Japanese vocal group The Gospellers looking to be 'inspired' in Singapore

The Gospellers may have been around since 1991, but the pioneer Japanese vocal group still hopes to learn a thing or two when they’re in town for their first-ever Singapore performance on 24 Sept.

“Singaporeans have the image of being music lovers and Singapore seems to be the most rapidly-changing country in the whole of Asia,” said group member Youichi Kitayama.

“While I am here, I hope to receive lots of inspiration while taking in the sights and sounds,” the 43-year-old told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore.

Led by Tetsuya Murakami, who also came up with their name, The Gospellers trace their roots back to “gospel” music, although the group considers their music pop.

“We really like the harmony of church music and the strong word of gospel music, so we came up with the group name, The Gospellers. It’s an invented word,” the band said in an interview.

In addition to Murakami, 46, and Kitayama, the vocal group also consists of Yuji Sakai, 44, Yutaka Yasuoka, 43, and Kaoru Kurosawa, 46. Formed during Murakami and Kurosawa’s time in the University of Waseda, the group had their first major release in 1994.

But it was really the release of the single “Towa ni”, which stayed in Japan’s Oricon charts for 44 consecutive weeks, which launched them to fame. It’s that single which Sakai, 44, recommends to newcomers to the group’s music.

“(That’s) the song that gave us our big break in Japan, as well as “Hitori”, which is our representative a cappella piece,” Sakai said. “Other than that, we’d recommend listening to “Samurai Gospellers,” a song where you can clearly differentiate our individual voices and learn our names.”

Important traits for vocal groups

The band members also shared their thoughts on being a vocal group, having been in the scene for over 25 years. Kurosawa admitted that having five different voices within the group naturally meant recording takes a longer time.

“It’s a matter of showcasing your own style when you’re singing alone but, as a group, what’s important is the balance of everyone’s voices and individualities,” Kurosawa said.

“For example, when recording as a group, you need to listen and make sure of the other members’ parts before determining your own part to sing. It’s also necessary to practise harmonising as a group.”

Fellow member Yasuoka said the traits for a cappella singers were the same whether one was a solo singer or in a group. “What’s important as a singer is that power to make people listen to your music,” he said, adding that it was also just “as important to have the ability to listen” for vocal groups like The Gospellers.

“It’s crucial that we can sing our own different parts and at the same time hear the harmonisation and new music that is being created,” Yasuoka said.

The group will always make sure to rehearse properly before performing on stage, Kitayama shared. “So, only I do about 10 minutes of light stretching and 20 minutes of voice exercises on my own,” he said, though he “used to do even less”.

It is also common to see the group wearing matching costumes, which are usually decided by Murakami or Kurosawa, who said he personally really enjoys “selecting the colour combinations and designs”.

And while Murakami said the band’s goal is to “to write cool and simple a cappella songs that anyone would want to try singing”, The Gospellers have an impressive list of artistes they’ve collaborated with, including Howie D from Backstreet Boys, Chinese-American singer-songwriter Wang Lee Hom, and South Korean pop duo TVXQ, better known as Tohoshinki in Japan.

Murakami said the band was already more than content to have had the chance to work with “so many great artistes. “However, if given the opportunity, it would be great if we would sing with British band Incognito,” he admitted.

The Gospellers released their latest album “Soul Renaissance” across Asia on 30 June this year, and also made the album available on iTunes, KKBox, Deezer and Spotify.

The Gospellers Live in Singapore will be held at Drama Centre Theatre on 24 Sept 2017, 5.00pm. Tickets go from $58 (excluding booking fee) and are available at www.sistic.com.sg.

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