Johnny Wales Remembrance

I write this with joy and gratitude. 

Johnny Wales, who passed away on September 6, 2024, was a sculptor, painter, puppeteer, furniture designer, animator, historian, collector, and a million other things. His art was his trade and his way of life. He was passionate, rigorous, creative, inventive, thoughtful and playful. He could also be temperamental and hold a grudge for years. His greatest joy was his wife Chibo, and their dog Kyla, and living deep in rural Sado Island. You can read about his life and see some of his artwork here: https://www.kodo.or.jp/en/info_en/50493 and here: https://www.johnny-wales.com/Site/Home.html

And check out this animation he made with a very rare opportunity to hear me play tenor saxophone (!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SwkQZKX_I

Here are some of my thoughts and memories of Johnny:

I first moved to Sado in 1998. I was entering a transformative time, going from being a non-Japanese-speaking American kid who played jazz flute and saxophone to someone who identifies culturally and professionally as a Japanese artist. After a grueling two-year apprenticeship, I found myself touring the world with Kodo, one of the premier performing arts ensembles in Japan. Meeting Johnny during this time was a godsend. He was someone from North America (a proud son of Toronto) who had wholly devoted himself to studying Japanese traditions and culture while maintaining a strong sense of identity and individualism in his work. Johnny was part of the Kodo circle, having known all the players from the very beginning and touring with them, doing lighting and managing in the early years, and writing their English language newsletter, Kodo Beat, for decades. So, he understood intimately better than anyone what I was going through and was able to not only provide friendship, perspective, and advice, but also his home, along with Marcus' restaurant Oasiss (yes with two S's), a place where I could speak English and briefly escape the high-pressure environment of being in Kodo. 

A very opinionated guy, he unhesitatingly offered his critiques - both exuberant praise and sharp criticism - about anything and everything from my performances to the woman I was with, down to what I was wearing. Nothing was off limits! I always knew he would give it to me straight - the good and the bad. 

Perhaps because he was an outsider in Sado, his curiosity led to accumulating encyclopedia-like knowledge of Sado history, culture, flora, and fauna. He loved showing Sado off. He actively encouraged his Sado friends to speak Sadoben—the local dialect that people often shed to seem less "country" or unsophisticated -- and celebrate the profound beauty of rural and old ways of life.

Besides the countless hangs at his place and around Sado, I remember clearly the few times we hung out in Tokyo. One day, we visited the Teien Museum, an incredible Art Deco museum in the Minato district of Tokyo, and the beautiful and historic Canadian Embassy designed by Raymond Moriyama. Johnny provided a professional-level guided tour throughout, offering insight into the intersections between Western and Japanese design and architecture. We ended up in Shonben Yokocho (piss alley) - a jumble of narrow streets with rows of tiny drinking establishments that’s been hosting Tokyo nightlife since the Meiji era. We drank beer, ate comfort food, and chatted about music, art, women, and politics. At one point, I couldn't help but overhear the two guys sitting beside us enthusiastically talking about a music festival on an island featuring taiko drumming. I interrupted, asking if he was talking about Earth Celebration, Kodo’s annual music festival. They said yes, and it turns out they went in 2005, the first year I was the festival's artistic director. It was a fantastic coincidence, but it made sense, considering I was with Johnny. It was such a special day for me - with so many of my worlds colliding: Western and Japanese art, Tokyo, Sado, and being able to share it with a close friend who could put everything into context and perspective.

In 2018, Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, and Wes asked me to come out for it to hang out and perform. I saw on Facebook that Johnny was also at the festival with the film crew he had worked with on a different film shot in Sado. My former Kodo teammate Tsubasa Hori was also joining me from Antwerp to perform, so we had a fun Sado entourage exploring Berlin together for a day. 

In 2019, I wanted to take Yurie to my old stomping grounds, so we visited Sado. We did the customary Johnny tour - visiting Chokoji temple, the pitch-black dragonflies and old Noh theater stage at Daizen Shrine, eating at his (and my) favorite yakitori place, Kinpuku, and staying with him, Chibo, and Kayla. We bought some fireworks on the way home from dinner and lit them in his driveway, his eyes reflecting the brilliant sparks.

