Maywa Denki's crazy musical instruments

Maywa Denki showcased their Otamana and other crazy electronic musical instruments at today's performance in a local mall in Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O district. The show featured a number of uniquely designed electronic musical instruments created by Nobumichi Tosa.

Maywa Denki performs at a local mall in Hong Kong (Photo: CathC)

Featured here are the "Poodle Head" (engine-driven steel jaw); "Takedamaru" (saxophone shaped airhorn); "Pachi-Moku" (backpack like device operates with electronic finger snappers)

Nobumichi Tosa led today's performance and he is also the producer of Maywa Denki. The other half of the creative team behind this Japanese new media art unit is Nobumichi's elder brother Masamichi Tosa. According to their website, "...each piece of Maywa Denki’s work is called 'a product' and a live performance or exhibition is held as 'a product demonstration'.

The "Na-Tate-Goto" (fins pick the harp-strings as the head spins) and the "Glass Carp" (handle turns the class harp) are two instruments on display at the mall (Photo: CathC)

Maywa Denki has performed with their outrageous musical instruments worldwide and today's humourous musical act was the first time the band played in HK. Their performance was well received by the crowd and everyone clapped along to Mayway Denki's covers of a  number of famous songs, including: Queen's "We are the Champions" and Frank Santra`s "My Way". But the crowd really went wild for Denki's rendition of Alan Tam's famous 愛情陷阱 ("Love Trap"). Although I only had a vague idea of the song, watching Denki's performance really made me smile. His energetic and crazy act was fantastic. This last song was definitely my favourite performance of the afternoon.

I thought the most memorable musical instrument from today's show is the Otamatone. It makes sounds when you squeeze on the base of the instrument and slide your hand along the neck. I wonder how much these instruments are sold for...

Nobumichi Tosa performs with his Otamatone (Photo: CathC)