August 13th Ayagoromo - Mindful Transitions@JANM (LA)

Ayagoromo - Mindful Transitions Japanese American National Museum Los Angeles, CA

Traditional Japanese Folk songs assimilated within Modern World Music sensibilities. Yoko Fujimoto and Derek Nakamoto bring an eclectic ensemble of musicians to Tateuchi Democracy Forum.

Vocalist Fujimoto and Composer/Arranger/Pianist Nakamoto will be joined by guest artist Kaoru Watanabe on Japanese Woodwinds & Percussion, Abe Lagrimas Jr. on Ukelele, Vibes & Percussion and Cameron Stone on Cello. Yoko beautifully exemplifies her mastery of singing Japanese folk songs.

The songs will be "framed" with a modern twist of Impressionistic Jazz, Classical and R&B for which Derek is known. The concert will debut new works reflecting the goal of preserving the essence of traditional music with arrangements that make the songs relevant to the present generation.

$10 members; $15 non-members.

Aug 5th DUO with Jason Moran@Deer Isle Jazz Festival

I'm very excited to be performing a duo concert with jazz pianist Jason Moran. Jason is a recipient of the 2010 MacArthur Fellowship (the "Genius Award") and triple-crown winner in Downbeat Magazine's 59th Annual Critics Poll for Jazz Artist, Jazz Album & Pianist of the Year.

http://www.jasonmoran.com

Friday, August 5th at 7pm Reserved Premium Seating - $32.50 General Admission - $25 Fixed Income - $25 Under 17 - $15 Island Students FREE

Creative Walk in Prospect Park

photo by Rod Milam

Tonight's (Wednesday the 20th) regular taiko class is cancelled because of the "Creative Walk" I'll be hosting in Prospect Park. The first one took place last Saturday. Here are a few quotes from one of the participants from her blog http://lindajbeck.blogspot.com/2011/07/create-cultures-conversation-with.html "It was tremendously empowering" "Afterward, I felt centered and refreshed... like I'd just invented Yoga."

Intrigued? More information here: http://www.createculture.org/page/summer-2011-creative-walks and tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/175798 *SPECIAL DISCOUNT for KWTC students- just enter KWTC as a promotion code.

If you have trouble purchasing tickets online, please let me know or just show up at the Brooklyn Library around 6:30 or so. Wednesday's walk is already pretty full but we still have room. Thursday or Saturday's you will have a little more personal attention!

CREATIVE WALK July 20th, 21st, 23rd Prospect Park, Nellie's Lawn Meeting at Brooklyn Library around 6:30 pm (20th, 21st) and 10:30 am (on the 23rd)

Creative Walk and Hi Mizu Kaze (part 2)

Hello all- thanks for visiting this page. The first Hi Mizu Kaze (Prelue) was a huge success- a full house of a very enthusiastic audience- despite the very last minute cancelled appearance of dancer Mana Hashimoto.  A huge special thanks to Barbara Merjan for stepping in and sounding wonderful on everything.

We will be doing Hi Mi Kaze (Rebirth) on Sat, July 16th at 7:30 pm- with Mana Hashimoto this time.

Also, starting in the morning on the 16th, will be the first of four "walks" that I'll be leading. Participants will gather in Brooklyn's beautiful Prospect Park, blindfold themselves and will be led through a series of exercises geared to recalibrating and heightening your senses of hearing, smelling, feeling and tasting- while also being serenaded with some minimalistic sounds of fue and taiko. Should be a transcendental experience! Please see the flier below for details.

