Ichiko Aoba: a true performer

experiencing Ichiko Aoba's wonderful performance

I’m back sorry for being inactive, glad to say I’m only an exam away from being done with school!

Anyways I had the opportunity to watch the wonderful Ichiko Aoba’s live performance and to call it amazing would be an understatement.

In case you’re not so familiar with who she is, Ichiko Aoba is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter well known for her gentle, enchanting voice and masterful fingerstyle guitar . Songs like Asleep Among Endives and いきのこり●ぼくら (Ikinokori ● boku-ra) have gotten really popular over the years.

Now while her studio version and songs on spotify are good, her live performance was truly on another level. First and foremost her guitar playing skills honestly shocked me, you could just hear it in the way she’d change the tempo and go from the top of the fretboard to the bottom. As someone who plays a little guitar (I’m terrible) when playing fingerstyle, sometimes you get your fingers stuck between the strings or you just don’t pluck it right. But she did is so quickly and effortlessly it was honestly so cool. What made the live performance so good was the little details, you could hear her fingers sliding on the strings or when she taps her guitar to give the song some percussive action.

Her voice, as expected, was beautiful. With just her voice and an wooden acoustic guitar, she was able to create a dreamlike atmosphere, sometimes slow and soft before transitioning into powerful high notes. Especially during the softer sections of her performance I thought she was outstanding, as her soothing voice in these sections made it so that the louder parts of the song become extra impactful.

In the latter part, Ichiko also performed with the keyboard, bringing a different dimension to her work. Apparently can also play the clarinet, flute and accordion which unfortunately we didn’t get to hear. She also had this funny section where she announced it was her last song and when she was done she walked out only for her to come back and perform two more songs LOL.

a low quality photo shot from my android

Watching her live was definitely unique, while sounding so enchanting and gentle, the way she shreds her guitar it’s almost rock-esque. Honestly got me thinking “Damn, I wanna be that cool”. If I had to make a complain it would be that she didn’t play the full song of “omoide cafe” one of my all time favourites. Other than that there were weirdos who were sat in the front row recording the whole time or people taking pictures with flashes, well not like she could do anything about that, but what’s the point of watching her through a phone?

I usually lean more towards genres like R&B, Rock or Pop so to say the least Ichiko Aoba is not someone who I expected to enjoy so thoroughly. But something about her really stood out to me so I’ve been following her since early 2021 and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to catch her live.

Even if you aren’t all that interested in Ichiko Aoba or folk song for that matter, if you ever get the chance to see her live I highly highly recommend you go for it!

Thanks for reading!