Bloodlines Interwoven Fourth Gathering 3/29

日本語は下です。

Last Friday, the latest Bloodlines Interwoven Gathering occurred at Baryshnikov Arts, and something powerful was in the air. Thoughts of family, friends, and ancestors weighed heavily on many of us, and tears were flowing almost from the moment people walked through the door. There was something cathartic and healing happening as we convened in the morning. Many of us were dealing with some heavy issues but felt protected and cared for enough that people opened up completely to each other. We took our time getting into the group activities as people collected themselves. We took that time to prepare some music and our instruments. We did some spontaneous group improvisations, which very beautifully dovetailed into a collaboration with the sounds of passing NYFD fire engine sirens.

The great Mino Cinelu joined us for the first time. Martha, Alicia, Amir, Matt, Jen, Susie, Layale, and I were treated to many stories from his family, life, and career. Then Susie showed us some rhythms used in traditional processions in Philippine folk traditions, and Jen led us through some guided improvisations that had us moving, singing, and playing in ways that took us far outside of our comfort zones and greatly heightened our awareness of others.

Over the last few weeks, I've had inspiring conversations with the Bloodlines artists about programming the festival. The breadth of ideas and creativity shown in various approaches have been remarkable. Along with great song ideas, proposals include sound installations, interactive use of film, string, stage settings, movement, and conduction to engage with memory, geography, and nature in surprising and beautiful ways. 

In the next few weeks, we will be diving deep into compositions, fleshing out ideas, and exploring the enormous palettes of sound each musician possesses. 

先週の金曜日にバリシニコフ・アーツで開かれた3回目のBloodlines Interwoven Gathering（今回のフェスティバルのディアスポラアーティストたちの集会）は、まるで空気そのものが力に満ち溢れているかのようでした。家族や友人、そして先祖たちの思い出が僕たちの心に深く刻まれ、集まったミュージシャン達はスタジオの入口を潜るなり、感情に溢れる涙を見せました。その朝、僕たちが集まった瞬間から、何かが心を浄化し、癒やしをもたらす不思議な力が働いているようでした。重たい問題を背負いながらも、互いに守られ、気遣われる中で、ミュージシャン達は心を完全に開き合うことができました。集まった僕たちは、静かに時間をかけて心を整えながら、グループ活動へと進みました。その準備時間には、音楽や楽器を整えました。僕たちの即興のグループ演奏は、ニューヨークの消防車のサイレンの音と美しく調和し合いました。

今回初めて私たちに加わったミノ・シネルの存在は壮大でした。マーサ、アリシア、アミール、マット、ジェン、スージー、ラヤル、そして僕は、彼の家族や人生、キャリアについての様々な話に耳を傾けました。続いて、スージーがフィリピンの民族伝統に見られる伝統的な行列で使われるリズムを紹介し、ジェンに導かれた即興演奏を通じて、僕たちは自分の快適ゾーンから大きく一歩踏み出し、互いの存在をより深く感じさせる動きや歌、演奏に挑戦しました。

ここ数週間、Bloodlinesのアーティストたちと話し合ったフェスティバルのプログラム案は、本当に刺激的でした。提案されたアイデアや創造性の広がりは、さまざまなアプローチからも際立っています。素晴らしい楽曲のアイデアだけでなく、音響インスタレーション、映像のインタラクティブな活用、舞台装置、動き、そして記憶、地理、自然と対話するための独自の方法など、想像を超える提案がなされています。

これから数週間、僕たちは作曲に深く没頭し、アイデアを肉付け、各ミュージシャンが持つ豊かな音色を混ぜ合わせ、パレットを広げていきます。

Bloodlines Interwoven Update

Nine of the fifteen featured artists of this years Bloodlines Interwoven: from the left, Matt, me, Jen, Martha, Rajna, Nasheet, Layale, Maeve, Susie and our illustrious host, Misha.

