INCENSE - solo show @ Joe's Pub on November 7th, 2021

INCENSE

Music for solo Japanese flutes, percussion, and koto

8PM on Sunday, November 7th, 2021
@ Joe’s Pub

Hello everyone,

I am thankful for the health and well-being of my loved ones, and I often think of those we have lost and those who continue to be affected by COVID.

I will be performing on Sunday, November 7th, 2021, at Joe's Pub, a venue in the heart of NYC that has presented my work for years. At that time, I wasn't sure how things would play out regarding the pandemic and vaccinations and how big of a concert it should be. It only made sense at that time to present a solo show since I had spent all of 2020 developing solo works in my studio while in quarantine.

It's been a few months since my last mailing. Pre-pandemic, I would write monthly to let people know what I'm up to and document and assess my artistic growth. However, in the last year and a half, I took a break from writing these, finding it discouraging to look at how things performance-wise really came to a stop even though I was staying active and busy developing my music and just dealing with things. However, as live performances slowly pick up, I plan to get back into the writing process. I want to use these writings to announce upcoming performances and reach out and communicate with people interested in my music and my life. Please feel free to comment or contact me, and I will try my best to respond!

First of all, an update to what I've been up to the last half-a-year:

I finished OTO GA TATSU- my online concert series. I want to again thank the folks at kaDON, the people who joined both in person and watched the archive, and the extraordinary artists who joined me: Wu Man, Tamangoh, Sumiyoshi Yuta from Kodo, and Kiyohiko Semba and Takahashi Kaori. Having a creative outlet during the pandemic pushed me to create and grow as an artist and stay connected with people in ways that I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

My first live performance of the year (in MAY) was momentous, one of the most unforgettable in my life for so many reasons. Performing in front of an audience in over a year was exhilarating, the venue- the cavernous Park Avenue Armory - was sublime, the cast of iconic and innovative collaborators - Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, and Vernon Reid was an absolute dream, and add to all that an underpinning drone created by Lou Reed's guitars (manipulated by Lou's guitar tech Stewart Hurwood) and saxophonists and Tai Chi dancers moving around the space - my heart and mind almost couldn't take it all in. Laurie and Jason curated the whole thing, but Jason, a friend for twenty-five years, was the one who invited me into this world.

Around the same time, I worked with the great Adam Rudolph at the Jazz Gallery with Marco Capelli and Arun Ramamurthy. Adam is such an important figure in the last years of my life- playing with him and in his Go: Organic Orchestra has blown open my mind and connected me with so many other fantastic musicians. It's always a pleasure to explore vast musical worlds with Adam. Arun is a wonderful violinist who specializes in Carnatic music of Southern India and how it can exist in other contexts.

By July, I was working more and more in person with other musicians. At a recording/birthday party for my great friend, tabla and jazz drummer Sameer Gupta featuring many incredible musicians, including Martha Redbone and Charlie Burnham. TWO of my trios happened to be there: Bloodlines with cellist Marika Hughes and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and BORGUSAKAGU with Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato and Sameer. I was a guest with Elena Moon Park at Lincoln Center, and then, by chance, just about a week later, I played on the same stage with Mark de Clive-Lowe and bassist Parker McCalister and drummer Anwar Marshall.

Also, I was commissioned by Silkroad to compose for the ensemble. We will workshop it at an upcoming retreat and debut it on tour in 2022. I wanted to write something inspired by Gagaku, both in its traditional form and how modern composers such as Takemitsu Toru, Ishii Maki, and Minoru Miki reshaped it. Meanwhile, I was thinking about the individuals of the Silkroad who would be playing the music- people who deal with music from China, Ethiopia, and Black American Jazz. I wanted to create a piece where we can also improvise and dialogue and groove out. The trick is to write something that brings together all these elements so that when taken as a whole, it somehow makes sense, even if it shouldn't. I love Gagaku; I love contemporary groove-based music. I dislike inelegant mashups of disparate music. I am looking forward to hearing what the incredible musicians of the Silkroad can do with the composition.

In terms of travel, I went to Boston, my first time working outside of NY in a long time- to work with students at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. I decided to teach the students Miyake- the Kodo piece that comes from the matsuri festival tradition of Kamitsuki on Miyake Island. I did so because when thinking about what these students need after a tumultuous and confusing year of online classes, rehearsals, lessons, and recitals to get back to sharing space and actual vibrations with fellow human beings, studying Japanese festival music is perfect: it's sacred, secular, cosmic, traditional, and evolving. It brings together communities across generations; it's often a lot of hard work, it's often deadly serious, and it's almost always lots of fun.

