2022 Fall UPDATE
Fumi Tanakadate
Hello,
Wow....this is my first update since November 2021! It's not for want of things to talk about- I've stayed focused on making art to the detriment of all the other work we have to do to support the art-making process.
Anyway, before launching into the update, I'd like to acknowledge the many great people that have passed away recently, including the great Pharoah Sanders, whom I've never met but have seen live and have listened to, whose incredible tone had so much soul and so much power while carrying a fragile tenderness within it, and the designer Issey Miyake, who has inspired me to create art, not with flash and gimmickry, but by using quality materials in surprising, elegant and creative ways. I often wear Issey Miyake when I perform and have done so for decades because it inspires me to emulate the grace and beauty of his design in my music.
Here, in a nutshell, is what I did from November 2021 to now, November 2022:
Performed with Silkroad Ensemble with our new artistic director, the incredible Rhiannon Giddens, first in November 2021 and later on tour in July 2022 in a production called Phoenix Rising. I was commissioned to write a piece for the ensemble, which I named Ho-Oh, and I am thrilled with how it turned out. A couple of highlights of the July tour: playing at Tanglewood, where Silkroad first started in 2000, and our founder Yo-Yo Ma joined us for a few pieces. Playing at the Newport Folk Festival, where we jammed with Natalie Merchant, and Rhiannon sang a duet with Paul Simon.
I taught multiple workshops, classes, and ensembles at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee as a member of Silkroad.
I performed with my trio BOROGUSAKAGU, made up of Rogerio Boccato, Sameer Gupta, and myself, at both the So Percussion marathon at Roulette and just a few weeks ago in a great little Brooklyn venue called Lunatico. If you take the first two letters of all of our names, you can put together the trio's name, which, in Japanese, means old stanky furniture.
I was able to perform a solo work I call INCENSE a few times, including at Dartmouth College (thanks, Ted Levin), Joe's Pub (thanks, Alex Knowles), Lincoln Center (thanks, Jordanna Leigh), and at the Antenna Cloud Farm (thanks Michi and Judd!).
A new trio consisting of two Montreal-based musicians, percussionist Patrick Graham and harpist/koto player Sarah Pagé and myself, performed at the Centre for Traditional Music in Montreal. I found Sarah's use of electronics to complement her great acoustic playing very inspiring, especially since I was developing just that in the aforementioned INCENSE.
I toured with the great Kenny Endo across the US, a tour supposed to happen in 2020 to celebrate his 40 years of being a musician. Kenny is the only taiko drummer who, besides me, was born in the US, studied and performed at the highest level in Japan, and returned to the US to continue performing professionally. He did it two decades before I did, and he continues to be a great friend and mentor.
I performed a duet with the poet and performance artist LaTasha Nevada Diggs at Joe's Pub at the behest of Laurie Anderson (yes, THE Laurie Anderson).
And speaking of Laurie Anderson (yes, THE Laurie Anderson), she invited me to perform a duo with her at Hirshorn Art Museum as part of her exhibition. We performed in the sculpture garden and improvised non-stop out in the sun for four hours. It was a glorious, glorious day for me.
Near the end of the summer, two momentous concerts happened- one was performing with Adam Rudolph's Go:Organic Orchestra at Summerstage in Central Park, an ensemble I've found a home in since first returning to NY from Japan in 2007. I've met many great musicians in the ensemble and learned so much about music and rhythm from my time there, and to perform with them on a beautiful full-moon evening in the heart of New York City was magical. It was especially great to reunite with the great Hassan Hakmoun and Graham Haynes.
And finally, I was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov (who friends call Misha) and his wife, Lisa Rhinehart, to perform an impromptu concert at their home. Initially, they thought I could keep it light and do a shinobue-only performance. That idea quickly made way for a full-on performance with all of my percussion, drums, and flutes, with Misha joining me for a 15-minute-long improvisation. I've known Misha for a few years (we had a project together that went away because of COVID), but this was our first time performing together. Misha is considered one of the greatest dancers of our time and to create energy and time in communication with someone was such extraordinary experience, knowledge, and history in his body was revelatory.
LOOKING AHEAD
On the horizon, I will be traveling to Japan in November for the first time since the pandemic. More to connect with family, friends, colleagues, and teachers but with some work thrown in. Currently, I'm deep in preparation for a few new projects and collaborations for 2023, including a new album, writing music for Houston Ballet dancer Nao Kusuzaki to be premiered in Houston in March, working with old friends Ximena and Shige from Leimay, I will be artist-in-residence at Loyola University in Chicago so will be spending a lot of time, a new project with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, there as well as more upcoming Silkroad performances.
LAST WORD
Being an artist is incredibly rewarding and inspiring, as evidenced by this update you've just read. However, please know I consciously leave out all the feelings of inadequacy, failure, and dejection that fill my days. I have to keep my head down and maintain focus throughout and dare to keep pushing my work out into the world even when feeling that no one is interested in hearing any of it! I feel so grateful to have the support of friends and family, especially my partner Yurie, who keeps me going daily. Anyone reading this is part of that circle, so I also thank you.