Ars Nova (Japanese Band)

Ars Nova (Japanese Band)

Ars Nova is a Japanese progressive rock band. The current members are Keiko Kumagai (keyboards), Shinko "Panky" Shibata (bass guitar), Hazime (drums) and Satoshi Handa (guitar).

Ars Nova's music features keyboards heavily—this was particularly true between 1998 and 2003 when the band had two keyboard players. Common sounds include the ubiquitous Hammond organ, as well as more recent digital sounds. Almost all of their music is instrumental.

The band's musical influences are ELP, Goblin, PFM, Rick Wakeman, Balletto di Bronzo and classical music. Kumagai, the keyboard player, writes all of the band's compositions. She has played on the Ayreon album Universal Migrator part two: Flight of the Migrator. For much of its history (until Hazime and more recently Handa joined), the band was all-female, unusual in the world of progressive rock.