entertainment

Japanese opera singer records cover of Queen’s 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

7 Comments
By Krista Rogers, RocketNews24

While we don’t usually think about successful opera singers breaking into the rock music industry, there’s one man out there to prove that classically trained performers can, in fact, appreciate decidedly more “modern-sounding” music.

Japanese operatic tenor Ken Nishikiori (錦織 健) is one of the most prolific opera singers to come out of Japan. But recently the 55-year-old has been making waves on the net not for his sweeping operatic vocals, but for his astounding cover of British rock band Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody!”

As part of my father’s mandatory musical education while growing up, I was always surrounded by a host of classic rock bands (the Kinks in particular). Although Queen wasn’t one of his personal choices, even I can recognize some of the band’s biggest hits, such as the hugely influential “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The song was originally written by Freddie Mercury for the band’s 1975 album "A Night at the Opera." Notably, it features an approximately one-minute-long “operatic” segment within the song, right after the guitar solo. The effect of this choir-like vocal multi-tracking was achieved by having Mercury and the other band members record their voices for up to 10 to 12 hours per day, for a grand total of 180 separate overdubs.

Enter Ken Nishikiori. The Shimane Prefecture native graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo and is today celebrated as a successful operatic tenor in his home country. In his spare time, he also participates in another ongoing gig in the form of a rock band that was originally formed during his school days – the Shimane Ken Band ( シマネ健バンド).

Nishikiori has a chance to shine as a rock vocalist through this separate outlet, while at the same time pay tribute to Queen, one of his own personal favorite bands. The band has so far released two CDs, one in October 2010 and the other in May of 2011, both of which exclusively contain Queen cover tracks.

The band’s label, Pony Canyon, uploaded their “Bohemian Rhapsody” cover onto YouTube last year. It’s still picking up new views even now, with many Japanese listeners commenting on how Nishikiori’s vocals sound hauntingly similar to Mercury’s original rendition (minus the slight accent, of course).

Sources: Twitter (@shimanekko), Pony Canyon_

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7 Comments
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I've been to one of his performances and he is very good. He sings in Italian, English and Japanese and finished his show with an encore of "We are the Champions".

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Wonderful!

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At the start I thought it was not original enough, but as it progressed the performance was gaining its own ground in a subtle manner.

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Little hight Little low!

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Um, this video is 5 years old! How is this news?

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okay this is pretty cool :D

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He sings beautifully, plus I like the vibrato in his voice

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