日本語は下にあります。

So far, throughout three seven-hour-long sessions, twelve artists have gathered to share the stories of our families going back generations and centuries, traversing East Timor, India, Palestine, the Philippines, Iraq, Taiwan, North Carolina, Havana, Tokyo, Edinburgh, Beirut, Rome, Maryland, Syracuse, Sado, East Village, Walnut Grove, Harlem, and on and on… our people who lived through wars, poverty, slavery, violence, occupation, genocide, colonization, depopulation, as well as peace, prosperity, and bubble economies, who criss-crossed the globe for work, education, research, family, safety, religious devotion and for freedom. There were doctors, nurses, politicians, journalists, activists, scientists, farmers, nuns, scholars, bankers, teachers, masons, fashion designers, businesspeople, poets, singers, dancers and musicians who contended with identity, language, dialects, community, race, religion, belief, patriarchy, matriarchy, rejection, acceptance, failure, betrayal, honor, pride, hatred, resentment, religion, family, erasure, appropriation, assimilation, adaptation, transformation, and forgiveness in their own ways.

As we process these conversations, the second phase will be transforming these narratives into music through composition, improvisation, visualization and storytelling.

As artistic director of this project, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to all the artists and the beautiful folks at Baryshnikov Arts who are making this dream a reality with a huge thank you to @mellonfoundation for making this possible.

The Bloodlines Interwoven Gatherings are held at @baryshnikovartscenter in New York City.

バリシニコフアーツとBloodlines Interwoven Festival （ブラッドラインズ・インターウーヴン・フェス ティバル）を開催します！ 僕がディレクターを勤めことになった「ブラッドラインズ・インターウーヴン・フェスティバル」が、世界各地にルーツを持つ15人のNY在住アーティスト達と共に、それぞれが受け継ぐ歴史や家族の物語を撚り合わせ、未来に紡ぐ旅を開始しました。 Bloodlines Interwovenという名称は、文字通りには、「相互に絡み合った血の繋がり」という意味です。でも、それ以上に、異なる文化や歴史的背景を持つ人々が互いに結びつき、その交流を通じて新しい芸術や表現が誕生する”過程”を象徴しています。 僕らは、このユニークなフェスの第一段階である「集い」の過程に入っています。これまでのところ、3回にわたる7時間のセッションを通して、東ティモールから、パレスチナ、フィリピン、イラク、台湾、キューバ、日本、スコットランド、アイルランド、レバノン、イタリア、アメリカ（メリーランド、シラキュース、イーストビレッジ、ウォルナットグローブ、ノースカロライナ、ハーレムなど）まで、地球のあちらこちらを渡り歩いてきた僕たちの家族の物語を、世代や世紀を遡って共有しました。戦争、貧困、奴隷制、暴力、占領、ジェノサイド、植民地化、人口減少、平和、繁栄、バブル経済を経験し、仕事や教育、研究、家族、安全、宗教的献身、自由のために地球を横断した私たちの先祖たちが、世界中で経験したすべてを通じて、彼らが向き合った世界を旅していきます。 このプロジェクトで僕が声を掛けたアーティスト達の先祖は、医師、看護師、政治家、ジャーナリスト、活動家、科学者、農家、修道女、学者、銀行員、教師、石工、ファッションデザイナー、実業家、詩人、歌手、ダンサー、ミュージシャンと多岐にわたる職業を持つ人々で、彼らのアイデンティティ、言語、信念、そして家族との関係を、「集い」で探求しています。 彼らの物語は、文化や伝統、コミュニティ、人種、宗教、信念、父権制、母権制、拒絶、受容、失敗、裏切り、名誉、誇り、憎しみ、恨み、宗教、家族、消去、横取り、同化、適応、変革、赦し、。。いった僕らが今も抱えるテーマを通して語られています。 今、僕たちはこれらの深い会話を音楽に変える第二段階に入ろうとしています。 作曲、即興演奏、視覚化、そして物語を通じて、これらの生きた歴史を新たな形で表現します。 この夢を現実のものとするために力を尽くしてくれているミハイル・バリシニコフさんとバリシニコ フ・アーツの皆さん、そしてサポートをしてくれるメロン財団@mellonfoundationに、心から感謝を捧げます。 この魅力的な「集い」は、ニューヨーク市の@baryshnikovartscenterで実施しています。

