Magdalena biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=222)
Japanese Symphonic scene is pretty fertile but not in the classic style we are used to, instead they have a more eclectic approach that blends our beloved sub-genre with Fusion and Neo Prog influences, it's very common to find female vocalist as in two of their most representative bands like TERU'S SYMPHONIA and MAGDALENA, both leaded by the fabulous Megumi Tokuhisa, the perfect balance between the operatic sound of Annie Haslam and the beautiful but less elaborate vocals of Kate Bush.
The 5 piece Symphonic band was formed in Osaka during the mid 80's and included Taku Fujii (Guitar), Nobuo Itõ ( Drums), Youzou Kashima (Keyboards), Chokura Nishiguchi (Bass) and of course Mehumi Tokuhisa as the main vocalist.
In 1987 they released their self titled debut which represents one of the peaks of Japanese Symphonic, the music is clearly inspired in early 70's British Symphonic and it's based in powerful guitar and keyboard, the vocals are one of the strongest points because knowing her versatility Megumi floats between the sweetness in Omen to the almost operatic excesses of Waltz so it captivates the audience with some sort of hypnotic attributes but being the lyrics in Japanese is hard to get into them for any "gaijin" (foreigner) who isn't able to understand anything more demanding than domo arigato.
The band split in in 1981 and Tokuhisa joined TERU'S SYMPHONIA but in 1991 they attempted a reunion, sadly they only released a demo tape that probably will be edited in CD with some bonus material.
If you're into Japanese bands in the borderline that divides Symphonic from Neo Prog, MAGDALENA is your band.
Thanks Magal!
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