Kametron has three modes. In "Kametron" mode he just sits in a corner listening to music with a pair of headphones, not terribly exciting. In "Taiko Kametron" mode he stands up and removes a pair of batchi from a secret compartment. In "Giga Kametron" mode massive speakers come out of his fore arms pounding music. The resulting energy surge usually shorts out his CPU causing him to twitch and dance uncontrollably.
Wow now I can say I performed at Carnegie Hall and I wouldn’t even be lying. The concert version of Eric Whitacre’s Paradise Lost : Shadows and Wings was quite an event. The choir was massive, the beats were massive, the soloist were amazing and much fun was had.
Yesterday I taught a workshop to Kaoru’s taiko center and we rehearsed for our upcoming gig at DROM. I’m planning on spending the next couple of days seeing as much music and eating as much good food as I can. Kaoru and his wife Mari have also got me hooked on Lost. Though they are at the end of season 5 and I can’t really imagine anything being more confusing than starting to watch this show from this point. I spend every episode confused beyond imagination but find the whole experience oddly compelling.
Yamasong the movie had it’s premiere at the Florida Film Festival and has been accepted to several other festivals including: “Plastic Paper” Festival of Animation & Puppetry in Winnipeg, Canada, the World Festival of Puppet Art in Prague, Czech Republic, the San Francisco United Film Festival, the Fear No Film Festival in Salt Lake City and the World Music & Independent Film Festival in Washington DC. We also just received word that Yamasong was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Original Sound for a short film at the World Music & Independent Film Festival in DC!
Maz and I will be performing at DROM in New York this month with Kaoru Watanabe (flutes and taiko), Yuka Yamamoto (vocals, ukele), Shanir Blumenkranz (bass) and Barbara Merjan (drums and taiko). Kaoru has been faciliting a performance series at DROM ever since we performed there together back in January of last year and he always gathers together a great group of interesting musicians. Should be a lot of fun come check it out if you are in NY.
First of all we had a great time performing with Kuniko Yamamoto at the Music Center’s World City series. It was a sunny beautiful day and tons of families showed up for the performance. It was just one of those days that makes you happy you live in Los Angeles. A big thank you goes out Barbara and Michael for having us back at the great series!
Recently I wrote some funk/electronic music for a short film that my brother-in-law put together promoting bike communting at UCLA. It’s up on youtube now so check it out:
And I now have a wikipedia entry! Woohoo now I know that I exist:
en.wikipedia.orgShoji Kameda is a fourth-generation Japanese American musician and composer, and leading player of North American taiko. He is a founder and member of On Ensemble, a contemporary taiko quartet [1], and a member of the jazz fusion group Hiroshima [2].
The FoundatiOn Team thank you packets have been sent and we’ve already received a lot of positive feedback from this year’s EP. We’ve also received requests for more in depth track notes so without further ado…
A year and a half ago I met with Sam Koji Hale a talented puppet maker and visual artist over a bowl of ramen and we talked about doing a short film based on one of the Ume in the Middle tracks. I had seen a table top bunraku production that Sam was involved with and was really taken by the artistry of the performance. When we got together it was clear that creatively we had much in common and that we should try to do something together. Sam then pitched the project to Heather Henson and she agreed to produce a short film through her production company IBEX.
After that it was off to the races. Sam put together a great crew and it was amazing to watch the whole thing come to life from initial character designs and sketches to models to puppets to the shooting and the post production work. At every step of the way my excitement grew as the film came together and now it’s finally finished! Sam is submitting it to film festivals now and we are also producing a DVD of the film with making of features and commentaries.
We’ve also built a website for the film at: OnEnsemble.org/YamasongMovie
We had a great time performing at Kenny Endo’s 35th Anniversary concert this past Saturday. Kenny has been a great teacher and mentor to us over the years and it was an honor to share the stage with him and the amazing artists he brought together to celebrate his 35 years in the artform. On Sunday Kaoru, Kenny and myself had another short performance at Senshin Buddhist temple for Hanamatsuri which was also a lot of fun. All in all it was a great weekend of music. Congratulations again Kenny!
Last month I posted this short sample of one of the new EP 5 tracks and asked for name suggestions:
And the winner is…. drum roll please…