Our nine guest artists from Japan have arrived and preparations are well underway! I’m really excited about the opportunity to perform with these fantastic players and to feature nagauta in an On Ensemble concert. Please join us! Tickets are available here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/225761

Good in Gardena
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Lunch: 12:00 noon, $25
Battle: 1:15 pm, free
Concert: 2:00 pm, $25
Gardena Valley JCI
1964 West 162nd Street
Gardena CA 90247

$5 discount for cyclists and indoor bike valet
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/225761

Lunch Details

Sunday, March 11, 12 noon
Reservations required ($25)
JCI Gardens Apartments (next door to Gardena Valley JCI)
Social Hall
2000 W 162nd St
Torrance CA 90504

Parking available in Gardena Valley JCI parking lot at 1964 W 162nd St, or free street parking.

The meet-the-performers lunch features home-made, vegan food with locally sourced, organic ingredients. Special guest, Meiji Tofu, will be on hand to explain the making of fresh tofu. A “No Trash Event”, attendees bring their own plates, drinking cups, and napkins. Sawada Seijyuuro, first-place winner of the 2006 All-Japan Tsugaru Shamisen Contest, will perform musical selections and explain the music’s background and inspirations.

Menu (subject to change)

• lettuce salad with basil-olive oil, ponzu, and maple-syrup dressing
• hand-made hiyayako (cold tofu) with fresh toppings, served with 50%-polished brown rice
• mabo tofu (spicy, soft tofu with green onions)
• chard goma-ae (sweet Japanese greens and sesame)
• yaki imo (baked Japanese sweet potato)
• seasonal fruit and cinnamon cookies

Battle Details

Sunday, March 11, 1:15 pm
Outdoor, free and open to the public
Gardena Valley JCI parking lot
1964 W 162nd St
Gardena CA 90247

Parking available in Gardena Valley JCI parking lot at 1964 W 162nd St, or free street parking.

For the past six months, more than a dozen slant-drum enthusiasts have been preparing new moves and rhythms for the Los Angeles debut of the Matsuri Crashers Battle. Players face off on a single drum in singles and doubles competition. The audience surrounds the action and chooses each battle’s winner with the “shobu” voting system: stand up to vote for the standing player, squat down to vote for the kneeling player. Individual battles utilize one of six available “structures” with fixed length, speed, and base-beat. These structures, named for Los Angeles freeways, involve call-and-response between players and audience. The 30-minute, outdoor event is free and open to the public, held in the Gardena Valley JCI parking lot.

Concert Details

Sunday, March 11, 2:00 pm
Reservations required ($25)
Gardena Valley JCI Veterans’ Hall
1964 W 162nd St
Gardena CA 90247

Parking available in Gardena Valley JCI parking lot at 1964 W 162nd St, or free street parking.

On Ensemble is joined by 12 (!) guest artists to present a combination of contemporary and traditional music in an intimate, all-acoustic setting. Alongside established repertoire like Little Man and Watashi Watashitachi, On Ensemble presents the Los Angeles debut of Re-Recycled Beats for bonang and uchiwa-daiko, and the premier of upbeat jam-song, Tally Ho. Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the concert will also debut 9.0 for taiko and oboe, dedicated to musicians in Fukushima, Japan. With master musicians from Japan, the concert will feature the large-ensemble Kabuki classic, Kagami-Jishi, and the evocative Fuji Ondo with traditional dance. Kineya Katsuyukie joins On Ensemble for an original arrangement of the contemporary shamisen piece, Dagakki.

Bring a blank CD to take home a free, live recording of the concert!

Program (subject to change)
(“*” indicates Los Angeles debut)

• Little Man
• Watashi Watashitachi
• Dagakki*
• Fuji Ondo
• Hisashi
• 9.0*
• Tsugaru vs Nagauta shamisen demo*
• Kagami Jishi
• Re-Recycled Beats*
• Jack Bazaar
• Tally Ho*

Performers

• Masato Baba
• Kristofer Bergstrom / Kineya Katsukoujyu
• Shoji Kameda
• Kineya Katsuyukie
• Kineya Katsujyuurou / Sawada Seijyuurou
• Kineya Wayukiji
• Matsunaga Wakikou
• Kashiwa Etsuko
• Kineya Katsuyukio
• Kineya Katsukoushin
• Matsumoto Masako
• Kineya Yasoyo
• Nakamura Narumi
• Brady Fukumoto

JCI Carnival new piece debut
Sunday, June 26, 2011
2pm ~ 2:15pm
free, outdoor community festival
Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute
1964 W. 162nd St. Gardena CA 90247

JCI Carnival flyer PDF

Rhythmic Relations 2011
Featuring TAIKOPROJECT, Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, and Loma Pacific Taiko
With Special Guest Ryutaro Kaneko (former director for KODO)
Two shows only – Saturday, June 25, 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
JACCC Plaza, Little Tokyo
Ticket info: http://jaccc.org/taikoproject.php
Show info: http://www.taikoproject.com/RR2011

Taiko 2.0
On Ensemble with special guests
Saturday March 12, 2011, 8:00pm
Tickets:  $37/$49/$61
Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

My good friend Kineya Yasoyo has organized a shamisen performance fundraiser for Nichiren Temple in downtown Los Angeles. I will be performing two Kabuki pieces, as well as the newest version of my solo taiko piece, Err. Included with the ticket price, all guests will be served Japanese tea as well. There will be Japanese food for purchase too! If you’re in the area, please come! Tickets are $35 at the door.

Nichiren Temple
2801 E 4th St
Los Angeles CA

This June we’re very excited to be performing in Eugene, OR at the Oregon Bach Festival!

Since 1970, the Oregon Bach Festival celebrates the music and legacy of J.S. Bach in an unequaled environment of performance, discovery, and community, in the refreshing early summer of the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps the most expansive and critically acclaimed platform for Bach’s music in America, the Festival forges connections between people through a love of great music.

I’m still not sure quite how we were picked to be a part of the OBF but it’ll be an absolute honor to be among the amazing artists at this year’s festival!

On Thursday June 25th, we’ll be performing at 6:00pm at the Jordon Schnitzer Museum of Art for the public reception of the World Harmony Project.

On Saturday June 27th we have a kids show “Taiko Together” at 11:00am and a full concert at 7:30pm at the Soreng Concert Hall.

Check out the Oregon Bach Festival website for the full schedule of events.

The avant-garde musical stylings of On Ensemble, which fuse traditional Japanese drums (taiko) with modern elements of rock, hip-hop and electronica, probably will appeal to many listeners. Sadly, I’m not one of them, as I have no desire to revisit “Ume in the Middle”.

I found this nine-track mostly instrumental collection to be a challenge to get through and, despite my best efforts, couldn’t embrace the music of Masato Baba, Kristofer Bergstrom, Shoji Kameda and Kelvin Underwood.

Songs such as “Waiting” and “After Rain” – with the latter’s use of bamboo flute and bizarre, wordless throat singing – are intriguing, if not enjoyable, and I kind of liked “Butoh-bot Malfunction.” But for the most part, this is a record that is too out there for my taste. Perhaps I’m just not sophisticated enough.