It was a joy to see so many of the folks instrumental in Stanford Taiko’s history and Jane Lin, Wisa and Sue, Linda and Steve, and all the other folks involved with the weekend made us feel special. Thank you, Stanford Taiko!

I have amazing friends and family. So many of our guest artists’ best experiences came from the work of others. My parents organized an amazing home-party featuring nagauta for us in Bear Valley. Hiro, Michiko, Audrey, and Maria teamed up with my parents (on their 45th wedding anniversary!) to prepare a healthy, local, organic lunch and dinner, for a total of more than 100 meals. Maz organized the whole concert setup and teardown with a host of energetic volunteers. Margaret managed the yard sale. Matt managed Burn Your Own. Mikael filled in last minute for audio recording. Jason, David, Aki, and Tomomi helped guide guests and lend support everywhere. Battle participants and concert collaborators pulled me through really challenging music and were loving and supportive the whole way.

I’m really embarrassed that I did such a poor job of introducing our wonderful guest artists during the concert. I used regular names for many of our performers from Japan, worried that I might botch their stage names on so little sleep. I also completely forgot to introduce our dancer, Nakamura Narumi (Hiromi Ashmore). Ug. I’m such a thoughtless dork. I’m so sorry Hiromi!

Katsuyukie Sensei and Katsujyuuro-san did everything in their power to help me survive the shamisen pieces and to cover for me when I made mistakes. My biggest regret is not being able to devote more of my energy to making sure they had everything they need to perform their best. I want to be a collaborator that truly features others, but Sensei and Katsujyuuro had to worry about helping me get through my parts. The incredible strength of their playing despite these distractions is a tribute to their musicianship. I’m inspired to continue practice and inch toward this ideal.

My apologies also to everyone that the concert started a bit late… it seems I’ve been running 20 minutes late for the last week.

These mistakes aside, I’m relieved the events went well and I appreciate all the positive feedback. It was a ridiculously ambitious series of events, and things could have easily fallen apart. Thanks to all those involved for being a part of this. I hope it was a positive experience for everyone.

Ticket sales for the Good in Gardena concert tomorrow are available through midnight tonight (Saturday). If you’re planning on coming but haven’t yet purchased your tickets, please do so today. It will help me with the setup if you have your ticket in advance.

Thank you everyone and see you tomorrow!

In the GVJCI lobby, I’ll be holding a musician’s garage sale featuring musical instruments and other things we love. The sale will include the koto on which On Ensemble composed and first performed Gengakki (for $175!), a great-condition IBM Selectric typewriter, and a host of other satisfying home and work items.

Sawada Seijyuuro, the award-winning tsugaru-shamisen player, will be playing a song or two for us at the lunch. He performed at an event we organized in Tehachapi yesterday. It was great! He’s got an amazing dynamic range; from tiny, technical, plucking, to all-out bashing. You’re in for a real treat!

Advance-sale concert tickets are available through midnight tonight! If you’re planning to come, ordering your ticket today makes our job a little easier. Thank you!

Along with Katsuyukie Sensei and Katsujyuuro, an additional three singers and three shamisen players are coming from Hakodate and Japan, specifically for Good in Gardena! These are some of Sensei’s most accomplished (and friendly!) students and I am tremendously excited to have them join the lunch and concert! Here are brief introductions of the members.

Kineya Katsuyukio / Masao Fujii – vocals

Fujii-san is one of my favorite nagauta singers, with a powerful voice and inspiring control. He is a world-traveller and was a great supporter and inspiration to me while I was in Hakodate.

Kineya Katsukoushin / Osamu Kambe – vocals

Osamu-san lives in Tokyo (with wonder-woman Michiko, who will also be coming to Good in Gardena!) and is a retired engineer. Osamu suffered a stroke a number of years back and has used nagauta singing and shamisen in his recovery. He is now an accomplished singer, receiving his stage name in 2008.

Masako Matsumoto – vocals

Following the passing of her shamisen-playing husband, Matsumoto-san began studying nagauta with Katsuyukie Sensei in Hakodate, Japan.