The last performance I did was a concert with Ravish Momin as part of his Flowers into Jewels project at Bowdoin University. Ravish is a fantastic percussionist who seamlessly integrates electronics, sampling, and lives percussion into his music. As musicians in Brooklyn do, we met over a decade ago but never worked together until this concert. Besides getting to make music and hang out with Ravish, this concert was significant to me in that, after a year and a half of messing around with it at home, I was able to use Ableton in a live setting for the first time. Just making sure I have all the equipment set up correctly was somewhat nerve-wracking for me, perhaps the least tech-savvy musician out there.

Dealing with looping technology makes perfect sense for a multi-instrumentalist stuck in quarantine. I wrote almost twenty compositions for various online concerts during the pandemic. For me, performing these pieces in public will be a sort of release- an opportunity to finally present the music live after a year of them existing only to certain people online.

Besides practicing Ableton, I've been devotedly studying Gagaku, Noh, and Kabuki, practicing traditional music between one to two hours before working on other things. I've been trying to get deeper into the phrasing and understanding the compositional structures of Gagaku and learning all the parts of Noh and Kabuki ensemble music - starting with the solfege-like singing of the flute and drum parts. I've been exchanging lessons with the great Kenny Endo, me teaching shinobue and him teaching Kabuki bayashi. It's been gratifying to learn drumming techniques, including kake-goe shouting.

All these will be on display for my upcoming Joe's Pub show- the new techniques and knowledge of traditional music, the use of Ableton, and the new compositions that I've been developing during the past year and a half. I am very proud and excited to share this new work with the world and hope you can join me on this occasion.

Sincerely,
Kaoru

OTO GA TATSU featuring Yuta Sumiyoshi from KODO on March 6!

OTOGATATSU part 2 featuring Yuta Sumiyoshi from Kodo this Saturday, March 6 at 6 PM (EST). Ticket holders can view this online concert and all the others of the series at your leisure even if you can't join at this specific time.

Yuta and I will be presenting three pieces that we co-composed just for this concert called 三猿、秒読み、and １７ as well as a solo piece of mine called 花鳥風月。We will be discussing these compositions and answering questions for those able to join us.

KODO has always meant so much to me, inspiring me when I was a fan, guiding me as an apprentice, challenging me as a performing member and encouraging me when I set out on my own. They continue to be miles ahead of the rest and I’m grateful they lent me one of their best!

This is an excerpt of our tune “17”.

Ps- I’m still reeling from the recent loss of the great musicians Milford Graves, Chick Corea and today Ralph Peterson... I will continue to try to honor the spirit of humility, innovation, discipline and empathy these giants were known for.

Milford Graves came out to perform with Kodo when I was an apprentice, just about 20 years ago.

New Concert Series - OTO GA TATSU

Hello friends,

It has been a while since my last mailing. As I write this, a blizzard has descended upon New York City, schools are closed and the mayor has declared a weather emergency. It's gorgeous to experience from inside but I hope people are able to stay warm and safe…

I'm pleased to announce OTO GA TATSU, a once-a-month, four-part concert series starting this Saturday, February 6th at 6 pm (EST) with special guests each week.

First up is Wu Man. She is a virtuosic master of her instrument, the pipa, and almost single-handedly brought it from its home in thousands of years of traditional Chinese music to the great concert halls of the world, playing with all the major symphony orchestras along with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Kronos Quartet.

Guests for the next concerts will be Yuta Sumiyoshi from Kodo, Tamangoh, Takahashi Kaori and Semba Kiyohiko. There will be opportunites to ask questions and get to know me and the guests as well.

Tickets are $20 for a household or $15 if you subscribe to kaDON (a wonderful resource for studying Japanese music). Limited free tickets are available for those who can't afford it now but still want to enjoy good music.

July and August Review

My last update was in July and we're already deep in October. I've been inconsistent with updating my website and maintaining a presence on social media- instead, have been focussing on being more present in each particular moment. Not good for business but good for the soul!

On the other hand, I did have a wonderful summer, full of music and travel and I do like to share what I experienced for those who may get something out of it.

To recap some of the highlights: I debuted a new trio with Matt Garrison and Satoshi Takeishi at the Philadelphia Museum, I did a presentation at Princeton for So Percussion and their summer institute followed by a two week trip to Japan. This trip was a combination of work, study and meetings.

