrangements in future performances that would allow their instruments to be utilized like an acclaim string section within an orchestra.

After Tokyo-based Warner Music executive Kazuma Tomoto formed his own record label, Platia Entertainment, to successfully launch the Twelve Girls Band in Japan that provided earnings of almost of $50 million - the idea of bringing the Twelve Girls Band to North America was engineered by Ken Pedersen, a Virgin Records executive behind the world music-oriented Luaka Bop and Real World. His plan was based on the success he'd had with such concept projects as "Moods" (with Yanni) a series of CDs compiling ethereal, soothing music that included key elements of incorporating direct marketing television campaigns and live appearances on TV shows and in concert. His team also included Ray Cooper, former Virgin Records America president and one of the key developers of the Spice Girls, who helped design the group's presentation to the American and European markets and Phil Quartararo (EMI North American Executive Vice-President) – who made the group’s distribution deal with EMI Music Marketing.

Their coordinated promotion in the United States included TV spots on the History Channel, A&E, CBS and MTV – along with print coverage of the band in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and CNN.com.

Going into this current U.S. tour, people have asked on whether they are the latest music “sensation” from Asia, musical geniuses or an Asian version of bland, manufactured pop? Time Asia called them “China’s first exportable supergroup.” Entertainment industry publication Variety wrote, “China dolls take traditional music off the shelf.”

Asian Pacific American concertgoers’ reactions range from the Twelve Girls Band as a gateway for young fans to appreciate classical Chinese music to being compared by fans of Mandarin pop to S.H.E.’s version of Superstar that also mixes Chinese traditional music with American rock to people that think that it’s too commercialized of watered-down version of familiar classic as played on Chinese instruments made palatable for mainstream audiences.

At UCLA’s Royce Hall, it appears that the people behind the Twelve Girls Band have a definitive marketing plan to extend the success of a talented group of musicians in Asia to the United States. Will the Twelve Girls Band be just another group of gorgeous females put together to capitalize on the latest trend or will they be a trend-setting group that will blend various Chinese and American music styles into a new genre – only time will tell? Imagine if the Twelve Girls Band had the opportunity to work with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Tan Dun and other similar artists . . . .

	Bond

BOND

Tania Davis, Eos Chater, Haylie Ecker and Gay-Yee Westerhoff (aka the gorgeous female members of the group “bond”) formally introduced their contagious blend of sex appeal, British charm and music that blends the pop and classical genres together in their attempt to reinvent the classical string quartet to the waiting audiences in the United States at Hollywood’s Avalon Theater.

The group played selections from their debut “Born” (which sold more than 2 million copies) to their latest “Classified” c.d. that fused dance beats with soaring string arrangements. The audience’s anticipation of hearing the group’s eclectic and wide-ranging music influences that ranged from trance, house music, salsa, traditional East European folk songs, Arabic music, disco, Bollywood-influenced arrangements, techno beats with pop melodies, traditional classical music and pop was definitely met during their performance – as made evident by the crowd’s response.

Their performance communicated their oft-stated goal that their music is "an eclectic musical mix characterized by so many different cultural influences and musical styles and with the classical string quartet at its heart.” It was a fascinating journey to witness their willingness to go beyond category to explore the joy of music regardless of the cultural hamstrings that restrict the creativity of so many previous classically trained musicians while paving the road of others such as U.K.’s Diana Yukawa, U.S.’s Hilary Hahn, China’s 12 Girls Band and Japan’s Akiko Suwanai.

With their recognition that "The aural experience is important" - "but so is the spectacle. . . “– their performance started with the girls’ alluring silhouettes before they started to play. Bond demonstrated throughout the night their desire to entertain their audience and displayed no shame in that. Though they admitted to the audience that they are not dancers, as noted by their choreography, Gay-Yee’s infectious and tempting gyrations definitely got the attention of every male concertgoer throughout the night.

Various performance highlights that featured the wide spectrum of music being played include the playing of “Victory” – that was written by Croatian composer Tonci Juljic and various selections that featured their skills as a classical string quartet selection where the girls replaced their amplified string instruments with traditional acoustic violins, viola and cello. Upon listening to their performance, one wonders what audiences might experience in the future when they are performing with a live band that would allow them the freedom to incorporate out the human passions, intricacies, musical interactions and creative discoveries inherent when talented artists proceed along the path of genre-breaking music.

Their well-financed publicity has provided them opportunities that made audiences throughout the world well aware of their group – as noted by the sold-out performance at Hollywood’s Avalon Theater. It will be fascinating how they will utilized their image that has been shaped by photos of the band posing nude with their instruments (rejected c.d. cover image), the only quartet to be kicked out of the classical charts, first all-female string quartet to appear in the pop charts, their various short sexy skirts, high heels, runway-ready hair, flashy MTV videos, description as “Sex in the Symphony,” their nickname of the “Spice Girls of classical music” – along with their music to extend their great success in Europe and Asia to the United States. Their performance at Avalon officially started their quest.

As Bond mature and gains additional confidence in their artistic identity and music intuition, their success (along with a fast-growing number of other artists) has made it clear that are meeting a global need for music that is both uplifting and transporting with music that as Harry Hui (Asia-Pacific president of Universal Music) stated - the genre's popularity is due in part to that fact that, with classical music, "there are no language barriers."