Kaoru Watanabe - Fue, Western Flute & Taiko player

Kaoru in SF!

Kaoru — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:44:15 +0000

I had a great week last week, performing at Jason and Alicia Hall Moran’s epic residency, Bleed at the Whitney Museum as well as with Marika Hughes as part of the Jazz Shrines Festival. From here, I head to San Francisco for some performances and workshops. Looking forward to seeing all my Bay Area friends!

May 19, 2012 Sat 8 pm (doors open 7:30 pm)
SPOTLIGHT on THAT NIGHT (of the I-Hotel Eviction)
Kenny Endo was there THAT NIGHT!
A special benefit performance commemorating the 35th anniversary of the I-Hotel eviction
featuring:
Kenny Endo (taiko),
Shoko Hikage (koto)
Kaoru Watanabe from New York (bamboo flutes, taiko)
Abe Lagrimas from Los Angeles (drumset, ukulele, percussion)
Chizuko Endo (taiko, percussion)
International Hotel Manilatown Center
868 Kearny Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tickets: $10 payable at the door
50% of proceeds will benefit Manilatown Heritage Foundation

May 20, 2012 12 noon – 7 pm
(performance time 3-4 pm )
Kenny Endo Ensemble performance at 63rd Annual Satsuki Bazaar & Arts Festival
featuring:
Kenny Endo (taiko),
Shoko Hikage (koto)
Kaoru Watanabe from New York (bamboo flutes, taiko)
Abe Lagrimas from Los Angeles (drumset, ukulele, percussion)
Chizuko Endo (taiko, percussion)
ALSO performing at 1:30 pm is Jazz Great drummer AKIRA TANA and his band “Otonowa”
Berkeley Buddhist Church
2121 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA
2012 Satsuki-eflyer

May 23, 2012 Wednesday 8 pm
Improvisations with Kenny Endo (taiko set, odaiko, tsuzumi) and Kaoru Watanabe (fue, taiko)
featuring:
Kenny Endo (taiko),
Kaoru Watanabe from New York (bamboo flutes, taiko)
Jazz Heritage Center
San Francisco, CA

Performances May 10, 11, 12

Kaoru — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:33:28 +0000

This is going to be an unforgettable week.

My mother is driving up from St. Louis (about 18 hours) to perform with Alicia Hall Moran and me at the Whitney Museum. Performing with my mother and father is always a great joy – they were my first musical influences and it always feels as if we are coming full circle. This week we are busy with rehearsals, finishing up making new costumes and even staining some new drum stands that we’ll be using. Thursday we’ll be at the Whitney making music throughout the day. Friday evening I will perform with the cellist Marika Hughes and her band, Bottom Heavy. Marika, also happens to be a part of Alicia’s Bleed show at the Whitney, performing with Adam Pendleton.

We will do a reprise of the taiko piece with Alicia on Saturday the 12th as well.

May 11th 7pm
Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival
The venue is on the 2nd Floor of the Magic Johnson Theater
2309 Frederick Douglass Blvd at 124th St
(enter thru theater)

Marika Hughes & Bottom Heavy
with special guest Kaoru Watanabe
$10
(Will Calhoun & Band at 8pm)

www.marikahughes.com
www.harlemjazzshrines.org

http://whitney.org/Events/AliciaHallMoranAndJasonMoranInResidenceDay2
href=”http://whitney.org/Events/AliciaHallMoranAndJasonMoranInResidenceDay4″>http://whitney.org/Events/AliciaHallMoranAndJasonMoranInResidenceDay4

2012 BIENNIAL RESIDENCIES
ALICIA HALL MORAN AND JASON MORAN: BLEED
SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 11 AM–6 PM FOURTH FLOOR

For their Biennial residency, Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran present five days of live music, exploring the power of performance to cross barriers and challenge assumptions, as their title, BLEED, suggests. With a line-up of concerts and events spanning music, dance, theater, and literature, as well as an exhibition of past video collaborations with Glenn Ligon, Joan Jonas, Kara Walker, and Simone Leigh and Liz Magic Laser—and a new video by the cultural historian Maurice Berger—BLEED is a celebration of surprising synergy across the visual arts and music.

