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Only two weeks to our big TAIKO 2.0 concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts!  Today we are highlighting Montreal based multi-percussionist Patrick Graham.  Patrick is one of our favorite artists to work with and is the quintessential “On Ensemble” kind of musician.  He fuses his training in Western classical and contemporary music with his extensive explorations of Mediterranean, Irish, South Indian and Japanese rhythms to create a highly personal, cross-cultural approach to percussion.  The ability to draw inspiration from every corner of the globe yet make music that is personal is something that we strive for and Patrick approach has had a huge influence on On Ensemble’s music.

I first met Patrick at a frame drum workshop he was giving in Tokyo while I was living there. After meeting him I remember being encouraged knowing that there were other musicians out there wandering the globe following the same path I was on.  Several years later once we started On Ensemble we were re-introduced through a mutual acquaintance who thought we would be natural collaborators.  Imagine the surprise when it turns out we had met several years earlier half way around the world!  Ever since then we’ve played together every chance we can and we’re looking forward to having Patrick be a part of TAIKO 2.0 at the Cerritos Center.

Also check out Patrick’s album Rheo which is an On Ensemble favorite and features two tracks that we’ll be performing at Cerritos Center!

I’ll be writing little previews on many guest artists leading up to our March 12th Taiko 2.0 concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.  This is really ambitious concert for us.  We are collaborating with five guest artists from around the world and will be debuting several new pieces.  Kris has also working on our new ambitious “Burn Your Own” system that will allow audience members to bring a blank CD to the concert and take home an audio recording of the concert!  This is definitely On Ensemble’s most creatively ambitious concert to date.

Our first guest artist profile is the amazing dancer Chieko Kojima.  Chieko was born in Iwafune, Tochigi Prefecture and joined Ondekoza in 1976.  When Kodo was formed Chieko distinguished herself as one of the few regular performing members and became Kodo’s principal dancer.  As a member of Kodo she has toured around the world and has become known for her innovative interpretations of Japanese folk dance.  Chieko also performs with the song and dance group “Hanayui” and producers her own solo performances and collaborations.  She is currently on tour with Kaoru Watanabe and luckily we were able to work out her schedule so that she could join us for this special Cerritos Center concert.

On a personal note Chieko’s taiko playing style has been very influential to my own development as a taiko player.  When I first saw her play “Hana Hachijo” I was blown away by the beautiful her innovative movements and the way her movements and rhythms combined to make such effortless phrases.  It was that kind of effortless phrasing of movement and rhythm that I tried to incorporate into the open source piece “Omiyage”.

This is super exciting news!  Our good friend Christopher Tin just won two Grammys one for Best Instrumental Accompanying Vocalists and Best Classical Crossover Album.  Kris, Maz and I recorded taiko and percussion parts for this album and I did some electronic music production as well.  There were over 100 artist involved in the making of this album all brought together by Chris’ vision and amazing compositions.  Congratulations Chris!

Our TAIKO 2.0 collaboration with Russel Baba, Jeanne Mercer, Kaoru Watanabe and Patrick Graham at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts is coming Saturday March 12th at 8pm!  Russel, Jeanne, Kaoru and Patrick are four of our favorite artists to work with.  We’ve been working on new material and it’s going to be one of best concerts to date!  We’ve also added another special guest artist Kodo’s principal dancer Chieko Kojima.  Chieko is on tour this month in the US and we were able to work out her schedule to have her join us for a special performance on the Cerritos stage.  Tickets are on sale now and are available through the Cerritos Center box office.

TAIKO 2.0
On Ensemble with guest artists: Russel Baba, Jeanne Mercer, Kaoru Watanabe, Patrick Graham and Chieko Kojima
Saturday March 12th, 8:00pm
Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
12700 Center Court Drive
Cerritos, CA  90703
Tickets $61/$49/$37
Box Office:  (800) 300-4345

This will be our third time presenting a collaborative concert at the Cerritos Center.  Our last concert was with Kenny Endo and you can read a review of the concert at CerritosInk blog.

Kris is the by far the most handy of the On Ensemble members.  You probably have a pretty good idea about this if you’ve read any of his posts of have seen his apartment.  He’s the one with power tools the one that fixes stands when they break down or can make cases for the koto or turntable.  But even amongst guys with power tools it’s not everyone who will attempt to make their own portable computer.  More of a lugtop than a laptop but still very impressive.  I’m calling it the Bergstrom Lugtop 3000.

While Kris and Kelvin were leading a workshop for Inazuma Taiko Maz and I prototyped a new workshop format with Christian, Jean-Francois and Sandra of Arashi Daiko -  the wine bar improvisation workshop.  It basically works like this: share a great bottle of wine, talk endlessly about the nature of creativity and art then end with an impromptu vocal improvisation after the wine has been finished.  It’s only a prototype workshop but the results from the first were amazing and we’re looking forward to trying this again!  Thanks to Amie for her recommendation.  If you are into food Amie is a great food writer and has a blog on her restaurant recommendations and culinary explorations at: multiculturiosity.blogspot.com.

I can trace my love affair with wine back to a single meal I had at Glutton’s when Makoto Ono was the chef.  (more…)

We just flew Kelvin back to Ashland after a week of creative rehearsals.  It was a great opportunity to re-energize On Ensemble with new ideas and creative possibilities ahead of our upcoming cross country tour in January.  When we started On Ensemble back in 2001 we were just a couple years out of college and full of high hopes and dreams.  We weren’t really sure what kind of music we wanted to make.  The only two things we knew were 1) we wanted to make music with a small group of dedicated artists and 2) we wanted to explore new musical directions with the taiko.  Now that we’re coming up on 10 years as a group a lot has changed.  The reality of being a group of four working musicians means that we are all involved in many different projects.  We are also getting older.  Life is changing.  We are starting families, buying houses and have many more responsibilities than we did when we started On Ensemble.  This past week felt like we refocused our energies on what brought us together in the beginning and what keeps us moving forward: the need to create.

Every other year or so we do a cross country workshop tour on our way to the APAP conference.  This year we have a number of workshops with taiko groups from Las Vegas to Montreal to Fort Wayne and more are being finalized now.  If you are a taiko group interested in a workshop from us on our way to NY in January get in touch with us soon.

Once we get out to New York we’ll be doing two showcases at the APAP|NYC conference.  After New York we’re heading up to Montreal for a concert with our good friend frequent collaborator and musical soul mate Patrick Graham at Sala Rossa.  Then it’s all the way back to Idaho for a residency program and performance at the Sun Valley Center for the Performing Arts.