Rajna, Nasheet and Layale at one of our Gatherings

#BloodlinesInterwovenFestival #MellonFoundation #BaryshnikovArts #diaspora #newyorkcityarts #nycarts #crosscultures #dance #art #music #multidisciplinary #creativeresidencies

BLOODLINES INTERWOVEN

日本語は下！

Baryshnikov Arts is pleased to announce that it has received a grant for $2 Million from the Mellon Foundation to support the first iterations of the new Bloodlines Interwoven Festival,with acclaimed composer and musician Kaoru Watanabe as Artistic Director. Taking place for one week each summer beginning in 2024, with a confirmed second run in 2025, the grant will support the work of Kaoru Watanabe and dozens of diasporic performers, scholars, and artists.

The Bloodlines Interwoven Festival has been conceived as a durational dialogue of diaspora musicians and other artists, and a sharing of all that makes up culture—language, food, religions, customs, and philosophies. Presenting a broad range of traditions as they speak to one another—and a full plate of approaches in music and other artistic disciplines, Bloodlines will seek out and embrace original and unique perspectives and concepts.

Bloodlines will be a true cross-cultural exploration via art, focusing on the multi-generational life journeys it took for each artist and attendee to get there. For more information, read the full press release here.

Baryshnikov Arts Founder and Artistic Director, Mikhail Baryshnikov said “This is the fiftieth year since my arrival in the West. It's here I found the freedom to pursue my artistic journey and Baryshnikov Arts was founded to help other artists enjoy that same freedom. I am moved and humbled by the Mellon Foundation's generous support of our mission. It will ensure the commitment of Baryshnikov Arts to artists as critical interpreters of our past, present and future.”

Bloodlines Artistic Director Kaoru Watanabe said, “Artists confront, embrace, and propel forward the rituals, traditions, songs, and dances passed on through generations and carried in our bodies. I’ve dedicated myself to blending my heritage and musical experiences into a unique aesthetic for decades. The trust and support from the Mellon Foundation and Baryshnikov Arts are testament to a journey that, while personal, resonates with a broader artistic community. This opportunity will allow me and my fellow artists to delve even deeper into our stories unapologetically, explore profound new ways of seeing the world through the eyes of others, and share these discoveries with a broader audience.”

“We are so grateful to the Mellon Foundation for this vital $2 Million grant. It makes it possible for Baryshnikov Arts to continue its dedication to the cultivation and support of new perspectives as we focus on developing our organization beyond the scope of its current structures. With the help of this important grant, Baryshnikov Arts will further its mission of supporting artists in order to help create a transformative sense of belonging and community,” said Sonja Kostich, President and Executive Director, Baryshnikov Arts.

2024年、これまで温めて続けてきた音楽フェスティバルの企画に、メロン財団からバリシニコフ・アーツを通じて200万ドルの助成金が下りることになりました。この助成金は、2024年と2025年の初夏1週間にわたってNYのTivoliで開催する新しい音楽フェスティバル”Bloodlines Interwoven Festival”の制作と開催を支援するために使われ、僕は芸術監督を務めさせていただくことになりました。

Bloodlines Interwovenという名称は、音楽フェスティバルのコンセプトを美しく表していると思っています。文字通りには、「相互に絡み合った血の繋がり」という意味ですが、より広い意味では、異なる文化や歴史的背景を持つ人々が互いに結びつき、その交流を通じて新しい芸術や表現が生まれることを象徴しています。

このフェスティバルでは、ニューヨークで活躍するディアスポラのミュージシャンやアーティストが集まり、それぞれの文化や伝統を共有し、対話を深めることで、多様な背景を持つ人々の相互作用から新たな芸術的創造が生まれることを目指しています。言語、食文化、宗教、慣習、哲学など、様々な文化的要素が組み合わさり、それぞれのアーティストが自身のルーツや経験を音楽に反映させることで、世代を超えて伝えられるリチュアル、伝統、歌、踊りなどが新たな形で表現されることでしょう。

メロン財団とバリシニコフ・アーツからの信頼と支援は、個人的な喜びであると同時に、このフェスティバルが、より広いアーティストコミュニティをふるわせるプロセスであることの証です。心から感謝しています。僕とアーティスト達が紡ぎ出す新たな発見を、皆さんと共有できることを楽しみにしています。

2020...WHEW.... what a year...