Connecticut Style!

Kaoru — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:48:16 +0000

Students of my advanced to taiko class at Wesleyan University recently performed on local Connecticut television. They are performing a piece, sometimes known as “Together Alone”, sometimes as “IchiRei”. Most of the students are graduating this semester so this will be one of the last performances they do as Wesleyan students.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/ct_style/stage-8-the-wesleyan-taiko-ensemble

Also, more information regarding Jason and Alicia Hall Moran’s curated Whitney Biennial is out. We’ve been working hard on getting the music and the look together in preparation. This is not to be missed…

2012 BIENNIAL RESIDENCIES
ALICIA HALL MORAN AND JASON MORAN: BLEED
SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 11 AM–6 PM FOURTH FLOOR

Article by Gamin (in Korea)

Kaoru — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:57:55 +0000

Weaving in the home

Kaoru — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:05:32 +0000

Mari, my wife has been doing a type of weaving called SAORI for about half a year now. After just months of going to a Saori studio on the Upper East Side called Loop of the Loom (http://loopoftheloom.com/) Mari now occasionally works at the studio, leading classes and workshops. Recently she bought a loom for use at home and she spends much of her time on weekends and in the evenings at the loom. She looks so peaceful while weaving. After a few hours, she shows me a beautiful scarf or a new case for my flutes. The colors are often subtle and shifting and always chosen with great care and feeling. She experiments with textures, thickness, tightness of weave and other factors that greatly effect the personality of each of her works. Seeing her devotion to the art and watching her work inspires me to be a better musician.

More soon…

Upcoming Performances

April 26th
Workshop/Demonstration@Julliard 8 pm

April 30
GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA “Murmuration”
MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ADAM RUDOLPH for 40 woodwind, brass, strings, percussion
@NEW Roulette in BROOKLYN
509 Atlantic Ave (at 3rd Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
$15 admission/Members, students, seniors: $10
Advance tickets: www.roulette.org

May 4th
Wesleyan University Taiko Concert
Crowell Concert Hall
7-9 pm

May 5th
Stony Brook Sakura Matsuri
Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center Ensemble
all day event- KWTC taiko performance approx 3:00 pm
http://matsuri.ryushukan.com/

May 10th, 12th
Whitney Bienniel: BLEED
Curated by Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran
http://whitney.org/Events/AliciaHallMoranAndJasonMoranInResidence

art – JOAN JONAS, ADAM PENDLETON+LORRAINE O’GRADY, KARA WALKER, SIMONE LEIGH, LIZ MAGIC LASER, GLENN LIGON
idea – CHARLES BLOW, AKIBA SOLOMON, MAURICE BERGER, GREG TATE, DREAM HAMPTON, RADICLANI CLYTUS, DAPHNE BROOKS, JOSSLYN LUCKETT, GUTHRIE RAMSEY
body – RASHIDA BUMBRAY+ADENIKE SHARPLEY, MARGARET PAEK, LAMICHAEL LEONARD, GWEN ELLISON, JESSICA WOLF, JANE PAGE
sound – ESPERANZA SPALDING, BILL FRISELL, BRANDON ROSS, GREG OSBY, TARUS MATEEN, THE BANDWAGON, AYAKO WATANABE, JAMIRE WILLIAMS, ABDOU M’BOUP, KAORU WATANABE, GILA GOLDSTEIN, LATASHA N. NEVADA DIGGS, RALPH ALESSI, MARVIN SEWELL, STEVEN HERRING and THOMAS FLIPPIN.