CC Creative Walks flyer

Upcoming:

July 7th Middletown, CT Holy Trinity Church 4:30-6:30 performance/demo

July 16, 20, 21, 23 Creative Walks http://www.createculture.org/

July 16th 7:30 pm Hi Mizu Kaze- Rebirth, a benefit concert for Japan Tenri Cultural Institute 43A 13th St. NY, NY

August 5th duo with Jason Moran Deer Isle, Maine

August 13th concert with Yoko Fujimoto (KODO) Derek Nakamoto, Abe Lagrimas and others

August 20th Taiko Jam concert with Kenny Ensemble Ensemble Workshops: fue masterclass, Yatai Bayashi North American Taiko Conference@Stanford University

Sept 3,4,5 Performances with Kenny Endo, Ayako and Haruka Watanabe St. Louis Botanical Gardens, Japanese Festival

Sept 20th Performance with Hiroshima B.B. King Blues Club&Grill

Hi Everyone,

I just got back from Minneapolis where I debuted a new group featuring Tamango, Damion Reid and Barbara. It was somewhat grueling for me, teaching multiple workshops and lessons all day and performing at night for four nights straight. I think it's safe to say we blew some minds out there with our mixture of taiko, fue, butoh-esque theatrics, tap dance within complex improvisational explorations. Hope to present this show in NY sometime soon!

Anyway, I have a few other things coming up in NY that while very different, should be equally as interesting and captivating. Hope to see people there! Also, pass please let me know if you are anyone you know is interested in subletting my apartment this summer. I will be in LA, SF, Maine and St. Louis for lots of teaching and performances (with Jason Moran, Kenny Endo, Yoko Fujimoto from Kodo and my parents) Upcoming Performances

June 29th Washington DC Japan Information and Cultural Center Japan Embassy Solo Fue/Taiko performance

July 3rd New York Kaoru/Birthday/Taiko/Celebration!! TBA Gureje starting 4 pm Come one, come all!

July 5th New York HIMIZUKAZE - Japan Fundraising Concert- see flier below Tenri Cultural Center 8:30 pm $10 suggested donation with Mana Hashimoto (dance) Sadahiro Kakitani (ryuteki) and others

July 7th Middletown, CT performance/demo TBA

July 16, 20, 21, 23 Creative Walks Participants will be blindfolded and taken through a series of exercises exploring both external and external perceptions, while being serenaded with taiko and fue in Prospect Park http://www.createculture.org/

Apartment for Rent! Availability: July 24th - September 6th, 2011 Location: Brooklyn on Classon and Bergen Rent: $425/wk or $2450 for the entire time. (this cost includes utilities)

Spacious 2 bedroom railroad-style apartment in Brooklyn on Classon and Bergen available for sublet between July 24th and September 6th. One full bathroom, hardwood floors, exposed brick wall, fully furnished. Wi-fi. Friendly neighbors and safe and secure complex. 2 blocks from the S (Shuttle) which will conveniently take you to either the 2,3,4,5,B,Q or C.

Fully furnished includes: 2 beds (1 is an inflatable Queen sized Aerobed), fully equipped kitchen, chairs, desks, printer, projector, internet, etc.

In the neighborhood: Great coffee shop (Glass Shop), Mexican restaurant (Chavella's), short walking distance to Prospect Park, The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Museum and Library. Great food nearby along Washington and Vanderbilt as well. Grocery store (Compare Foods) located just around the block on St. Marks.

Type of tenant: Cleanly, willing to water our plants, no smoking in the apartment. Musicians OK.

Contact: Kaoru Watanabe at 646-624-9405 or email kaoru@watanabekaoru.com

June/July activities

Hello friends, This Sunday, June 19th starting at 6 pm, my new ensemble will be doing an open final run-through for a show we're doing in Minneapolis. This group features Damion Reid, Barbara Merjan and myself on taiko, percussion and fue and Tamango tap dancing. We are mixing up hogaku and festival drumming styles and mixing it up with jazz improvisation and dance in pretty crazy ways. Please come out and see what all the noise is all about!