Kineya Wayukiji / Rieko Kuwahara – shamisen

Wayukiji-san is a great shamisen player with a surprising passion for dinosaurs. Last time she was in Los Angeles, we went to Universal Studios where she almost popped at Jurassic Park.

Matsunaga Wakikou / Kimiko Takahashi – shamisen

Takahashi-san studied for many years in the Matsunaga guild until her teacher passed away. Living in Hakodate, she soon found Katsuyukie with whom to continue her studies.

Etsuko Kashiwa – shamisen

With a deep love of nagauta, Kashiwa-san began playing shamisen informally with her friends in Tokyo. After reaching a moderate level of ability, however, the members felt they needed more guidance and expertise and Kashiwa-san enlisted Katsuyukie as her teacher.

Please order your tickets soon to join us March 11!

Good in Gardena Preparations

I’m tremendously excited to bring Kineya Katsujyuuro (aka Sawada Seijyuuro) to Good in Gardena, to perform at both the lunch and concert. One of the up-and-coming members of the Kineyakatsu guild, Katsujyuuro is a rare, crossover shamisen player, with stage names in both tsugaru-shamisen and the Kabuki world of nagauta shamsisen. In fact, Katsujyuuro was ranked number one in Japan for tsugaru-shamisen in 2006 and 2008, and even at the young age of 33, is currently performing with top Kabuki stars like Tamasaburo. He will be at the Good in Gardena lunch playing selections of tsugaru repertoire and giving background about the music. At the afternoon concert, he and Katsuyukie-Sensei will demonstrate the differences between tsugaru and nagauta shamisen!

Please come see this amazing player (and get shamisen insider info)!

My shamisen teacher will be joining us for both the lunch and concert portions of Good in Gardena! Here is a bit of background about this wonderful woman!

While I was living in Hakodate, Japan, I wanted to study traditional Japanese music and asked my friends and students where I might find a Kabuki or Noh music teacher. Not having any idea, one student jokingly suggested I look in the phone book under “nagauta”, the main genre of music used in Kabuki. Amazingly, there was one entry! I made contact and quickly came to learn that this teacher is a world-class performer. It wasn’t long before I was taking daily lessons before and after work.

Now… to be fair… if you ask almost any student of Japanese arts about their teacher, that teacher is always “the best in Japan”. But trying to set my personal biases aside, I think Katsuyukie-Sensei really is special.

Kineya Katsuyukie (Chihara Yukie) began studying shamisen in 1947 at age 9 and has become one of Japan’s most respected traditional musicians. She was one of the main students of Kineya Katsusaburo VII, the guild’s renowned head instructor, studying with him from 1960 until his death in 2009. A female musician in the male-dominated world of Kabuki, she established Masaki-kai in 1992 to promote women in nagauta, has more than two dozen students in Hakodate and Japan, including Kineya Katsujyuuro, one of the guild’s most accomplished young players (and who will be joining Good in Gardena!).

In my 12 years studying with Katsuyukie, I continue to be amazed at her depth of knowledge. She can masterfully perform dozens and dozens of complicated nagauta works and can simultaneously sing most of the other ensemble instrument parts. Her technique is wonderfully dynamic and incredibly precise. She has dedicated her life to nagauta; as she puts it, “I married the shamisen.” I feel so lucky to have met her, especially because she only listed it that one time as a favor to a previous classmate working at the phone book company! Katsuyukie has had the greatest effect on my musicianship, setting an impossibly high bar for professionalism.

March is Women’s History Month and I’m terribly excited to have opportunities at the Good in Gardena lunch and concert to ask her more about her experiences. We will be performing Fuji Ondo, with dancing by the beautiful, Nakamura Narumi, Kagami Jishi, my favorite nagauta piece of all time, and Dagakki, a contemporary taiko and shamisen piece I’ve arranged for the event. Katsuyukie-Sensei will also do a shamisen demonstration with behind-the-scenes info about the instrument.

Tickets are available. Please come see this amazing player!