May 20th
2012 12 noon – 7 pm (performance time TBD)
Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble performance at 63rd Annual Satsuki Bazaar & Arts Festival
Kenny Endo (taiko),
Shoko Hikage (koto)
Kaoru Watanabe from New York (bamboo flutes, taiko)
Abe Lagrimas from Los Angeles (drumset, ukulele, percussion)
Chizuko Endo (taiko, percussion)
Berkeley Buddhist Church
2121 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA

June 1st
Imani Uzuri’s Gypsy Diaries
Joe’s Pub
http://www.joespub.com/component/option,com_artists/task,view/Itemid,40/id,318

June 12th
Chris Dingman/Matt Kilmer/Tim Keiper and me@Zinc Bar

April~May 2012

Kaoru — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:08:31 +0000

In the last few weeks since I last posted here, I have been in New York teaching lots, performing some and generally doing a lot of prep work for various upcoming short and long term projects. Notable performances was a show with Kenny Endo, Patrick Graham, On Ensemble and members of Taiko Project at the East Coast Taiko Conference. Besides my usual classes at The Village@Gureje in Brooklyn, my weekly 5 hour commute to and from Wesleyan University, my private lessons (both in person and via skype) and working with my interns Patty and Evan, I’ve been doing some post-production stuff on an upcoming duo album I recorded with Kenny. We recorded in the summer of 2011 but we are still working on some editing, deciding on titles, album design etc. In coming up with names for pieces which were primarily improvisations, I begin by trying to feel what sort of mood they evoked within me when I listened back. Pondering such things, I found myself looking up mentions of the fue in classical Japanese literature which in turn took me on a much different journey than I had originally set out for. I found myself revisiting such works as Sei Shonagon’s Makura No Soushi (The Pillow Book) or Murasaki Shikubu’s Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji). Reading the beautiful prose that fills the pages of these novels and imaging the daily lives of the characters that lived over a millennia ago, I try to imagine what THEIR fue sounded like, what sort of tone they were able to get when they played. The young Taira no Atsumori carried a fue onto the battlefield and even died with it on his person when he was beheaded by Kumagai Naozane. It is said that in the evening while all the warriors were resting from the days’ fighting, both armies would find comfort in hearing the sound of his fue drifting in from the darkness.

Three things happened the more I read about the events and personalities from the past- one, I wanted to read more. Two, I hoped that through playing the fue, I could somehow channel their voices and keep their legacy alive no matter how seemingly abstracted or distant the connection. Three, thoughts of writing a book, a notion that has been somewhere in the back of my mind for quite some time, re-emerge. The book idea is in response to people who are seeking instruction and information on the fue written in English and people who feel I have a compelling story- a Japanese American kid from St. Louis, MO eventually joining and even acting as one of the leaders of the acclaimed Japanese taiko group Kodo. At the risk of coming across as egotistical in that I feel I have a story worth telling, my primary motivation for writing about my experience is so that I don’t forget all the experiences and people that have brought me to where I am today- starting with my parents and continuing with such iconic figures as Tamasaburo and members of Kodo.

Whether this book ever comes about or not, I figure it doesn’t hurt to start writing thoughts down, whether regarding my current life or recollections of past experiences. I have been doing some very intermittent writing about some tours I have taken but I haven’t spent much time writing about experiences over a year in the past, much less about things that happened over a decade ago.

Mari, my wife suggested I start a blog and then I realized, my website is a blog! It’s all right there ready for me to begin in ernest!

In some ways, I consider this the first entry although in many ways I started writing posts in the kodo blog over ten years ago…

Anyway, I always welcome comments and thoughts.

Upcoming Performances

April 16, 30
GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA “Murmuration”
MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ADAM RUDOLPH for 40 woodwind, brass, strings, percussion
@NEW Roulette in BROOKLYN
509 Atlantic Ave (at 3rd Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
$15 admission/Members, students, seniors: $10
Advance tickets: www.roulette.org

April 26th
Workshop/Demonstration@Julliard 8 pm

May 4th
Wesleyan University Taiko Concert
Crowell Concert Hall
7-9 pm

May 5th
Stony Brook Sakura Matsuri
Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center Ensemble
all day event- KWTC taiko performance approx 3:00 pm
http://matsuri.ryushukan.com/

May 10th, 12th
Whitney Bienniel: BLEED
Curated by Alicia Hall Moran and Jason Moran
Alicia Hall Moran “Motown Project” featuring my mother Ayako Watanabe
KW Ensemble performance

June 1st
Imani Uzuri’s Gypsy Diaries
Joe’s Pub
http://www.joespub.com/component/option,com_artists/task,view/Itemid,40/id,318

