CINEMA dub MONKS is the duo of Daiho Soga (flute, harp, tape recorder, and more) and Gandhi Nishigaki (contrabass), formed in Okinawa in 1999.
Their conceptual performances are audiovisual collages that create “music with stories.”
The sound consists of improvisational duets of flute, acoustic bass, melodica, tape-recorder, and more - layered with field recordings from places they have visited.
The visual element includes projections of photos taken at these same sites. This audiovisual layering creates a live and spontaneous cinematic experience.
CINEMA dub MONKS have toured Europe five times with stops including Barcelona, Lisbon, Berlin, and Paris.
They have performed at many large music festivals including SPOKO (Barcelona) and venues such La Paloma (Barcelona) and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.
Both their live performances and recorded works have attracted a large international audience.
Toshio Matsuura from the United Future Organization booked CINEMA dub MONKS at the International Artists Stage of the Fuji Rock Festival,
Japan's largest outdoor rock festival. Their performance received a warm reception with tremendous applause.
On the international scene, they have received various artists’ attention and support.
They were nominated for Gilles Peterson’s "World Track of The Year" in 2003.
Jamie Cullum has named them as his favorite Japanese artists. Manu Chao gave them highest praises at a performance in Barcelona.
The Berlin based artist, Fleckfumie, also gave them outstanding accolades and was the first to describe their style as “atmospheric-cinematic sound collage music.”
2002 :
Performed in various cities across Europe.
Resided in Barcelona for six months.
2004 :
Vinyl recording released by British label Softly in March.First album "TRES ~ sometimes on a fieldkickin'a ball" released in Japan in May.
Performed at Fuji Rock Festival in July.
Second European tour in June and July.
2005 :
Art exhibition "Lisbon-Barcelona-Okinawa / art-music-local-CINEMA dub MONKS" held at the Maeshima Art Center in Naha, Okinawa.
The exhibition included the film "Umibe-no-machi-no-hanashi (stories in the coast town)" - a documentary of their third European tour.
Second album "cinema,duo" (a recording of their live performance in Shibuya) released by the plants/RD RECORDS in November.
2007 :
Activities and performances suspended for 18 months.
2009 :
Third album "Eien-to-Ichinichi (eternity and a day)" released by the label Monogatari fours years after their last album.
Album recorded with seven guest artists, Yasuhiro Yoshigaki (ROVO) / BOSE(Schadaraparr) / Makoto Wada (CaSSETTE CON-LOS) / Hanaregumi
Kosuke Tsuji / KOO (Black Bottom BrassBand) / Jun Kamiuraten (KINGDOM☆AFROCKS).
2010 :
Performed at the Arabaki Rock Festival in May.
Series of performances with the novelist, Shinji Ishii, in September.
These performances were a mixture of music and ad-lib readings of Ishii’s writing.
2003年、欧州ツアーでのライブをもとにアレンジされた1stアルバム『TRES ~ sometimes on a field kickin’ a ball』を欧州にてリリース。
2004年、英国のレーベルSoftlyよりアナログ盤をリリース。
英国BBCラジオなど活躍する世界で名高いジャズ系ＤＪジャイルス・ピーターソンの'Worldwide Track Of The Year'にノミネートされる。（またこの作品はジャズ界の貴公子と呼ばれるシンガーソングライター = ジェイミー・カラムからも絶賛を受けた）
5月『TRES ~ sometimes on a field kickin' a ball』を国内にてリリース。
7月FUJI ROCK FESTIVALに出演。年末バルセロナ〜リスボンをツアー。
