So it’s been a while… I’ve logged into the update our website for our upcoming performances in Utah and I realized the last update was from June of 2019! Our last performances before the pandemic was a great tour to Brazil. It was a really great tour organized by the Japan Foundation as a celebration to mark the 90th Anniversary of Japanese immigration to Belem and Manaus. I felt right at home in the Japanese Brazilian community. I think there is a lot of kinship that Nikkei populations share. Maz and I could’ve easily grown up as fourth generation Japanese Brazilians had our great grandparents chose Brazil instead of California. We had a really great tour with performances, collaborations, schools shows and workshops for local taiko groups. A huge shout out to the Japan Foundation for and the Consulates General of Japan in Belem and Manaus for organizing this tour.
As I was uploading these photos it seems like another era. Everyone smiling and without masks and not knowing it would be our last performances as On Ensemble for a while. After this On Ensemble tour I had another tour to Europe at the beginning of 2020. I was actually on the road in Germany when my wife called me in the middle of the night and explained that the president was going to close the borders and that I needed to get the first flight back. So I left my luggage in booked the first flight to LA and assumed I’d return in a couple of months… That was March of 2020. It is now October of 2021 and everything is different.
Luckily it seems the like we are finding new ways to move forward in a new reality. So much has happened and everything is so different but I’m excited to return to performances with On Ensemble!
