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HALCALI (by noi, proof read by ReiRei)

HALCALI - this are HALCA (voice, *April 21st 1988) and
YUCALI (voice, *July 18th 1987).

The music of the young duo is an interesting mixture of pop-melodies, hip-hop-beats, singing and rap.
They started their career as a pop music band, but from the very beginning they had an idea to change their style to hip-hop/rap. At the beginning of their career, they wanted to get a stable fan base first before they could become popular with their very own style.
In their lyrics, you can find relations to persons from film or music scene. For bring their minds into words they built a own slang. Named after the band HALCALISM contains words for banal things. For example "Candy Hearts" stands for rendezvous but also for diet.

The history of the band started in 2002, with a talent casting in Meguro/Tokyo in order to create a new female hip-hop band. The girls Haruka and Yukari, who were classmates in dance school since their childhood, took part in the talent casting. Although none of them had any experience in rap, they won the Female Rapper Audition, and signed together with O.T.F. (Oshare Track Factory - a producers unit of RYO-Z (from the Japanese hip-hop group RIP SLYME) and DJ FUMIYA) on July 26, 2002. They became HALCALI. The name, HALCALI, is a combination of the names of the two vocalists who decided to use the alternative writing of their names (HALCA and YUCALI).
Under O.T.F., a short time after HALCALI was formed, in January, 2003 the debut single "Tandem" already released with great success. During their next singles, HALCALI had already gone away from simple pop music and started to work with rap.
Their first album, "HALCALI BACON" was produced in the original music style of the duo, and was ranked in the top 10 of the Oricon album charts, peaking at #5. HALCALI was the first female rappers who had their album place so high on the Oricon album charts. For their album, they worked together with great producers like Scha Dara Parr, Fantastic Plastic Maschine (Tomoyuki Tanaka), Nathalie Wies (Bike), and Mellow Yellow. The CD arrived in stores on September of 2003.
During this year, they also appeared on their first TV show as one of the most popular hip-hop acts among Japanese teenage girls. Their first tour came in the summer of 2003 as well. Because the girls were still in junior-high, they could only hold the tour during the school vacation. This was also an inspiration for the tour name, HALCALI Club Circuit Hiru-no Bu (daytime performance); (it was meant to convey the feelings of teenagers enjoying their summer vacation). All shows were sold out in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka.
More concerts and releases followed. For the second album, they invited guest stars like Junji Ishiwatari (ex-Superstar), Utamaru (RHY MESTER), YUKI, YO-KING, and Shuntaro Tanikawa. Even today, this CD is still successful. The video single, "BABY BLUE" got the title as one of the best pop videos of the year at the Space Shower Music Video Awards in March, 2005. 2005 was also the year HALCALI changed their record label to Epic Records Japan. The first release under their new record label was the #4 single on December 7th with the name, "Tip Taps Tap". This was the time when the young rappers started to give tracks to be featured in animes. Beside "Tip Taps Tap" also, "LOOK", and "Lights, Camera, Action!" became theme songs. You can find them on their album that was published in July.

In July of 2007, the duo gave their first international show in Paris. They were invited to the Japan Expo 2007, the biggest Japanese culture convention in Europe.
This month, (May 2008) HALCALI will have their US debut in Chicago during the Anime Central. The two young artists continue to raise their international success more each year!

DISCOGRAPHY

-Albums-

-Singles-

-DVD-

Anime Tie-ins

AWARDS

LINKS

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