Halcali in Rosemont, IL May 16-18, 2008

[Nihonjin_Berryz]

HALCALI is a Japanese female pop duo from Meguro, Tokyo with a cheerful, sugarcoated Hip-hop flavor.
Their group name is an amalgam of the members' real names. Halca and Yucali.

While many musicians experience working with several producers during their careers, HALCALI is special as they often work with many different producers on a track-by-track basis. Seasoned with the producer's musical style - from Hip-hop, Dance, Techno to New Wave – the girls have a very relaxed flow with their rap, spiced with their own flavor of pop. The girls are also models for Japanese fashion magazines and have collaborated in designing merchandise with the street apparel brand "Lovers House". Now, they enjoy a large teenage fanbase, many of who are also into street/Hip-hop culture.

Halca and Yucali met at a dancing school during their childhood. The pair won the grand prize at the "Female Rapper Audition" held in 2002, and made their debut with O.T.F. (Oshare Track Factory), a producer's unit of RYO-Z (a member of renowned Japanese Hip-hop group RIP SLYME) and DJ FUMIYA.

In 2003, HALCALI released their debut single "Tandem" and followed it with the single "Electric Sensei (Electric Teacher)". At the same time, HALCALI made their first television appearance featured on BBC’s as one of the most popular hip-hop acts among teenage girls in Japan. Their video-clip of the next single "Giri Giri Surf Rider" was a parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" featuring a gang fight and the video became the talk of the town.

In 2003, HALCALI toured for the first time. As the girls were still in junior-high, the tour had to be in the summer. They named the tour "HALCALI Club Circuit Hiru-no Bu (daytime performance)" and it was meant to convey the feel of teenagers enjoying summer vacation. The girls did free performances in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka; each were sold-out shows.

The duo’s first album “Halcali Bacon” was released on September 3, 2003, and HALCALI became the first female rappers to be ranked in the top 10 of the Japanese Oricon album chart (similar to Billboard's), peaking at #5.


One of the more fascinating aspects of HALCALI is their sense of humor that shows up in their videoclips. Their first video collection in 2004 was entitled "Halcali DVD (temporary title)" (note: "temporary…" is part of the title), and included video clips in which the two Tanakas - Hideyuki Tanaka and Noriyuki Tanaka (both have filmed videos for the girls in the past) remixed each other's videos for the girls. One notable video in this collection is the clip for “Marching March,” in which the girls are wearing the Team Japan uniforms from the 1964 Olympic Games. This was done with the upcoming Athens Games in mind.

HALCALI’s second album "Ongaku-no Susume (Recommendation for Music) was released on November 24, 2004. O.T.F. were the overall producers of the album and it featured a variety of guest producers that the girls collaborated with on a number of tracks.

In 2005, HALCALI signed to Epic Records Japan. Beginning with the single "Tip Taps Tip" on December 7, they released 5 singles with their new label. The girl’s sense of humor came out in their use of samples. Examples include, The Magnificent Seven's theme featured in "Twinkle Star" and THE HIGH-LOWS’ track "Nichiyo-bi yorino Shisha" featured in the Fantastic Plastic Machine- produced track "It's PARTY TIME!". The girls started to tie-in their music with Anime at this time and "Tip Taps Tip", "LOOK", and "Lights, Camera, Action!" were picked up as the theme for several Anime programs. A much anticipated compilation of all of these singles and other tracks was released as their third album, “Cyborg Oretachi (We, the Cyborgs) on July 18th, 2007.

2007 was also the year that the girls decided to reach out to an international audience. The duo were invited as guests at Japan Expo 2007; the biggest Japanese cultural convention in Europe held in Paris in July.
HALCALI’s live performance at the main stage drew the attention of more than 5,000 people, which then turned into 2-hour long lines to meet the girls at their autograph session afterwards. Their appearance on more than 20 different forms of media, including the cover of the Expo's promotional materials, proves that HALCALI has the potential to appeal to a wide, international audience.

Check here for more information about HALCALI and links to their official web sites.

http://www.acen.org/index.php?catego...2_articleid=46