For me Japan means many things- it's my ancestral homeland, it is a place where, starting at age 22, I completely redefined my sense of music and personal identity. Occasionally returning home to Japan is vital for maintaining the nuances, the flavors and the feeling of Japanese music, since I'm now living in New York and constantly absorbing influence from musicians I'm playing with who come from across the globe. When in Japan, I saw Noh Theater, visited with teachers, performed with biwa master Sakurai Akiko and multi-instrumentalist Yoshi Shogo and generally spent time with master calligraphers, instrument makers, potters, painters, and of course many musicians. I took a trip to my adopted hometown of Sado Island, where I visited Kodo Village and reconnected with old and dear friends there. I returned to New York musically refreshed and inspired and feeling whole.

After Japan was a trip to Beirut, Lebanon where I performed with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble as well as a large group of very special kids....kids who live in the poorest communities in Beirut, many coming from families of refugees or are refugees themselves. For this concert, we performed along with the children as they presented songs and dances they had created that spoke against the racism, sexual violence and poverty that was a part of their everyday lives. I hope to return and continue working with them and am already planning a few possible next steps.

I returned to New York and immediately hosted Hayashi Eitetsu for a workshop in my studio. Eitetsu san has been perhaps the most influential contemporary taiko drummer in the world for the last four decades. Besides the workshop, I was able to spend a lot of time with him talking about music, art and politics. Next up, Adam Rudolph and members of Brookyln Raga Massive and I performed a house concert that was full of new challenges and lots of fun, a mixture of music from Morocco, India, Japan and of course, New York. The following week, one afternoon I performed for children at the Carnegie Hall Education wing with Satoshi Takeishi and another taiko legend Kenny Endo. The following day, I drove to the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA for a weeklong residency, again with the Silkroad, working with students and performing a concert. A week after returning, I drove out to Philadelphia's Painted Bride to perform with Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra, a fun ensemble that I've been a part of for almost ten years now which has influenced my approach and understanding of music greatly.

I am currently writing this update from the road- University of Maryland to be precise- working with pipa virtuoso Wu Man. We will be performing this weekend at the University of Chicago this weekend. I have a few fun things coming up in the remainder of this month: my trio BOROGUSAKAGU with Sameer Gupta and Rogerio Boccato will take place with Brooklyn Raga Massive's twenty-four-hour Raga Live Festival (we go on at 5 am!) and a duo performance with Kazunori Kumagai at the Asia Society annual gala dinner.

Next month I will be doing another residency at Grace Farms with the artist Alyson Shotz and jazz drummer Nasheet Waits among others, a trip to Barcelona with flamenco artist Eva Yerbabuena, followed immediately by my own concert in Istanbul, followed closely by a trip out to French Guiana with my old friend Tamango where we'll be developing some new work.

Onward and upward...

Summer Greetings!

Summer Greetings

Greetings from Madrid while in transit to Granada. My last update was in early March so there's a lot of catching up to do. 
I've been traveling to different corners of the world, making music and learning and growing tremendously from the profound challenges of various projects. 


Here's an overview of what I've been up to: 

MARCH

• A duo performance in El Paso, TX, revisiting the duo repertoire that Fumi Tanakadate and I have been developing over the past couple of years.

• Trio concerts in San Antonio, TX, with a new group featuring percussionist Satoshi Takeishi and harpist Maeve Gilchrist. We were joined by the principle dancer of the Houston Ballet, Nao Susuzaki. I love the sound of this trio- not only is Maeve a fantastic improviser who provides both bass and melody, but she happens to plays an instrument that I heard my mom play in the house every single day growing up. And as always, Satoshi brings so much musicality, feeling and intensity to everything he does.

• A concert in Philadelphia, again with Fumi but with the addition of Gamin, a master musician on the Korean piri, taepyoungsol and saengwhan. We did all my compositions and a lots of improvisations and I continued my exploration of using the koto in a decidedly non-traditional manner.

• A private event as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble- performing with Shane Shanahan, Maeve, Preeti Vasudevan and Yo-Yo Ma. I've done a few performances with Yo-Yo by now but occasionally I recall how moved I was seeing him give a masterclass when I was about 16 years old- almost thirty years ago... We performed two of my pieces along with tunes by Shane and Maeve. All in all tons of fun.

APRIL-MAY

• A few days in Elizabeth Town, PA, deep in Amish country, again with the Silkroad Ensemble as part of the Ware Lecture Series on Peacemaking. There was a time when I used to think the Amish were backwards for not embracing modern technology... I guess they were right all long considering how the world is looking now?

