Koji Fukui
Profile:
Born in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. A hobbyist.
He graduated from Keio University. His mother is a former Japanese guitar player. Due to his sister's influence, he grew up listening to musical pieces like a complete collection of classical music and the Beatles from an early age.
He graduated from Soutoku junior high and high school, which is known nationwide for its glee club. Although he was not a member of the Glee Club, the teacher in charge of music classes for six years was Katsumasa Ojima, an adviser to the Glee Club and a former opera singer. He was decisively influenced by Ojima's singing-centered class, which founded his musical sensation.
He started singing while attending university and studied under Enrique Sakai from around 2006. In 2008, he studied abroad for about a year at the Christina Helen Foundation, a flamenco vocational school in Seville, Spain. He studied under Jose de la Tomasa and a great local singer of Saeta, Lidia Montero. Since 2013, he has repeatedly traveled to Spain and studied under Inés Bacán, the treasure of Lebrija.
When he returned to Japan, he studied under Enrique Sakai again and continued his quest for flamenco and its quejío (deep mourning) with his inborn power of concentration and sense of smell. Singers from Seville and its neighboring cities have a strong influence on his flamenco art.
He is flat on songs other than flamenco as well. Currently, he is enjoying pop music.
With the release of this CD, he retires from flamenco.