Where Renate Albertsen-Marton Gallery - The Village@Gureje 886 Pacific Street Brooklyn, NY 11238 (Btw. Underhill Ave and Washington Aves in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn) To call for directions: 718-857-2522

June 23, 24, 25, 26 Minneapolis Mu Daiko presents: Kaoru Watanabe New Ensemble with Damion Reid, Barbara Merjan and Tamango http://www.muperformingarts.org/news/soul-drum

June 29th Washington DC Japan Information and Cultural Center Japan Embassy Solo Fue/Taiko performance

July 3rd New York Kaoru/Birthday/Taiko/Celebration!! TBA Gureje starting 4 pm

July 5th New York HIMIZUKAZE - Japan Fundraising Concert- see flier below Tenri Cultural Center 8:30 pm $10 with Mana Hashimoto (dance) Sadahiro Kakitani (ryuteki) and others

July 16, 20, 21, 23 Creative Walks Participants will be blindfolded and taken through a series of conscious heightening experiences, while being serenaded with taiko and fue in Prospect Park http://www.createculture.org/

Upcoming activities- June!

My warmest regards to all those who visit this website. I hope to see you at some of these upcoming events: June 8th Wednesday Zebulon, Brooklyn with Chris Dingman, Matt Kilmer, Tim Keiper http://www.zebuloncafeconcert.com/

June 10th Friday WAH (Williamsburg Art and Historical) Center, Brooklyn Benefit for Japan http://www.wahcenter.net/exhibits/2011/artjapan/

June 11th Saturday Philadelphia, PA Alicia Hall Moran's Motown Project West Chester Poetry Conference honoring Robert Pinsky http://www.wcupoetrycenter.com/conference-schedule

June 14th Tuesday Brooklyn Heights Workshop

June 18th Sunday Ottawa Workshop with Oto-Wa Daiko

June 23, 24, 25, 26 Minneapolis Mu Daiko presents: Kaoru Watanabe New Ensemble feat. Damion Reid, Barbara Merjan and Tamango http://www.muperformingarts.org/news/soul-drum

June 29 Washington DC Solo fue and taiko performance Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan 1150 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JICC/index.html

July 3rd Sunday Birthday Celebration TBA

July 5th Tuesday Japan Benefit at Tenri Gagaku and Beyond (TBA) feat Sadahiro Kakitani, Mana Hashimoto and myself

July 16, 20, 21, 23 Creative Walks in Prospect Park Participants will be blindfolded and encouraged to explore hearing, smelling and feeling nature while being serenaded with the sounds of fue and minimalistic taiko... http://www.createculture.org/page/summer-2011-creative-walks

May 28th Saturday - GalaNYC performance

I'm very excited to be working in collaboration with a pretty amazing group of artists. Hope to see you all there!

Kevork Mourad Armenian visual artist with the Silk Road Ensemble. Early on, he developed a technique of spontaneous painting, in which he shares the stage with musicians, his art created in counterpoint to their music. He has performed and exhibited in concert halls and museums all around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the 92nd Street Y.

Kristin Andreassen Winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Andreassen is an American folk singer in the band Uncle Earl, and a principal dancer with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble.

Mathias Kunzli Swiss-born world percussionist who has performed with artists as diverse as Lauryn Hill, Moby, Randy Brecker, Kayhan Kalhor, Yo-Yo Ma, and many more.

Triborough Trio The Triborough Trio is a unique new acoustic group comprised of cello, guitar and bass working out of New York City. Trio members Mike Block (cello), Hans Holzen (guitar) and Kyle Kegerreis (bass). The mission of the Trio is to put their personal spin on traditional and contemporary music while mixing and matching American string band styles with music from around the globe. Always drawing upon their individual backgrounds rooted strongly in Classical, Country, and Jazz they reinvent their various influences with well-crafted and creative arrangements.

Upcoming performances

May 15th SundayHighline Ballroom, NYC Marcus Miller Presents: A Concert for Japanese Tsunami Relief featuring Q-Tip, Raul Midon, Angelique Kidjo, Questlove and more $45 advanced/$55 day of tickets 7:30 http://www.highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=1966

May 22nd Sunday Fue and Taiko Tenri Cultural Institute, NYC Sachiyo Ito Salon Series http://www.dancejapan.com/events/upcoming-events.html 3 to 4 pm $15, $10 for seniors or students

May 28 Saturday Matt Kilmer/Tim Keiper Brooklyn Lyceum, Brooklyn GALA/NYC NYC Music Series 8 pm http://www.brooklynlyceum.com/ZPT/MORE?listingid=100371

Upcoming Performances!