• Silkroad Ensemble- Heroes Take Their Stands Tour. This was an incredibly challenging tour for me. I wasn't used to reading music while playing taiko (strangely, my ability to read music while playing flutes didn't at all translate to percussion playing) and I had to do a lot of it. I wasn't used to reading music off of an iPad while using a blue-tooth-connected pedal to turn pages (a surprisingly tricky thing to coordinate for me!). During rehearsals, I always felt the sound of taiko completely overwhelmed the delicate string and wind instruments even while playing as soft as possible, so I was struggling to feel comfortable play with the tone and command that I'm used to. I used in-ear monitors for the first time. One of the pieces I played was way too fast for my skill level. We were doing one of my compositions, a last minute commission by the Silkroad Ensemble that I had scrambled to pull together. All this and more combined and I was a wreck in the beginning of the rehearsal process. All these glaring deficiencies in my playing came to light and I had to rewire my brain and body to feel at all decent about my playing. In the end, I feel I came out of the whole experience a better musician.

©David Bazemore - UCSB Arts and Lectures

MAY

• I performed in a site-specific opera, Murasaki's Moon, inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The composer Michi Wiancko, composed a gorgeous score and the staff, crew and performers were all truly world class. For me personally, I had to draw from all of my skill sets, improvising and reading lots of music on both the fue and taiko, working on my transposing skills and switching quickly between fue to maneuver through key changes, following a conductor, listening and matching singers as well as other instruments, often from across the room. I felt like all the skills I've been developing over the last three decades were being exploited. Having done that Silkroad tour helped tremendously in all of this.

• Shortly afterwards, I played a gig on western flute- something I only do perhaps once or twice a year, playing with some old friends Kyle Sannaand Skye Steele as well as a host of new friends for a performance celebrating the poetry of Walt Whitman, channeled through multiple actors and musicians. Most of the music was written by Kyle and Colin Jacobson, a member of the Silkroad Ensemble who was on the Silkroad Heroes tour. More and more, all of my worlds seemed to be colliding in magnificent ways.

JUNE

• I spent a few days up on Grace Farms, a newly build space designed to host collaborative meetings between musicians, dancers, poets, visual artists, scientists, activists, theologists, architects and other creative types. The facilities, designed by the Japanese architecture firm SANAA, was elegantly and perfectly sculpted into the sloping wooded landscape. I was there for a project convened by visual artist Alyson Shotz, an acclaimed artist who has works in the Guggenheim, Storm King and other major museums and art spaces across the world. The renowned drummer Nasheet Waits invited me to be a part of the project. We spent the part of the time reading and discussing TIME, as viewed through the lens of science, religion, music and poetry and then we tried interpreting and processing some of those discussions through dance and music improvisations.

• I made a short trip to Madrid to perform once again with the flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena- again, I felt all the experiences written above helped me alter my approach to how I work with Eva and her company in a way that felt better than it had before.

• From Spain, I went straight to Uganda for my first visit to the African continent. I was there for some events in Kampala and had a day to visit the source of the Nile River by boat and drive around the city. It was beautiful and inspiring to meet many wonderful folks but difficult to see and hear about the rampant poverty, lack of jobs and resources for people living there.

• Now, I'm back in Spain for two more shows with Eva Yerbabuena, one in Granada and one in Cordoba. I have a few days between shows so I will try to travel around a bit seeing different cities I've never been and having new adventures.

This summer will be on the slow side, a few performers here and there, and time to focus on writing music, practicing, developing new material, maybe making an album (?), then things will pick up in the fall again. My next show in the US is July 12th at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (more info here).

I find myself constantly in a state of gratitude for all the opportunities to perform, to study and grow and for all the continued support from friends, family and other supporters. 


Sincerely,
Kaoru

Happy Spring!

Hello friends and family,

Hope everyone is staying healthy and happy so far in 2019. I have already been through two bouts of 103ish degree fever, including catching the flu. Despite it all, I've been able to enjoy all the music making and traveling that has come my way.

In the last few weeks I enjoyed a wonderful first time collaboration with Sameer Gupta and Parul Shah at the Rubin Museum. The fantastic designer Dan Ichimoto provided some elegant images that were projected during key points of the performance. Sameer experimented with a seven tabla set-up - usually tabla refers to two drums- and I experimented by playing the koto - a thirteen string zither that I have no formal training on- as well as with my usual array of shinobue and Japanese percussion. The music reflected the themes of Nature/Love/War, three elements that abound in both Indian and Japanese literature and folklore.

