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Yuka Honda came to New York City from Japan in the mid 1980's. She has worked with many bands and musicians in the New York underground music scene. She has jammed with Dave Douglas of Masada to develop a feel for avant garde jazz. Yuka played hip hop with Sha Key, jammed with John Zorn, and played acid jazz with the Brooklyn Funk Essential. She developed her style and musical skills on keyboards and then created more advanced musical ideas using the sampler. Yuka is searching for something new, and she is always open minded to experimenting with different musical styles. Through use of conceptual sampling, Yuka has created her own interpretation of music that blends her diverse musical background into a sound she can call her own.

Yuka is responsible for most of the musical composition of the songs that Cibo Matto writes and/or arranges. Using the keyboards and sampler, she works on a song for weeks to bring together a variety of ideas on melody, beat, and movement. Yuka blends the ideas of a melody that she performs on keyboards and tinkers with various changes and passages. Along with Miho's input, Yuka builds a musical idea over time into a song. As the idea becomes more defined, she reduces her reliance on the technology of the sampler and turns the concept into a more pure performance piece. Yuka prefers to not use a sequencer in developing her music, and plays the sampler more like a live instrument. She views sampling as an art and uses an unwritten code of ethics in her selection of borrowed works.

Her own code of ethics and beliefs about the use of sampling in Cibo Matto’s music can be seen in comments like, "People are mistaken if they think sampling is just patching together someone else’s cool old music," Yuka explained. "I am not interested in replaying someone else’s music."

Yuka is a talented musician that can play a wide variety of musical instruments, as well being an accomplished vocalist. She is a master of electronic effects and a respected studio producer. Some of the musical instruments that Yuka has mastered include Organ, Piano, Synth, Harpsichord, Electric Piano, Vocoder, Sampler & Sequencer, Farfisa, and Guitar. She is obsessive in her development of Cibo Matto's musical ideas, and is always reaching to extend the scope of her musical abilities.

Yuka produced most of Cibo Matto's second release on Warner Brother records (the mini CD titled, "Super Relax"). With the release of "Stereotype A", Yuka emerges as a serious producer that is truly setting her own standards for modern music. She continues her upstream battle against record industry stereotypes of women and explains, "There are people who think women can’t operate studio equipment." Yuka Honda demonstrates that those types of attitudes are in need of change.

Most recently Yuka has launched her solo career. She has released a new jazzy cd and is working with more hard rock music as well. Yuka is trying to develop several different musical combinations at one time. In her spare time she works with various people in the studio and enjoys jamming with her friends.

Yuka Honda played bass with Buffalo Daughter in Tokyo, Japan on August 26th, 2001
at Shinjuku Liquid Room The Buffalo Daughter Website - Click Here

Find out about Yuka with Bonnie Pink

 

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