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ITO Goro
Goro Ito, a composer, arranger , guitarist and producer, has been active as
a solo artist “MOOSE HILL” and also as member of a bossa-nova duo “naomi & goro.”
Along with releasing his own albums and performing at home and abroad, he has written music for movies, TV dramas, and commercial films so far.He has produced Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s best album and tribute album for Ryuichi Sakamoto’s label “commmons”, and Tomoyo Harada’s last two albums,「music & me」 and 「eyja」.In 2011, in collaboration with Naruyoshi Kikuchi, Naomi and Goro released their album “calendula” from commmons label and made it a smash hit. At Aomori Museum of Art, he presented a sound installation “「TONE_POEM」” and held a workshop on composition with a local dialect and a storytelling session “on-doc” with Tomoyo Harada.
In 2012, he will produce music for the exhibition “Art and Air” held at Aomori Museum of Art from July 21st to September 17th.
- 2010
September 29th, he released his first rock-oriented album “Cloud Happiness” under the name of Goro Ito.This album includes many guest artists such as Yukihiro Takahashi, Sean O’hagan and Valgeir Sigurdsson.It is an homage to his musical roots John Lennon, the Beatles and Otis Redding. Sept.4th, Naomi and Goro gave their first concert hall live at Meguro Persimmon Hall.They invited Naruyoshi Kikuchi as a guest player and the tickets were all sold out. Goro wrote an openning theme song “Lemon” for KTS Kagoshima television’s rogram “Namaiki Voice.” The song featured Tomoyo Harada as a singer and began air-play in the program on May 6th.The image film for the song was done by Bluemark. May 3rd, Naomi and Goro participated in the live event “J-WAVE presents TOKYO M.A.P.S.” organized by Naruyoshi Kikuchi and played three songs with him.They also performed in Kikuchi’s radio program “Sound Creator’s File” on NHK. Apr.30th, Naomi and Goro had their first one-man show in Korea at Mapo Art Center Seoul.It was filled to capacity and turned out to be a great success.At the concert they invited a singer Mr. Son from the Korean popular vocal group “Sweet Sorrow” and a singer-songwriter Mr. Ruvin as guests.With them, they have recorded songs during the stay in Korea.These songs were released through online distribution on Aug. 4th. From January to April, Goro had been involved in Tomoyo Harada’s concert tour after releasing of her album “eyja.” - 2009
In November, Goro had started recordings for his solo album. Naomi and Goro’s album “passagem” and Tomoyo Harada’s album “eyja” were released on Oct. 21st. In October, Naomi and Goro appeared in several live events,”Grand Mint Festival” in Seoul,”Bossa Aoyama 2009″ and “Momiji-ichi.” Naomi and Goro’s album “Bossa Nova Songbook 2″ was released on Jul. 8th. Goro had been at work on producing Tomoyo Harada’s album “eyja” from June to August. This album was recorded in Japan and Iceland. In May, Goro appeared in the event “Daisy World Meeting” again.He had a talk show and played Joao Donato’s song “O Sapo” with Hosono. Naomi and Goro had been recording their albums “Bossa Nova Songbook 2″ and “passagem” in Rio de Janeiro with Brazilian musicians from Feb. to Apr. These albums features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano and Jaques Morelenbaum on cello.In Feb., Goro appeared in Sean O’Hagan’s solo live event in Japan.In Jan., Goro appeared in the event “Daisy World Meeting” produced by Haruomi Hosono. - 2008
Goro attended Tomoyo Harada’s national tour.
He hosted a digital radio program “Bossa Nova Hour” on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting.
He wrote a commercial music for SONY’s digital single-lens reflex camera α350.The CM started on-air in March.He appeared in the NHK TV program “Life & Live” with Tomoyo Harada and Keiichi Suzuki.
Goro appeared in “Mammoth Pow-Wow”,the event for parents and children, held at the camp site beside Lake Saiko.Naomi and Goro released their sixth album “Bossa Nova Songbook 1″ commemorating 50th anniversary of Bossa Nova.It was released from commmons featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano.They had a national concert tour to promote the album. Goro wrote the music for the NHK educational channel program “There are no such things as Ghosts.” Naomi and Goro appeared in the out door event “World Happiness” produced by Yukihiro Takahashi and Mitsuo Shindo.Goro went to Rio de Janeiro for the first time.It was scheduled for Joao Gilberto’s concert in Brazil.Naomi and Goro appeared in “Bossa Aoyama 2008″ hosted by Brazilian Embassy commemorating 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil and 50th anniversary of Bossa Nova. Naomi and Goro went on a concert tour in South Korea.They appeared in the “Grand Mint Festival” held at the Olympic Park in Seoul.
Goro produced an image album for the event “Momiji Ichi.”
Taku and Goro,in collaboration with Takuji Aoyagi, released the album “Radio Indigo.” - 2007
Naomi and Goro contributed to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s 80th birth anniversary album “Nosso Tom” by covering “Garota de Ipanema.” MOOSE HILL(Goro’s solo unit) released its second album “Desert House.”He had a one-man show at Harajuku Quest Hall to promote the album.Tomoyo Harada joined the concert as a guest.Taku & Goro,the unit of Takuji Aoyagi and Goro, started recording their album. “Gosanke”,the unit of Takuji Aoyagi,Ren Takada and Goro, went to Shanghai to do recording sessions. Naomi and Goro appeared in “LOHAS Classic Concert” hosted by Ryuichi Sakamoto at Bunkamura Orchard Hall and Sai-no-Kuni Saitama Arts Theater. “Gosanke” released their album “Shanghai.”Goro wrote music for two short films directed by Masahiko Nagashima. These two films,”Identify” and “Metamorphosis”, were produced for a part of Fuji Television’s campaign 2007. Goro planned and produced two Penguin Cafe Orchestra related albums,”Best”and “Tribute”, for Ryuichi sakamoto’s label “commmons.” The “Tribute” album contains such superb musicians like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yukihiro Takahashi, Steve Jansen and Hiroshi Takano. Moosehill released a collaboration album “Moosehill and Man” with French avant-pop unit “Man.” Goro produced Tomoyo Harada’s album “Music and Me” celebrating her 25th anniversary as a singer. He attended her national tour as a bandleader and guitarist.