Last week I was in Spain for just a weekend trip- rehearsing in Dos Hermanas, just outside of Seville and then heading to Jerez de la Frontera for a concert with Eva Yerbabuena, one of the stars of the flamenco world in Spain. It's always a humbling experience working with such high-caliber musicians, deeply entrenched in their tradition but with forwarded-thinking minds, open to push and experiment. 

Just a few days ago, I performed with the pipa virtuoso, Wu Man at the Met Museum. We debuted a piece of mine as well as another older piece that I arranged for this group. 

Coming up, I'll be giving (another) workshop to students at the Boston Conservatory through Silkroad Ensemble, then will be deep in rehearsals for a bunch of upcoming shows: another concert with Wu Man, back to Spain with Eva, a new trio called Borogusakagu (ratty smelly furniture) with Sameer and the great Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato in Brooklyn, a few duo performances with Fumi in El Paso, Texas, a few shows with a new trio featuring percussionist Satoshi Takeishi and Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist, a private concert with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble in Manhattan. Then in April, a performance with Fumi and the fantastic Korean musician Gamin in Philadelphia, a tour with Silkroad Ensemble on the West and East Coasts and then another show at the Met Museum, this time a new opera by Michi Wiancko about Murasaki Shikibu.

Finally, The Wes Anderson Collection, Isle of Dogs book came out last year, with the Japanese version just coming out recently. There's a whole eight page spread dedicated to me in there. It's available on amazon here!

As always, I feel a sense of honor that I'm able to make a living as an artist and have the opportunities to work with folks that also approach their work with passion, dedication and integrity. I hope to see many of you somewhere during my travels!

Jan 25 Kaoru Watanabe + Sameer Gupta’s Nature/War/Love at Rubin Museum

My first show in New York of 2019 is coming up January 25th at the Rubin Museum. I will be working with a tabla player/percussionist Sameer Gupta and kathak dancer Parul Shah. As usual I’ll be playing various Japanese percussion instruments and flutes. For this performance, we are drawing from Indian and Japanese folklore, mythologies and poetry to deal with universal themes of the human condition, death and destruction, love and war. 
 
One example of a story that we explored was that of Shizuka Gozen- a tragic historical figure, caught up in the horrors of a civil war between two powerful brothers, Yoritomo and Yoshitsune, in the Kamakura period. We broke down the character of her name Shizuka to represent different parts of the concert: 青 (blue) to represent NATURE. 争 for WAR and combined them into 静 (quiet) to represent LOVE. This information feeds what we have created very directly in an abstract way. The music will also draw from modern history- my composition for prepared koto ZERO, is about the Zero fighter, the Japanese fighter jet used in WWII, a symbol of both Japan's engineering and design brilliance as well as the resulting death and destruction.

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Tickets: $30.00
Museum member Receive a Discount
Click here for more information
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Sincerely,
Kaoru

Year End Review

Hello friends and family,

I haven't been keeping up with my website and my mailings these last few months but it's not for lack of things to announce. I’ve had a very intense year, both professionally and personally and keeping up with these posts sort of fell to the wayside. I’m just returning from Boston where I had my last public show of the year, so I thought I’d take a look back at some performance highlights of 2018.

The year started with a bang: a couple of performances in ice-skating rinks brilliantly conceptualized by Alicia Hall Moran, that featured saxophonist Maria Grand and myself, concerts with the great tap dancer Kumagai Kazunori, two new ensemble debuts: trio with Mazz Swift and Satoshi Takeishi and Dreams (music for 5 strings, fue and Japanese percussion), premieres of two of my compositions for orchestra with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House and the release of Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs for which I did music.  

In the spring, I had a bunch of duo performances with Fumi Tanakadate, a disciple of mine who has really developed into her own as a musician. I shared a triple bill with two genius musicians Claire Chase and Susie Ibarra, had a show in SF with Mark de Clive-Lowe, did various projects with folks like Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato, Korean wind player Gamin, percussionist Keita Ogawa, tabla and drumset player Sameer Gupta, pianist and accordionist Shoko Nagai, a bunch of Silkroad Ensemble stuff with the Parker Quartet, oud player Hadi Eldebek, Sheng player Wu Tong, and percussionist Shane Shanahan, as well as performances with multi instrumentalist Elena Moon-Park and dancer Miki Orihara. 