Upcoming performances: April 29th Friday Wesleyan University Intro and Adv Taiko Student Concert This is the final student concert after my first semester teaching at Wesleyan World Music Hall 7pm Free

May 5th Thursday washington DC- private event

May 7th Saturday KWTC Taiko Ensemble Stony Brook Sakura Matsuri Stony Brook University Wang Center, LI noon to 5:30 (my performance around 4:30 http://matsuri.ryushukan.com/

May 8th Sunday KWTC Taiko Ensemble Asian Pacific Heritage Month Union Square (17th and Park Ave South) 4 to 4:25 (short demonstration) http://www.capaonline.org/

May 10th Tuesday Purchase, NY - private event

May 15th Sunday Highline Ballroom, NYC Marcus Miller Presents: A Concert for Japanese Tsunami Relief featuring Q-Tip, Raul Midon, Angelique Kidjo, Questlove and more $45 advanced/$55 day of tickets 7:30 http://www.highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=1966

May 22nd Sunday Fue and Taiko Tenri Cultural Institute, NYC Sachiyo Ito Salon Series http://www.dancejapan.com/events/upcoming-events.html 3 to 4 pm $15, $10 for seniors or students

May 28 Saturday Matt Kilmer/Tim Keiper Brooklyn Lyceum, Brooklyn GALA/NYC NYC Music Series 8 pm http://www.brooklynlyceum.com/ZPT/MORE?listingid=100371

Michiyuki: New album available now

October 10, 2010 (10/10/10) Mari and I drove to our friend Tatsuya's house near Easton, PA.  Tatsuya and I spent four hours or so, playing improvised duets while Tatsuya recorded.  The resulting CD became Michiyuki, which is now available on CDBaby http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kaoruwatanabeandtatsuyan (itunes coming soon!). On this recording, I play shinobue, ryuteki and noh kan with Tatsuya playing all sorts of bells, gongs, cymbals, drums using sticks, brushes and bows of all sizes.  Tatsuya is a master of texture and tones, creating multiple layers of sound and rhythm.  At many moments during the album, especially during the first track, there are moments where are sounds blend so well that it is difficult to distinguish when my sound ends and his begins.  In the second track, which is too me is a frenetic free jazz improvisation featuring the noh kan (the atonal flute used in Noh theater).  Some of my favorite moments are when one of us stops and simply listens to the other.

The music on this album travels across different sonic landscapes.  The title track, Michiyuki is the one that seems to travel the furthest and to the remote places.  I sincerely hope people enjoy the dialogue that Tatsuya and I have with each other and listen to the music with open ears and minds.

April 17th Philadelphia concert

7:30 concert Calvary United Methodist Church 801 South 48th Street (at Baltimore Avenue) buy tickets here

Soloists: NAOMI SATO - Sho (mouth-organ) NAOKO KIKUCHI - Koto RALPH SAMUELSON - Shakuhachi (end-blown flute) KAORU WATANABE - Nohkan (transverse flute)

http://crossroadsconcerts.org/?p=2567#more-2567

Montreal/Ottawa tour report

Had a great trip up north. Here is a youtube of what the project was about. http://www.youtube.com/user/pgpercussion#p/a/u/1/y7XNDtZCASQ It's always a pleasure working with my good friends Patrick Graham, Tomomi Morimoto and Ben Grossman and this time was no different. We had many magical moments on stage together and the audiences reacted very warmly to what we did. Our final performance was in Ottawa in a space run by a man Johannes Welsh who has one of the most impressive display of gongs I've seen. When we performed in front of these drums, they would resonate sympathetically with what we were doing, augmenting what we were doing with an almost un-discernible rumbling.

