Hearing familiar pop, Chinese folk, jazz and classical music with a New Age vibe music not normally played by Chinese instruments provided a unique experience for many in the Royce Hall crowd and American audiences. That night the group included within their performance their cover version of Coldplay's “Clocks,” Riverdance piece “Reel Around the Sun” and Enya's 'Only Time' – among other selections from their c.d.’s while demonstrating various instruments that they were playing between various song selections.

Recognizing the great musical skills that exists within its members and its live performances captured on DVD, one looks forward to the opportunity to hear the Twelve Girls Band perform with a live band. One anticipates that playing with other musicians (as oppose to playing to prerecorded tracks) would provide the interplay, interactions, emotional connection and creativity that allow them to elevate their music to new creative heights. This would also provide a diversion while the group learns how to interact with American audiences.

Recognizing that this concert was their tour’s first date, the audience overlooked various production inconsistencies (i.e. sound production, translation miscues, etc.) and the members’ command of the English language to provide the music that was greatly anticipated. It was odd having the ability to hear the individual instruments being demonstrated with great clarity while these qualities disappeared when the entire group was performing.

Various segments were included within their performance to feature the unique musical timbre and qualities that is inherent with several of the instruments (gu zheng - zither with movable bridges and 16 to 25 strings), pipa (four-stringed, pear-shaped lute), yang qin (similar to the hammered dulcimer), erhu (two-stringed fiddle) and dizi (bamboo flute) that the group utilizes within their music. During those times, the audiences were treated to the many musical delights previously unheard of by many audiences in the United States. The musical demonstrations provided ample evidence of the skills that exists while making one long for arrangements in future performances that would allow their instruments to be utilized like an acclaim string section within an orchestra.

After Tokyo-based Warner Music executive Kazuma Tomoto formed his own record label, Platia Entertainment, to successfully launch the Twelve Girls Band in Japan that provided earnings of almost of $50 million - the idea of bringing the Twelve Girls Band to North America was engineered by Ken Pedersen, a Virgin Records executive behind the world music-oriented Luaka Bop and Real World. His plan was based on the success he'd had with such concept projects as "Moods" (with Yanni) a series of CDs compiling ethereal, soothing music that included key elements of incorporating direct marketing television campaigns and live appearances on TV shows and in concert. His team also included Ray Cooper, former Virgin Records America president and one of the key developers of the Spice Girls, who helped design the group's presentation to the American and European markets and Phil Quartararo (EMI North American Executive Vice-President) – who made the group’s distribution deal with EMI Music Marketing.

Their coordinated promotion in the United States included TV spots on the History Channel, A&E, CBS and MTV – along with print coverage of the band in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and CNN.com.

Going into this current U.S. tour, people have asked on whether they are the latest music “sensation” from Asia, musical geniuses or an Asian version of bland, manufactured pop? Time Asia called them “China’s first exportable supergroup.” Entertainment industry publication Variety wrote, “China dolls take traditional music off the shelf.”

Asian Pacific American concertgoers’ reactions range from the Twelve Girls Band as a gateway for young fans to appreciate classical Chinese music to being compared by fans of Mandarin pop to S.H.E.’s version of Superstar that also mixes Chinese traditional music with American rock to people that think that it’s too commercialized of watered-down version of familiar classic as played on Chinese instruments made palatable for mainstream audiences.

At UCLA’s Royce Hall, it appears that the people behind the Twelve Girls Band have a definitive marketing plan to extend the success of a talented group of musicians in Asia to the United States. Will the Twelve Girls Band be just another group of gorgeous females put together to capitalize on the latest trend or will they be a trend-setting group that will blend various Chinese and American music styles into a new genre – only time will tell? Imagine if the Twelve Girls Band had the opportunity to work with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Tan Dun and other similar artists . . . .

	Bond

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