I hope people are doing as well as possible considering the situation across the globe.

I checked in on my website for the first time in a long while and saw that the last time I updated was in mid-January. Even at my best, I'm not very good about keeping up with my website and mailing lists but apparently, this pandemic and everything else that's been going on has REALLY set me back. Usually, these updates are to make announcements for upcoming performances, recordings and other projects but since nearly everything is on hold or canceled, there hasn't been much to update on that end. If anything, writing these is a way for me to process how events of the world have been affecting me as an artist, the music and entertainment industry, and the various communities and institutions I'm a part of.

Where to begin?

QUARANTINE AND COVID
About two weeks into quarantine I got very sick- fever, headache, cough, extreme exhaustion, completely lost my sense of smell- most likely COVID, especially considering that tests taken months later show I have antibodies. My partner Yurie nursed me back to health, cooking, and cleaning and doing multiple loads of laundry a day as I sweated profusely through clothes and bedding. Every morning, day in and day out, I would wake up in a fog, lumber into the kitchen, eat with my eyes half-open, use the restroom, then go back to sleep for another few hours. The fever finally broke the morning of day six, but then returned by the afternoon. After about ten days, the fever did finally break for good and over the next ten days, I slowly started building my strength back up, taking incrementally longer walks around the neighborhood.

Regarding the cough, it wasn't so much that I was coughing but that I felt my body wanting to cough but I suppressed that desire using the breath control that I'd been working on professionally for the last few decades. I had heard so many stories about how COVID attacks the lungs and how so many people suffer horrendously and are not able to breathe. I noticed early on how drained I felt after each bout of coughing and I didn't want my body consumed by it. I also could feel that the more I coughed, the more I wanted to keep coughing and that I was weaker to stop it... I feel that my experience strengthening and consciously controlling my breathing literally saved my life.

Before, during and after my bout with COVID, being in my apartment in Manhattan, I remember so clearly the endless wailing of ambulance sirens. I also remember how at 7 pm every night, New Yorkers all over the city would open their windows and cheer the first responders with applause, shouts, hitting pots and pans, and ringing bells. Thinking back to that time just a few months ago feels like a lifetime ago. The endless performing and traveling that had been my life for the last couple of decades feel like two lifetimes ago. I occasionally wondered when the seven pm ritual would end. When the official quarantine was lifted? Or the vaccine or cure discovered? The answer turned out to be the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that rocked the city. With so many people on the street marching and chanting, basically, there was nobody left to make noise for the first responders. Instead of a 7 pm beautiful cacophony marking the end of the typical workday, we now had the beautiful cacophony of chanting, drumming starting up and stopping and starting up again throughout the day.

BLACK LIVES MATTER
Finally, it's starting to feel that people are being held accountable for how their actions strengthened the systemic racism that permeates American society, thanks to the civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor. While something as innocent as Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem (which was written by a slave-owning anti-abolitionist) was considered controversial just a couple of short years ago, now it's *almost* normal for athletes to openly show forms of protest. Speaking as an artist, I see the many arts organizations and institutions around me are undergoing long-overdue changes within their power structures and I see white musicians aggressively questioning their own peers about hiring and programming practices with an intensity that I hadn't really seen before.

