Asturias

Asturias was a Japanese band formed in 1987 and dissolved in 1993. Their music can be described as a form of acoustic progressive rock. Asturias leader Yoh Ohyama was born in Tokyo in 1962. Asturias became an official project in 1987, with album releases of Circle in the Forest (1988), Brilliant Streams (1990), and Cryptogam Illusion (1993) through King Records. On these three albums Yoh performed on a number of instruments himself on most of the tracks, in the style of a solo project with guests, which included prominent musicians in prog circles.

Nonetheless, Acoustic Asturias was reformed in 2003 as a permanent band for recording and live performance, with Yoshihiro Kawagoe on grand piano, Misa Kitatsuji on violin, Kaori Tsutsui on clarinet, and Yoh Ohyama on nylon string guitar. The music of new Asturias is an exquisite blend of classical elegance and the dynamic/dramatic development which characterized the original Asturias, topped off with superb all-around musicianship. The band released a mini-album (Bird Eyes View) in 2004 with new material, as well as reworking of classic Asturias repertoire. A full album called Marching Grass on the Hill came out in 2006, and In Search of the Soul Trees followed in 2008, abandoning the "acoustic" theme and name to once more include electric guitar and other electric instruments.