Over the summer and fall, I begin working with flamenco master Eva Yerbabuena, her top-tier musicians and the amazing vocalist Sato Anna from Amami Oshima. Eva had me over in Spain for a few different concerts and we will continue the project into next year. Also, I had more shows with the Silkroad Ensemble, including a performance in Houston's Rothko Church, a collaboration with Shakespeare & Co, a project in Beirut and another chance to perform one of my compositions with orchestra, this time with the Boston Conservatory Orchestra in the venerable Boston Symphony Hall, along with Irish harpist Maeve Gilchrist and tabla player Sandeep Das. Other collaborators of the last half a year include saxophonist and high-school friend Jacob Duncan, one of my mentors Adam Rudolph and his Go:Organic Orchestra, Brooklyn Raga Massive, and a new group of Harris Eisenstadt's at the Stone.

Finally, over the last weekend, the Silkroad Ensemble had performances in Arkansas and Massachusetts. The Silkroad Ensemble has a rotating cast of performers and this particular show had Kinan Azmeh, Edward Perez (another friend from high-school), Shaw Pong Liu, Wu-Man (who I'll be performing with here and there with next year), Joe Gramely, Mike Block and Yo-Yo Ma.

In the first few months of 2019, I have a bunch of performances that I’m really looking forward to, more work in France and Spain with Eva Yerbabuena, a new project with Sameer Gupta and kathak dancer Parul Shah, some of my own performances in Ft. Collins, a performance with Wu Man at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with other shows with various groups in Philadelphia, Texas, Taipei and Tokyo. 

I’m constantly humbled by the opportunity to work with such incredible musicians and am full of gratitude for all those that make my life and career possible. 

Happy Holidays to all and I look forward to seeing friends new and old in the coming weeks and in the New Year!

Sincerely,
Kaoru

UPCOMING CONCERTS IN US AND JAPAN

On the road for a few weeks.

From November 8th to 11th, I was at PASIC, a large percussion convention, to take sit on a panel discussion and to give a performance/clinic. I was also proudly representing Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten and kaDON.

Miyamoto booth in the exhibitor hall at PASIC

Miyamoto booth in the exhibitor hall at PASIC

From here I’ll spend a bit of time in Kentucky, up through Ann Arbor, MI, Dublin, OH, DC and back to Philadelphia all for workshops and performances. Thanks, Shoji, Aya, Yoshi, Yui, Jacob, Joe, Eileen, Brian, Mark, Lisa, Evan, Therese, Tamiko, Fumi and others for making things possible and meaningful. 

Set up from the concert I had in Calvary Center in Philadelphia

Only a few days after getting home, I will get on a plane to Japan for about two more weeks of performing and teaching. Please see the complete listing of activities below. If you have friends or family anywhere near where I'll be, I'd much appreciate help getting the word out. The music continues to develop and grow with each encounter and interaction I have and I continue to look forward to sharing with an ever-expanding circle of friends.

Kaoru Watanabe

September Update

IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS, I found myself performing and teaching in Istanbul, Tanglewood (in MA), Washington DC, San Diego, Los Angeles, St. Louis, London and of course NYC. All journeys were incredibly rewarding and challenging all at once, whether it was doing a video shoot with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, curating a mind-bending collaborative performance with musicians and dancers representing Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, debuting an arrangement of one of my pieces for piano in my hometown of St. Louis (playing on the same stage on which I first played taiko 31 years ago), performing for the first time with jazz/electronica musician Mark De Clive-Lowe, bilingual MC Shing02 and others, recording music in London for Wes Anderson's new movie or doing an improvisation with a master soba maker for the Japanese delegation to the UN General Assembly (Prime Minister Abe opened for us).

COMING UP, I'm taking place in a fundraising event with Silkroad Ensemble, in a few weeks, I'll be performing at the National Gallery as part of the Canales Project and TEDx Mid Atlantic. A couple months from now I'll be performing at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indiana. 

One more project that's a little further down the road is a tour we're calling KAORU'S JAPAN. I will be personally bringing a handful of people to Japan in late November through mid-December, introducing and translating for workshops (Miyake, Edo Bayashi), demonstrations (Noh and Kabuki), concerts(my own, Kabuki) and site visits (Ranjo's fue making studio, Chichibu Festival). It's open to taiko drummers and fue players of all levels (including absolute beginners). Please check out the details here!

Finally, when I write these updates, I often feel a huge chasm between how grateful I am for the opportunities I get to perform, teach and travel and the immeasurable suffering I see and feel all around me- whether it's from natural disasters, man-made crisis, hateful and hurtful policies, racism, sexism, classism, and sickness. I am plagued with feelings of guilt and pettiness for pursuing my selfish artistic dreams. It is, however, all I know and is the best way I feel I can contribute to society.