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I'm very excited about the next Nakanaka installment- the jazz phenomenon Charlie Hunter will be joining Tamango and I at Drom for an evening of music, dance and art. Please come and join us for this special event!
DROM
85 Ave A
$10
9 to 11 pm
Greetings from LA. I'm here for performances with taiko master Kenny Endo. We did a set at a Gala Ceremony celebrating LA's Japanese American Community Cultural Center's 30th year. We shared the stage with Keiko Matsui, 5 time GRAMMY award winning Daniel Ho and the first African American enka singer, named JERO. We opened the evening, Kenny and I playing stark Noh music with two 10' high targets suspended behind us. As we played, the targets turned turned sideways. Kyudo archers then shot arrows from the wings of one side of the stage, through the two targets and into a net in the other wings. The sound of the arrows piercing the thick painted sheets of paper in two quick successive hits, created an abstract rhythm that blended with the music Kenny and I were playing. This Sat, Kenny will be celebrating his 35 years of playing taiko with a large concert in the same venue. We will be joined by Kinnara Daiko, the oldest taiko group in the US, On Ensemble, June Kuramoto of Hiroshima and the pipa virtuoso Wu Man. Please tell your friends and family in LA to come celebrate with us!
This March, I will spending two weeks in Hawaii performing with the great Kenny Endo and the genius percussionist Kiyohiko Senba. I will be back and forth from NY and LA the second half of March going into April. Hope to see you out there. Below is a listing of where I'll be, scroll down for more details.
• March 6th with Kenny Endo and Kiyohiko Senba (Maui)
• March 13 with Kenny Endo and Kiyohiko Senba (Honolulu)
• March 15 and 22 with Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra (NYC)
• March 19 NakaNaka: Breathing Over Space and Time@Drom (NYC)
• March 21 Kaoru Watanabe|Deep Singh|Yumi Kurosawa@AMNH (NYC)
• March 18 Ortine Cafe with Sarah Bernstein and Stuart Popejoy
• March 30 JACCC 30th Anniversary Gala Event (LA)
• April 03 Kenny Endo and Friends In Concert (LA)
8:00 PMAratani/Japan America Theatre 244 South San Pedro Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 Phone: (213) 680-3700 Website: jaccc.org E-Mail: jatevents@jaccc.org Map & Directions
World-renowned taiko artist and Los Angeles native Kenny Endo returns to his hometown to celebrate his 35th anniversary of uniquely innovative and masterful performance. Globally recognized and highly regarded for his spirited contemporary works and his engaging and colorful entravaganza showcasing Kenny's unique blend of taiko fusion combining Japanese classical drumming with world music and jazz. Featuring Kinnara Taiko, one of the first and most influential taiko groups in North America, On Ensemble, contemporary taiko quartet, Kaoru Watanabe (Japanese and western flutes, taiko), and Abe Lagrimas, Jr. (vibraphones, drum set, ukulele) and other guests! As part of this special commemorative concert, Kenny will be debuting a brand new composition. Don't miss this opportunity to experience superior taiko and world music!
Reserved Seating, Tickets: $35 Orchestra, $30 JACCC Balcony (Service fee applicable) $32.50 Orchestra, $27.50 Balcony - Group+10 (Service fee applicable) $30 Orchestra, $25 - JACCC Member (Service fee applicable) No Exchanges or Refunds
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7 pmAratani/Japan America Theatre 244 South San Pedro Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 Phone: (213) 680-3700 Website: jaccc.org E-Mail: jatevents@jaccc.org
The show has been listed as starting at 9 pm, but we've since been developing more repertoire and plan on starting a little sooner to get it all in- please come in early, have a drink and we will slowly start the evening around 8:30. Don't worry if you can only come at 9- there will be plenty happening all night!
breathing
NakaNaka celebrates an incredible first year of performances and events by such artists as KODO, On Ensemble, Ned Rothenberg, Miles Okazaki, Masuo Yoshiaki, Adam Rudolph and more. For this special event, curator Kaoru Watanabe has invited the acclaimed flute innovator Robert Dick shakuhachi player and composer Kojiro Umezaki, tabla player Deep Singh, koto player Yumi Kurosawa and other special guests for a gorgeous mélange of eastern and western instruments.
doors open at 8 pm, show starts around 8:30 $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Drom Ave A (btwn 5th and 6th) New York, NY 212-777-1157
www.robertdick.com http://deepsoundz.com http://www.myspace.com/yumikurosawakoto
7:30 pmMaui Arts and Cultural Center, Castle Theater
"Kenny Endo’s name long has been synonymous with the rhythmic artistry of taiko." — Honolulu Adveriser
A retrospective of selected contemporary taiko compositions composed by internationally renown taiko master Kenny Endo. A leading spirit in traditional Japanese drumming, Endo believes in using tradition as a basis for innovative collaborations and improvisations. Joining Endo will be an ensemble of master musicians who reflect the East meets West synthesis of his music: Kiyohiko Semba, percussionist; Kaori Takahashi, electric violin; Kaoru Watanabe, bamboo flute and Miho Morinoue, dancer/choreographer.
