There are two different artists under the name Minamo: An electro-acoustic group and a Free Jazz/Classical Duo.

1. In 1999, the electro-acoustic group Minamo was formed by Keiichi Sugimoto and Tetsuro Yasunaga. In 2000, minamo's self-released CD-R "wakka" was reissued by the New York label Quakebasket. This release was selected by Matmos as one of best sounds in 2001 in The Wire magazine.
In 2001 two new members joined, Yuiichiro Iwashita (guitar) and Namiko Sasamoto (sax, organ), to make the band a quartet. In 2002, first CD album ".kgs" has released by the Tokyo label 360 records.
Having performed as the opening act for several groups, including; Microstoria, Simon Fisher Turner, Vert, Oren Ambarchi, Otomo Yoshihide, On Filmore, Tim Barnes, I-Sound, Ikue Mori, Josh Abrams, Michael Schumacher, Incapacitants, Aki Onda, Masakatsu Takagi, Ogurusu Norihide, Michael Prime, Jonathan Coleclough, oblaat, HIM, BusRatch, Def Harmonics, Aero and more.

2. This Fiercely creative duo, consisting of pianist Satoko Fujii and violinist Carla Kihlstedt, Minamo, has released two albums (one under "Satoko Fujii & Carla Kihlstedt.") that virtually recreates the language of violin-piano duets with a new, highly organic musical metaphor. Recommended to fans of improvisational music and classical. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.