Seiji Igusa - Topic

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Seiji Igusa was born into a pastor's family and grew up surrounded by hymns and gospel music. He began playing drums at the age of 11 and picked up the guitar at 15. In 2009, he won the "Grand Prize" and "Best Original Arrangement Award" at the prestigious acoustic guitar competition, FINGER PICKING DAY, and served as the opening act for Tommy Emmanuel's Japan tour the same year. In 2010, he represented Japan at the 39th Walnut Valley Festival in Kansas, USA, achieving a spot among the Top 5 finalists. From 2015, he expanded his activities across Asia, performing in countries such as South Korea and China, and in 2019, he successfully completed a 15-city tour in China. In 2021, he appeared on the cover of Acoustic Guitar Book 53, solidifying his reputation as a leading figure in the acoustic guitar world. In 2022, he won the Grand Prize in the Guitarist Category at the Musical Instrument Store Awards and received widespread acclaim for his guitar arrangements of tracks from the Final Fantasy series, featured on Square Enix Music’s official YouTube channel. Igusa's intricate fingerpicking technique has earned international recognition, with his YouTube channel amassing over 1 million subscribers and his Instagram following exceeding 500,000. Additionally, he was ranked 31st in Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s "100 Best Solo Guitarists Chosen by Players & Experts" and 4th in the readers’ poll.