Tickets: $12, $25, $32 One Cameron Way Kahului, HI 96732 Phone: 808-242-2787 Fax: 808-242-4665 Box Office: 808-242-7469 Email: info@mauiarts.org
Leeward Community College Theatre8 pm $25 Adults $21 Students, Seniors (60+), Military $15 Twelve Years Old & Under 96-045 Ala Ike, Pearl City, Hawaii 96782 Box Office: 455-0385 Eticket Hawaii Hotline 944-2697
8 pm
Roulette
20 Greene St
New York, NY
Tonight's NAKANAKA presents: Breathing Over Time and Space has been cancelled due to the snow... We will be doing the show at a later date.
Improvisations by Robert Dick, Sara Schoenbeck and Kaoru Watanabe. Flutes of many types, taiko and bassoon fuse cultures and epochs.
NakaNaka celebrates it's first year of incredible performances and events, by such artists as KODO, On Ensemble, Ned Rothenberg, Miles Okazaki, Masuo Yoshiaki, Adam Rudolph and more. For this special event, curator Kaoru Watanabe has invited the acclaimed flute innovator Robert Dick and the extraordinary bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck for a gorgeous mélange of eastern and western instruments.
9 to 11 pm
$10 in advance
$12 at the door
dromnyc.com
212-777-1157
85 Ave A (btwn 5th and 6th)
ROBERT DICK - soprano, alto, bass flutes, piccolo www.robertdick.com
With equally deep roots in classical music old and new and in free improvisation and new jazz, Robert Dick has established himself as an artist who has not only mastered, but redefined the flute. Known worldwide for creating revolutionary visions of the flute's musical role, listening to Robert Dick play solo has been likened to the experience of hearing a full orchestra. His performances typically include flute (with his invention, the Glissando Headjoint®)piccolo, alto flute, and bass flutes in C and F. On special occasions, he'll bring out the giant, stand-up contrabass flute.
Dick lives in New York City and is on the faculty of New York University. He holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.M. in composition from the Yale School of Music.
As a composer in the classical world, Robert Dick is one of only two Americans ever to be awarded both Composers Fellowships (twice) and a Solo Recitalist Grant by the N.E.A. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and commissions from the Jerome Foundation, Fromm Music Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Trust, the city of Zurich, the Philharmonie in Cologne and many more.
As an improvisor, Dick has performed and recorded with New Winds, Tambastics, Oscura Luminosa, the Soldier String Quartet, the A.D.D. Trio, Paul Giger and Satoshi Takeishi, Jaron Lanier, Randy Raine-Reush and Barry Guy, Mari Kimura, Steve Gorn and many more of Europe and America's finest improvisors. Over three decades of collaboration, musicians he has worked with include Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Georg Gräwe, Evan Parker, Malcolm Goldstein, Shelley Hirsch, Jöelle Leandre and John Zorn.
SARA SCHOENBECK - bassoon www.myspace.com/saraschoenbeck
Sara Schoenbeck is a bassoonist who dedicates herself to expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in the worlds of contemporary notated and improvised music. The Wire places her in the “tiny club of bassoon pioneers” at work in contemporary music today and the New York Times has called her “riveting, mixing textural experiments with a big, confident sound.” From being a member of creative music ensembles, like Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas Quartet, Anthony Braxton’s 12+1tet and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble to backing Mos Def in Dakah hip hop orchestra and backing Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder in the Mancini Orchestra, Sara continues to defy categorization as an artist. She has also also shared the stage in improvised music performances with Yusef Lateef, Fred Frith, John Butcher, Mark Dresser, Pauline Oliveros, Wadada Leo Smith and Nels Cline among many others. A recent transplant from Los Angeles, she spent a portion of her time there recording and also as adjunct faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Feature films she has worked on include the Matrix Trilogy, Spanglish and Dahmer. She performs regularly at jazz festivals and venues throughout North America and Europe, notably the Du Maurier Jazz Festival in Vancouver, B.C., the Improvised Music Fest in Antwerp, Belgium and the Berlin Jazz Festival. Sara has received grants from Meet the Composer and the Durfee foundation for outreach work and composition.
Feb 6 Ortine Cafe- duo with Nori NaraokaFeb 9 Princeton Performance- KATACHI Feb 13 Nakanaka with James Schlefer Feb 20 Bella Gaia at the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Long Island Feb 24 with Chris Dingman at the Brooklyn Lyceum Feb 26 NakaNaka with Robert Dick/Sara Shoenbeck/Kaoru Watanabe
see below for details!
