Tsuneo Imahori

Tsuneo Imahori (今堀恒雄; born December 5, 1962, in Japan) is a Japanese composer, guitarist, and arranger active since 1986. He began playing guitar at age 12 in 1974, and in 1975 he took a one-year classical guitar correspondence course at 東京音楽アカデミー. Early on, he was influenced by British traditional music, including Bert Jansch. In 1986 he met 菊地成孔 and formed ティポグラフィカ. A 1989 tour of Africa with 山下洋輔 helped shape the rhythmic "accent" and "fluctuation" that became a feature of his compositional approach. From 1991 to 1995, he played in 清水一登's おU. After ティポグラフィカ disbanded in 1997, he launched the solo project ウンベルティポ. He joined 井上陽水's tours from 1999, and in 2004 he began performing live as ウンベルティポ・トリオ with bassist ナスノミツル and drummer 佐野康夫. His anime work as a composer, arranger, and guitarist includes "H.T." for Trigun, "Family" for Gungrave, and "Tumbling Dice" for Hajime no Ippo, combining rock-based guitar writing with a cinematic, atmospheric style.