G.Rina

Singer/songwriter G. Rina is a Japan born and raised young woman who is a quarter English. She uses only the letter "G" from her full English family name (which she does not reveal on her official website), and places it in front of her given name, as is Japanese custom. Her music is also a hybrid - a mix of electronic and acoustic, pop/jazz/Brazilian/reggae/hip-hop sounds sung in Japanese, English and sometimes Spanish. She also deejays on a regular basis, and while she plays both guitar and piano, most often she sings while accompanying herself on turntable or personal computer. G. Rina in fact describes herself as ''singer/song-track maker''. She began deejaying in clubs starting in 1996, playing a wide variety of music. Her first commercial release was the 12 inch single [Wandering Balloon], released in 2001 on the indie Angel's Egg, which received a fair amount radio airplay. In addition to playing increasingly more live dates, she also continued to deejay, and released a series of mix tapes 0 to 4 under the banner Destinations, which reflected her diverse DJ style. G. Rina released her first album A Girl From A Circus, in 2003, again on Angel's Egg. She wrote the album, made most of the basic tracks with Pro Tools and MPC2000, played guitar and keyboards on it, and sang tracks in three languages. The album was well received, and later released in a remixed version, reworked by various artists including Mondo Grosso, DJ BAKU, Alpha, Rob Smith of Smith & Mighty / More Rockers and Lightning Head a.k.a. Bigga Bush. G.Rina continued to play live in various configurations, sometimes with a four piece band that includes a steel pan player, and sometimes solo or deejaying under the name DJ Senorina. G. Rina's second album was Hyoryu Jyozu (Good At Drifting), released in January, 2005. The album continued her general direction but the lyrics were heavier to Japanese. In September of 2005 she released the EP Miyako No Gypsy (A Gypsy in Tokyo), and created a video for the title track, both of which received critical acclaim. In 2005 she also went to Bristol, England where she recorded, with some of the material due to appear on an upcoming album by Rob Smith of Smith & Mighty. Meanwhile G. Rina continues to deejay and perform live nationally. She often plays livehouses and clubs in Tokyo's popular music zones Shimokitazawa and Shibuya, and has most recently performed as a duo with King Kim, a young man who retired from being a dentist after three years and moved to Jamaica to sharpen his musical and English skills.