NakaNaka presents: Bamboo Madness
James Schlefer (shakuhachi) and Kaoru Watanabe (shinobue and taiko) Two of NYC most dynamic performers of Japanese flutes team up for an evening of bamboo madness with guest Nobuko Miyazaki (shinobue)
DROM 85 Ave A (between 5th and 6th st) New York, NY $10 in advance $12 at the door dromnyc.com 9 to 11 pm
James Nyoraku Schlefer is a leading performer and teacher of shakuhachi in New York City. In addition to performing and lecturing on traditional Japanese shakuhachi music, Schlefer performs contemporary music for the instrument and is an active composer. In the US he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Philadelphia Museums, and has toured internationally in Europe, Asia and South America. Schlefer has four solo recordings, Wind Heart (which was aboard the Space Station MIR for over one year) Solstice Spirit, Flare Up, and In The Moment, and his music was featured on NPR's All Things Considered. He received the Dai-Shi-Han (Grand Master's Certificate) in 2001, and in 2007, he received a second Shi-Han license, from Kurahashi Yodo’s Mujuan Dojo in Kyoto. In Japan he has also studied with Aoki Reibo, Yokoyama Katsuya, Yoshinobu Taniguchi, and Mitsuhashi Kifu. He holds a Master's degree in music from Queens College and is on the CUNY faculty where he teaches courses in Classical Music, World Music and Jazz. James is the Japanese Music Curator for the Arts at Tenri in NYC, presenting four concerts annually of traditional and contemporary music for Japanese instruments, and for ensembles of mixed Japanese and Western instruments. www.nyoraku.com
For almost 800 years, the haunting melodies of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) were the exclusive domain of Fuke Buddhist monks of the Samurai class. Playing and teaching this music was highly restricted – it belonged to the Buddhist temples of old Japan and the Zen pursuit of the one perfect sound that would bring enlightenment. Today, centuries later, thousands of miles from its origin and following an unbroken line of transmission, American Grand Master James Nyoraku Schlefer brings this timeless music to a contemporary temple of music - DROM.
Feb 24with Chris Dingman's group 8:30 PM $10 10 PM $10 with Mark Small, Aidan Carroll and Tommy Crane.
The Brooklyn Lyceum 227 4th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215 PHONE: 718.857.4816
Sat Feb. 6th I'll be playing some intimate duos with bass player Nori Naraoka at a neighborhood cafe Ortine. Please come down for some warm food and drinks!
Starting around 8 pm free!
Ortine Cafe 622 Washington Ave Brooklyn, NY 11238 718-622-0026
4:30 to 6 pm
Location: Whitman College Auditorium
Sponsor: Department of Music Department of East Asian Studies
Charge: Free
KATACHI: The Shape of Sounds in Silence
Formerly of the internationally acclaimed Japanese taiko drum ensemble KODO, Kaoru Watanabe will be presenting a concert of music for Japanese taiko and bamboo flutes. Repertoire will range from arrangements of traditional hougagku (classical) and minzoku geino (folk) pieces to contemporary compositions and jazz influenced improvisations. He will be joined by Barbara Merjan, a percussionist active in the New York freelance scene who has been performing and studying taiko for five years.
Jan 29th (fri)
NakaNaka 2010 KAISHI@DROM
5 to 7 pm TAIKO WORKSHOP – open to all ages and levels
7:30 to 9:30 TAIKO PERFORMANCE featuring students of the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center
$35 for workshop and concert
$10 for concert only
DROM
85 Ave A (btwn 5th and 6th)
212-777-1157
NYC
I have updated info on the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center (KWTC) as well as added paypal links so that you may make a tax-deductible donation to the center. Please look for the KWTC page on this website. Thank you so much for those of you who have already supported us so far!
2010 has already been intense for so many of us in so many ways. Myself included, many friends and family are going through large changes in their personal lives. And of course my heart goes out to all the people of Haiti everywhere. It's been an emotionally wrenching experience following newspaper, radio and television reports and hearing from friends the status of their loved ones.
With this in mind, we must try to make 2010 as positive as we can where we are in our own lives, while never forgetting the suffering of those around us. The first NakaNaka event of the year will be a taiko workshop followed by a performance featuring students of my taiko school and myself. Taiko can be a physically intense art form, so please expect to be exploring movement as much as rhythm with exercises that adults and children alike will find challenging, stimulating and somehow... relaxing all at once.
Jan 29th (fri) NakaNaka 2010 KAISHI@DROM 5 to 7 pm TAIKO WORKSHOP - open to all ages and levels 7:30 to 9:30 TAIKO PERFORMANCE featuring students of the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center $35 for workshop and concert $10 for concert only
DROM 85 Ave A (btwn 5th and 6th) 212-777-1157 NYC
Voices of the Silk Road
Saturday
January 16
12–5 pm
Kaufmann and Linder Theaters, first floor
Grand Gallery and other Halls
Free with Museum admission
In conjunction with the new exhibition Traveling the Silk Road, this weekend program will explore the cultures along the Silk Road through performances, workshops, and conversations. Julian Kytasty, Ukranian bandurist, and Kaoru Watanabe on the fue will perform string, voice, and flute pieces influenced by the Silk Road. They will be joined by Krygyz traditional musician Kudabay Avyshov, who plays a flute used to herd sheep; Tibetan folk singer Jampan Youdin; and Uzbek singer Muhabat Shamayeva, who will perform Bukharan Jewish music.
http://www.amnh.org/programs/programs.php?date=2010-01-16&event_id=1542
