《歌手2024》是一档音乐交流竞技节目，节目将邀请来自国内和国外的7位顶尖歌手进行歌唱竞演，在各自音乐合伙人的陪伴下，展现不同国度的音乐、文化特色，歌手们将接受来自不同年龄、不同国籍的大众听审的评价。享受音乐，收获知音。因乐相逢，拥抱世界。

歌手2024第一期精彩上线啦！舞台迎来豪华阵容，国内外大咖齐聚，巅峰相对！
Chanté Moore（香缇·莫）演绎经典情歌《If I Ain't Got You》，铁肺高音不断，融入高难哨音燃爆全场；那英重现金曲《默》，独特声线开口脆，情深似海，绵延不绝；二手玫瑰上头神曲《耍猴儿》，中西乐器集合！欢乐律动无限洗脑；杨丞琳挖掘岁月恋曲《带我走》，给全场带来满满回忆杀，重温深沉爱意；汪苏泷带来个人新歌《想到我们》，饱满情绪搭配催泪歌词，汪式情歌深入人心；海来阿木深情诠释《你的万水千山》，独特烟嗓诉说男儿柔情，国风笛声诉说真挚情愫。

東京藝術大学 音楽学部 器楽科 打楽器専攻を卒業。現在、ソロ活動に加えて、ceroのサポートや石若駿SONGBOOK PROJECTのメンバーなどで活躍中の打楽器奏者/シンガー・ソングライター、角銅真実のメジャー・ファースト・アルバム。石若 駿、中村大史、西田修大、マーティ・ホロベック、光永 渉、中藤有花、巌 裕美子、網守将平など、ジャンルレスに活躍する音楽シーンの注目株がバックアップ。美しく儚げなウィスパーボイスと、懐かしいようで見知らぬ風景を見せてくれる独特の歌詞の世界観、そして遊び心あふれるサウンドメイキングなど、その溢れる才能を開花させた作品です。

There are some duos which can seem as if they have been patched together. And there are others which come into being naturally and completely of their own accord. The pairing of pianist Bill Laurance and bassist/oud player Michael League is very much one of the latter; the two musicians have known each other since student days. During a chance meeting in Leeds, England, as sidemen on a one-off project, the two quickly formed a musical bond
that would grow through the formation of Snarky Puppy in 2004 and its development over years of touring together, a number of solo albums and collaborations, and finally, in 2020, the birth of their duo.
Bill Laurance and Michael League’s new duo album, “Keeping Company,” is at the opposite end of the spectrum from all the extraversion, large scale and sheer oomph of Snarky Puppy; the focus here is on a shared inner perspective. That much is apparent immediately from the choice of instruments. Laurance has cast aside electronic keyboards and concentrates on piano, acoustic in sound although the piano strings have been occasionally and lightly prepared. Michael League chooses a fretless acoustic bass guitar and the oud. An extreme contrast to the pure groove of Snarky Puppy, here he goes for a transparently sparse but atmospherically rich sound. They do just fine without the band, creating a special freedom for both participants. “The oud in itself has a specific associative space,” says Bill Laurance from the orchestral perspective of the piano. “When I compose, my aim is to transport the listener. That works with the sound of the oud. It’s not a guitar, it has something exotic about it. It’s a canvas on which you can paint a lot of things. On the first album, we discussed whether Michael should play a fretless nylon string guitar. He tried it out, but it didn’t produce the same emotion as the oud. Due to the oud being fretless, it can access a whole new world of expression and created new colours for the duo. That fascinated us.”
Their curiosity is undimmed. “Keeping Company” is the duo’s second album after the internationally acclaimed “Where You Wish You Were,” released in January 2023. The preparation phase was extremely productive. Both musicians wrote numerous sketches and compositions, with Bill Laurance alone writing up to three ideas a day for weeks on end. Finally, the abundance of new material had to be whittled down. “The first album was more about establishing a sound and exploring the dynamics. Now we want to delve deeper. There’s even more personality in the music. We also wanted to try out things we hadn’t explored before in this format, a touch of soul jazz, for example. We also made it a priority to record practically everything live, without unnecessary overdubbing. We have found a particular beauty in concentrating on what happens organically without too much extraneous thought or effort.
The whole idea of broadening horizons by taking excursions into the unknown is second nature in this partnership. Michael League, for example, has never formally studied the oud in a classical context. He knows the instrument largely from his brother, who studied it while living in Greece in the early 2000s, and is mentored by Ara Dinkjian, one of the world’s most respected masters of the instrument. But he himself has explored the short-necked lute largely from his own perspective (as encouraged to do so by Dinkjian) and therefore ornaments differently, intuitively, and with a unique accent. Bill Laurance, on the other hand, dispenses with the expansive and grand-standing aspects of the piano. He prefers cantabile melodies, rhythmically clever, clear accompaniments, and compact improvisations. The pieces themselves seem like miniatures- hints at ideas rather than final or definitive statements.
And that, as a duo still making discoveries, is all that they need to do here. “Keeping Company” is a snapshot of an unusual team, catching moments like a collection of Polaroids in sound. Bill Laurance and Michael League are still in the wonderfully inspiring phase of joint exploration. Everything is open. The music sounds spontaneous and intuitive. It has the power of the personal and builds on a friendship in which shared humour is a part of what happens naturally. Perhaps one day other players will join in. But for the time being, this intimate musical dialogue is the ideal form of artistic conversation for Bill Laurance and Michael League.

jizueが、今年1月に発表した配信シングル「Hilarious」に続き、4曲収録のデジタルEP『LOTUS』を8月14日にリリースすることを発表した。

昨年劇伴を担当したTBS系日曜劇場"下剋上球児"に続き、今年もTBS系金曜ドラマ"9ボーダー"の劇伴を担当するなどアグレッシヴに作品を発表し、今回待望の自身のオリジナル作品発表となる。今作は"LOTUS"（＝蓮の花）と名付けられ、3人のメンバーそれぞれが1曲ずつ作曲を担当。残りの1曲はメンバー全員で制作を進めた4曲収録の作品となっている。ドラムは前作にも参加した橋本現輝が担当している。

■メンバー　コメント
長く一緒にバンドをやっているとメンバーそれぞれの個性もはっきり見えてくるし、バンドとしてその強みをより感じるようになりました。各々で作った「obsession」、「Republic」、「You」に加え、今回珍しく3人で一緒に仕上げた「trefoil」も収録しています。
jizueの緊張感とは真逆の、良い意味でゆるい空気感を楽しんでもらえたら嬉しいです。
ドラムには橋本現輝君、アートワークには山本拓未さんという盤石の布陣を迎えて完成したEP「LOTUS」、ぜひ聴いてください。

―― 山田 剛（jizue）

また新作EPリリースに伴い東京、京都でのワンマン・ライヴの開催も決定。今回のワンマン・ライヴは3部構成でのライヴとなる。メンバー3人それぞれが3曲ずつ持ち寄り、1部ずつ構成を担当。またファン投票によるリクエスト企画も実施され、選ばれた上位2曲がアンコールで披露されるスペシャルなステージになるとのことなので、ぜひお見逃しなく。