As a musical trio, Patrick, Ben and I took what we had developed two years ago and really took it in in different directions as our familiarity with each other grew. We also added a new piece to the program, a recent composition of mine called Together Alone. This piece was originally written for my wife, Mari, inspired by the idea that although my performing and teaching life takes me away from her for stretches of time, we are ultimate together not alone. To me, the piece has been given meaning due to the recent tragedy in Japan that has left many people very alone. I hope that somehow, the message of this piece resonates- in that none of us are really alone. Yes, I know this sounds very corny and sappy and mumbo jumbo-ey but forgive me this one time.

Patrick Graham's Rheo in Ottawa

Ottawa, April 9th

Patrick Graham's Rheo in Montreal

April 5, 7, 8 ,9

Performances with Kenny Endo (Pennsylvania)

Tues March 29   Slippery Rock University 1 Morrow Way, Slippery Rock, PA 16057 Auditorium at Advanced Tech/Science Hall (ATS building) 7:30-8:30 pm

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Wed March 30 Geneva College 3200 College Avenue, Beaver Falls, PA 15010

Reed Student Union 12-12:45 pm

Student Center – The Brigadoon 8-9 pm

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Thurs March 31 Allegheny College Montgomery Auditorium 520 N Main Street Meadville, PA  16335 7:30 pm

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Fri April 1 Westmoreland Community College 145 Pavilion Lane, Youngwood, PA  15697 Student Center Amphitheater 7 pm

Fundraising for Japan Taiko Jam Report

Last night (tuesday March 22nd), many of my students and musician friends gathered at the music venue Zebulon in Williamsburg for a small fundraising taiko jam. In a little over an hour, we managed to raise $1,876 from the small audience that was gathered there. I had earlier stated that I was going to try and raise $1000 but to be perfectly honest wasn't expecting to reach even that. I am very moved and humbled by the outpouring of compassion and by the great feeling that all of the performers put into the music. While I realize that the money may not make a huge difference considering the enormity of the suffering and devastation, I think that we found success at taking some of the feelings of hopelessness and despondency (that I personally had been feeling) and transforming it into a positive energy that can contribute to the rebuilding and healing process. Thank you to those who performed: Belinda Becker, Sheila Anozier, Kae Reed, Shogo Samata, Nobuko Miyazaki, Malika Duckworth, Barbara Merjan, Chikako Iwahori, Kelly Kuwabara, Yumiko Higaki, Ariel Shearman, Mari Nakano, a few special members of the audience including the great Hassan Hakmoun who jumped in for the final jam.

A special thanks to Marc Urselli, Yuka Yamamoto, Mark Hutmacher and Kelly for helping out, and to Joce, Jeff and the staff at Zebulon as well as the other three musicians who followed us who contributed all their money to the effort as well.

March 22nd Fundraising for Japan

Hello friends, I have decided to turn this gig at Zebulon in Brooklyn on March 22nd (a week from today) into a fundraising event for disaster relief in Japan. I plan on donating all money to a fund set up by Japan Society. A friend Oda Yosuke from Kodo was supposed to join us, but unfortunately his flight out of Japan was cancelled.

I'm asking musicians and friends to join me for some improvisations and also to help get the word out. I'm also trying to think of other ways to raise money instead of simply passing a basket around. Perhaps some sort of raffle.

Please let me know if you would like to help out in any way.

Tuesday, March 22nd 9 pm Japan Disaster Relief Fundraising Taiko Performance Zebulon 258 Wythe Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211

Thanks so much,

Kaoru

Workshops and performances in NYC March 17, 22, 24

March 17th Kojima Chieko workshop at KWTCMarch 18th w/ Alicia Hall Moran's Motown Project featuring Jason Moran and Thomas Flippin March 22 Zebulon Kaoru Watanabe Ensemble March 24th KWTC session with Yosuke

please visit www.taikonyc.com

On Ensemble 2.0, Cerritos Center, LA March 12th

TAIKO 2.0 On Ensemble with guest artists: Russel Baba, Jeanne Mercer, Kaoru Watanabe, Patrick Graham and Chieko Kojima Saturday March 12th, 8:00pm Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts 12700 Center Court Drive Cerritos, CA 90703 Tickets $61/$49/$37 Box Office: (800) 300-4345