Thinking back to my own life as a civil rights and environmental activist, I see that my endeavors have been meager. Yes, I have composed pieces in homage to black lives slain by the police (for example, Iki on my Néo album was written as a requiem for Eric Garner whose final words "I can't breathe" became a mantra-like prayer) and yes, I have always hired, by a vast majority, people of color and women to be in my ensembles. Yes, I often turn down and speak out against projects that reinforce cultural and racial stereotypes. One example of this is I had lengthy conversations with Wes Anderson about cultural appropriation and whitewashing while creating the soundtrack for Isle of Dogs, even considering at one point quitting the project. Perhaps most importantly, yes, I try to teach my seven-year-old daughter about the evils of racism, about the importance of knowing the history and background of how our society came to be and to fight for equal rights for everyone. (How does one teach a child the concept of one person buying, owning, and selling others?)

But what does all of that really add up to? What can I do differently? Much more aggressively call politicians, fundraise more for causes I believe in, mentor more the next generation, and the next generation after that to understand the roots of music and how to be aware and reverential of the past while evolving the music and the practice forward, engage more in conversation with people of conflicting views, speak truth to power. I need to develop a more robust vocabulary and a deeper understanding of society, power dynamics, oppression, politics. I think back in shame of the many instances of looking the other way when something racist or sexist was said and not saying anything to not create conflict or an awkward moment, especially when they involve someone in a similar sphere.

Society must do better.

I must do better.


SILKROAD COMMISSION: FRAGMENTS
So... what else? I was commissioned to write a piece for Silkroad, the ensemble I've been doing a lot of work with over the last ten years or so. The commission was for a two-person team and I had the wonderful Edward Perez as my partner. Edward is a first-rate jazz bass player, an expert in Latin jazz and Latin rhythms, who has written for the New York Philharmonic and others. On top of that, we were from the same circle of friends in high school although we missed going to school together by a year. It was both of our first times co-writing a piece and we had the pandemic-induced quarantine to deal with on top of that. The piece we wrote, called Fragments, was a reflection of the feeling of fragmentation in our world in terms of race, politics, and the pandemic. On top of the commission to write the piece, our duo was selected to debut the performance during the online Tanglewood Music Festival as part of the Silkroad 20th-anniversary concert. For the filming, Edward and I drove up (separately) to Tanglewood and, following their strict social distancing protocols performed for five remote-controlled cameras. For the last 25-30 years, I've been playing music with people on a near-constant basis so I felt the rush of endorphins as my brain tried to reconnect all those synapses- listening, reacting, breathing- the music was new and was actually too difficult for me to play... so there were quite a few flubbed moments EVEN after a few takes, overdubs and edits. I practiced so much but wasn't able to execute as I would've liked so I'm a little disappointed in my playing in the end.

KIBO NO HIKARI
Here is a performance I did as part of Music for Beirut, an online fundraiser to support the Children's Cancer Center Lebanon, which was damaged by the explosion that occurred August 4, 2020. The music features a recording of a man named Rami Taoukmani who makes music out of a traditional coffee grinder - basically a wooden bowl and long pole. I made this recording when I visited Beirut in 2018. I visited again in 2019 and both visits left such a wonderful impression of the people of Beirut. I fondly remember walking around the fun Hamra district, which was devastated by the explosion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO_NfqAoJBs&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=KaoruWatanabe
Please donate here: https://cccl.org.lb/Donate/44/CCCLs-Rescue-Fund

Past Online Concert:

杳と暁 HARUKA AND AKIRA

October 10, 17

This two-part concert series is for me an opportunity to connect to an audience, to mourn the loss of loved ones and to a way of life, and a way to celebrate the way forward as we pull together to face the new world we now inhabit. All the music that will be presented will be compositions created in 2020, most of it after the quarantine began. The title of the series, HARUKA TO AKIRA comes from the name of my father and uncle who were named by my grandfather, who happened to pass away in May 2020 at the age of 106, a product of a forgotten age. My father Haruka’s name (杳), which can be interpreted as “deep” or “distant hope” is a reflection of one of the darkest times of modern history, World War II, while his younger brother, whose name AKIRA (暁), “the light of dawn” or “enlightened”, was born after the end of the war.

I will be posting video from this concert eventually on the media page of this website.

My studio is my sanctuary, is my temple, is my place of work, my place of rejuvenation.