One of my favorite things about attending Anime Central each year is the number and quality of guests that they bring, particularly their musical performers. Attending the concerts is always one of the highlights of ACen for me. This year I was able to attend three of the four concerts – musical guests Imeruat, Gacharic Spin, and May’n. I hope to post feedback on the other performers later, but this first post will focus on Imeruat, whose performance really moved me.
In the first concert I was able to attend, on Friday night, Imeruat performed in the Grand Ballroom – featuring vocalist Mina and composer Masashi Hamauzu. I was vaguely familiar with the composer, and I think I had maybe heard one Imeruat song before, but I nevertheless wanted to take the opportunity to see them perform live. The music was entrancing, with a wide variety of compositions, from the farcical Pororororo to the moving Black Ocean, to the fast-paced “I want to assassinate!” (yes, this is the actual title). Along with the music. Mina treated us to a demonstration of two traditional Ainu instruments and explained a little about her Ainu heritage.
The performers were outstanding and were complemented by screens playing music videos or other graphics that went along with the live music. One of my favorite videos was this Battaki, based on a traditional Ainu song, embedded below.
If you’re unfamiliar with Imeruat, as I was before the concert, I would encourage you to check out their music videos on YouTube, listen to their music on Soundcloud, or support the band by buying their albums, they’re available digitally through Amazon MP3: