AVO Magazine has been sharing information and promoting Japanese culture and music since 2003, which means that this year AVO is celebrating their 15th birthday.
And what better way to celebrate is there than celebrating this milestone together?
In 2013 AVO already celebrated their 10th birthday with the AVO J-Rock Festival, a concert held at Tivoli de Helling in Utrecht, where GOTHIKA, ADAMS and VANIRU rocked the stage.
For their 15th birthday founder Francisca has decided to make a second edition of this festival, this time giving it the name “AVO J-Music Festival”.
This time the event will be taking place at the Zuiderpark Theater in Den Haag on September 15. There will be Japanese food and drinks as well as two musical guests: Esprit D’Air and REMNANT.
Tickets are available through the website of the Zuiderpark Theater for only €10,-.
REMNANT
Their first album “MisanthroPia” was released in December of 2013, combining French-inspired romance with horror to create an album that’s unique even in their own genre.
Their second full album, “Ewigkeit” was released in April of 2017 and is a great continuation of their previous album.
Maries haunting, unique vocals combined with the music created by Takmi and Rober__tj create a haunting atmosphere which is worthy of a horror movie soundtrack.
The show in the Zuiderpark Theater is not the first time REMNANT has been in The Netherlands. In April of 2015 Marie and Takmi already played in Den Haag (a show that was organized by AVO Events & Promotion) at the 330live venue (which now no longer exists).
Even though REMNANT are coming to celebrate together with AVO Magazine, they also have a celebration on their own. Their own band is also celebrating their 10th anniversary!
The group also has a split CD with the industrial band 2Bullet, titled “ISM”. More information about this release will be announced soon, but they have shared that they will bring this CD to the merchandise table at AVO J-Music Festival.
Esprit D’Air
They released their first EP “Deai”, which loosely translates to “encounter” in English, in October of that same year. Since their formation the group has played numerous shows in the United Kingdom and Spain, but they also had an interview with the Japan-based music sharing website “Nico Nico Douga”.
In 2013 the group announced an indefinite hiatus due to personal reasons, which eventually ended in a full disbanding because of various events with members leaving, being replaced with new ones and then leaving again. Despite that, the group returned in 2016 for a one off show at a charity event, but this time it was Kai on vocals, Ellis on bass and Daishi on drums, and it wasn’t sure if the band would reform or not. Interest and demand by fans convinced them to return in June of 2016 as a 3-members only group, and a main stage performance at the HYPER JAPAN Festival followed suit.
The single “Rebirth” was released in December of the same year, and the launch was celebrated in both London and Paris. The second comeback single “Guiding Light” was released in 2017, followed by the album “Constellations”.
Esprit D’Air will be performing at AVO J-Music Festival, but as a three member band there is some information that has to be cleared up in advance: Kai will be the vocalist of the group, and Ellis will be the bassist, but Jan-Vincent Velazco from Pendragon will be the drummer instead of Daishi (because Daishi is taking a break from music for the time being), and Ryo will be the guitarist for the group so they can have a full lineup.
雪 (Yuki) is the owner and driving force behind Arlequin.
She originally started the project in 2009 as a photographer under the name of Arlequin Photography, but developed an interest in journalism and translation ever since. Because of these interests interviews and reviews were added to the project, until it eventually hit the limits as a "photographer" in 2021, and Arlequin Magazine was added to the mix.
雪 (Yuki) is a native Dutch speaker with a graphic design degree, which means she is also the main person behind Arlequin Creations.
After all these years she is still the main person who does interviews the interviews and live photos that you see on Arlequin, but also a large chunk of the reviews and behind-the-scenes work and communication goes through her.
She speaks Dutch and English on a native level, but also understands Japanese and German.