On Ensemble : Masato Baba, Kristofer Bergstrom, Shoji Kameda and Kelvin Underwood » Mt. Shasta

Shastayama this weekend!

shoji — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:04:05 +0000

Kris and Maz will be heading up to Mt. Shasta for the 6th Annual Shastayama festival this weekend! For those of you that don’t know yet Shastayama is one of the coolest taiko festivals ever. Of course I’m a little biased because Maz’s parents and my first taiko teachers Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer organize the festival so don’t take my word for it go check it out for yourself! This year’s specials guest include: Taikoproject, Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble, Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe.

Making music from a taiko-centric perspective

shoji — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:50:08 +0000

I had a nice article written about me in my home town paper while we were through Mt. Shasta. You can read the full article at the Mt. Shasta News website.

…Reduced to its simplest terms, Kameda described the music of the On Ensemble as “World fusion from a taiko-centric perspective,” though as soon as the word “fusion” left his mouth, he began to back peddle…

Last Show

maz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:04:02 +0000

Not for us, but it was for ASL (Alternate Sound of Life) tonight. Ian Mora (lead singer) and I used to play in a rock band in high school and, along with Shoji, we grew up playing taiko in Shasta Taiko. Since Shoji and I went off to do the taiko/music path, Ian went on to do his own thing and continued playing alt/rock down in the Los Angeles/Orange County area along with another great friend of ours from Mt. Shasta, Akilino Jacky (drummer). They created some great music, but decided to hang it up. We’ll miss you ASL!!! Best of luck to you all in your next path in life…

Shasta Yama 08 Recap

maz — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:14:27 +0000

Aww… I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures of Shasta Yama, but once again my parents and Mario Rubino (the producer) delivered. It was a very successful show. Mario thinks there were over 1,000 people who came! Even with all the smoke from the insane wild fires around the area and the rising gas prices, people came. What a special event this has become. Shoji said that this is the biggest outdoor taiko festival in the nation and I’d have to agree with him.

I have a lot of thank yous. First and foremost, my dad and mom, Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer for putting on this awesome event every year and, of course, for believing in us and supporting our vision. Mario Rubino for believing in my mom and dad. Michelle Fujii for the constant vision and role she has played in our path. Mark Miyoshi for the beautiful drums and constant support. And, thank you to Laura Masunaga and Tadashi Kameda (Shoji’s parents) who were the reason why my mom and dad moved up to Mt. Shasta in the first place. What an awesome community that rallied behind Shasta Yama. I am honored to go back every year to make awesome music.