Toshi Onizuka Guitar World JAPANESE

Welcome to Toshi Onizuka Guitar World.
This is the site of Toshi Onizuka, a unique guitarist working internationally.

Profile

Toshi Onizuka folds Jazz, Rock, New Age, Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian influences into the complex rhythms of Flamenco to create a sound that is solely his.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1965, his first musical inspirations were Al Di Meola and Django Reinhardt, but it wasn't until he discovered the art of Paco de Lucia that Toshi devoted himself to studying the music of the great Spanish guitarists.

 His distinctive sound uniquely combines flat picking with dynamic percussive sounds made on the surface of his guitar.  It has evolved and grown in the sixteen years since he began playing.  Toshi spent five years in Spain where he refined his style even further.  He constantly strives to polish and develop his technique.  During his time in Spain Toshi was welcomed by well-known Flamenco groups like Coral de Los Reyes, often performing and recording with them.  He toured Spain and Switzerland for two years with the internationally acclaimed Flamenco fusion group  Pata Negra.

His first solo CD, Toshi, an effort that featured many musicians from Spain and Brazil, was released in 1997.  Two years later he appeared on the CD Born in the Air, a collaboration of fifteen acoustic guitarists.  Produced by Seigen Ono, the CD received an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and audiences.

Writers have said "Toshi draws pictures with his sound" and "the listener is mesmerized, transfixed, and caught by the rhythms and the indefinable and talented mixture of his music."  Listeners often say his music inspires them and gives them a "floating sensation."

Toshi's music isn't easily categorized and can't be limited to a specific genre; he prefers to think of it as a truly international sound that knows no borders and has no boundaries.

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