"Shingetsu" was a Japanese progressive rock band from the decade of the 70's. Seminal band with a short career, they have typically been categorised as one of the most notable exponents of Progressive Rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 music.http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1273#freemp3

Shingetsu

Shingetsu ('new moon') arrived in the japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese music scene in the late 70's. Led by the "Japanese Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

": Makoto Kitayama

Makoto Kitayama

Makoto Kitayama is a Japanese musician who's been active since the late ‘60s, most notably as vocalist and songwriter for the hailed progressive rock band Shingetsu...

 (recognized for his deep, wavering, mournful vocals), Shingetsu's cinematic progressive sound gained comparisons to peak-time Genesis

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

 and recognition over the seas.http://www.progressor.net/review/shingetsu_1979.htmlhttp://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=2046http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue30/shingets.html

Consisting of Makoto Kitayama

Makoto Kitayama

Makoto Kitayama is a Japanese musician who's been active since the late ‘60s, most notably as vocalist and songwriter for the hailed progressive rock band Shingetsu...

, Akira Hanamoto, Naoya Takahahi, Shizuo Suzuki and Haruhiko Tsuda, the band unfortunately only lived long enough to produce one studio album, followed in later years by two live albums, which nevertheless featured some unreleased performances.

Their studio album, the eponymous "Shingetsu", often considered as a masterpiece of symphonic prog, is abundant in musical arrangements: the tasteful use of soft organ/synth soundscapes, Mellotron

Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

, and 12-string guitar passages reminiscent of the UK bands of the 70's, while Kitayama's

Makoto Kitayama

Makoto Kitayama is a Japanese musician who's been active since the late ‘60s, most notably as vocalist and songwriter for the hailed progressive rock band Shingetsu...

 haunting vocals give Shingetsu a distinctive edge from western bands.http://www.gepr.net/sh.html#SHINGETSUhttp://www.planetmellotron.com/revs5.htmhttp://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=6268

Shingetsu (Album)
Track	Song	Duration
1	Oni	9:37
2	The Other Side Of Morning	4:17
3	Influential Street	4:28
4	Afternoon (After the Rain)	4:11
5	Fragments of the Dawn	7:05
6	Freeze	3:03
7	Night Collector	5:09
8	Return of the Night	5:38

Shingetsu's Line-up
Vocals	Makoto Kitayama Makoto Kitayama Makoto Kitayama is a Japanese musician who's been active since the late ‘60s, most notably as vocalist and songwriter for the hailed progressive rock band Shingetsu...
Guitar	Haruhiko Tsuda
Keyboards	Akira Hanamoto
Bass	Shizuo Suzuki
Drums	Naoya Takahashi

Collaborations
Takashi Kokubo	Synthesizers Programming and Supporting Keyboards (Live)
Hiroshi Morimura	Saxophone (Track #4)

Shingetsu's links

• "http://shingetsu.tv/" Official site.
• "Shingetsu's" discography, mp3 and reviews.
• "Shingetsu's" site with downloable mp3 and information.

Disambiguation and meaning

Disambiguation for the word 'Shingetsu':

Shingetsu is a shakuhachi

Shakuhachi

The is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of...

 honkyoku

Honkyoku

Honkyoku are the pieces of shakuhachi or hocchiku music played by mendicant Japanese Zen monks called komusō. Komusō played honkyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century. Honkyoku is the practice of suizen...

 piece from the Dokyoku repertoire. The word shin means heart, mind, or spirit. The word getsu means moon, which is a symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...

 for enlightenment or perfection. Thus, the name of the piece can be taken to mean heart moon or spirit perfection or enlightenment of the mind. The piece is the slowest and most quiet in the Dokyoku repertoire.

"Shingetsu" has been recorded by many shakuhachi artists, including Watazumi Doso

Watazumi Doso

Watazumi Doso Roshi was a master of the end-blown Japanese bamboo flute. He studied Rinzai Zen, attaining the title of roshi...

, Yokoyama Katsuya

Yokoyama Katsuya

was an internationally renowned player and teacher of the shakuhachi, a traditional vertical bamboo flute of Japan.Katsuya Yokoyama is one of the greatest masters of the shakuhachi in Japan today...

, and Alcvin Takegawa Ramos.

Shingetsu Kyudo Kaihttp://www.shingetsu-kyudo.com

Shingetsu Kyudo

Kyudo

, literally meaning "way of the bow", is the Japanese art of archery. It is a modern Japanese martial art and practitioners are known as .It is estimated that there are approximately half a million practitioners of kyudo today....

kai is affiliated with the national American Kyudo Renmei, and adheres to the training of the All Nippon Kyudo Federation. Located in Decatur, GA. In this case, the term shingetsu means "the moon thru the trees".