
Sign-language rock band marks 35 years in Japan
Nagoya –
A four-piece Japanese rock band with three members who have impaired hearing has marked 35 years since it began performing music expressed also through sign language.
To keep rhythm for their performances, the three members feel the vibrations of the music. Masaaki Kimura, 55, the band's leader and guitar player, says, "We want to show listeners that you can enjoy music in your own way."
The band, Bright Eyes Super-Duper, was formed in Nagoya in May 1989, shortly after Yoshifusa Narita, 59, the drummer and sole member without any hearing loss, began working as a teacher at Aichi Prefectural Nagoya School for the Deaf. Kimura, then one of Narita's students, expressed his wish to launch a music club.
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