June 12th
Chris Dingman/Matt Kilmer/Tim Keiper and me@Zinc Bar

Greetings from Buenos Aires

Kaoru — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:37:12 +0000

Mari and I have been enjoying ourselves immensely, exploring the San Telmo, Recoleta, la Boca and Palermo districts and the Malba museum, watching Tango, eating millanesas, chorizo, empanada, dulce de leche, sipping on mate and washing it all down with local wine and beer. Our hosts from Shinzui Daiko and their friends have been nothing but helpful and accommodating. Rehearsing and workshops every evening followed by dinner (people here usually eat usually around nine or later). We’re preparing for two performances happening this weekend, one in the Japanese Garden on Sunday and another at the Globe Theater on Monday. Tuesday, we will begin our journey home, arriving just in time on Wednesday to host my good friend Patrick Graham giving a workshop at my studio.

Here are some upcoming events:

March 28th
Patrick Graham taiko and chappa workshop@KWTC
A close friend and excellent percussionist from Montreal, Patrick will be teaching katsugi okedo techniques and introductory chappa techniques for all levels. Patrick is an incredibly knowledgable and generous instructor- I try to take lessons with him every chance I get.
http://patrickgrahampercussion.com/

March 29th
Performance at Zebulon with Patrick Graham, Shoji Kameda (from Hiroshima and On Ensemble)
http://zebuloncafeconcert.com/

March 30- April 2nd
I’ll be teaching and performing at the East Coast Taiko Conference
http://easterntaiko2012.wordpress.com/

April 5th
Thursday 9 pm
Imani Uzuri@The Jazz Gallery
$20/$10 for members
http://jazzgallery.org/html/itinerary.php

April 2, 9, 16, 30
GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA “Murmuration”
MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY ADAM RUDOLPH for 40 woodwind, brass, strings, percussion
@NEW Roulette in BROOKLYN
509 Atlantic Ave (at 3rd Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
$15 admission/Members, students, seniors: $10
Advance tickets: www.roulette.org

March and April activities

Kaoru — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:40:57 +0000

Hello friends!

Besides my weekly trips to Wesleyan University where I’m teaching three taiko classes and my ongoing biweekly taiko classes at The Village@Gureje in Prospect Heights, here are some upcoming and ongoing performances in my life:

You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been@The Kitchen
Please check out Simone Leigh’s exhibition, with my musical score at the Kitchen until March 11th. I am very proud of this show and strongly encourage people to visit. If you find yourself in the neighborhood please stop in- it’s free and will only take you 5 to 10 (or 60 depending) minutes to take it all in.
http://www.thekitchen.org/event/292/0/1/

March 7th Radio appearance with Belinda Becker
I’ll be appearing with incredible dj/dancer Belinda Becker on her weekly radio show from 6 to 8 pm.
http://www.radiolily.com/

March 15th through the 27th ARGENTINA!
I will be traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina in order to perform and teach workshops. Thanks to Gaston San Cristobal, Shinzui Daiko and the countless others who have been instrumental in getting me down there!

March 28th Patrick Graham taiko and chappa workshop@KWTC
A close friend and excellent percussionist from Montreal, Patrick will be teaching katsugi okedo techniques and introductory chappa techniques for all levels. Patrick is an incredibly knowledgable and generous instructor- I try to take lessons with him every chance I get!
http://patrickgrahampercussion.com/

March 29th
Taiko and fue performance at Zebulon- special guests TBA

March 30- April 2nd
I’ll be teaching and performing at the East Coast Taiko Conference
http://easterntaiko2012.wordpress.com/

April 2, 9, 16, 30 Go:Organic Orchestra@Roulette
Adam Rudolph’s large ensemble will be in residency at the Roulette again.
http://www.metarecords.com/go.html

Simone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh@The Kitchen

Kaoru — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:25:35 +0000

I am honored and privileged to be collaborating with artists Simone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh for an installation at the Kitchen. I visited the show the other day.

Simone’s ceramic and glass sculptures were majestic and powerful, some suspended by steel cables from the ceiling. The work was mesmerizing and the music, in all modesty, does a pretty decent job of distilling the somewhat intense and dark mood of the pieces into sound. All in all, I feel Simone’s works and my music worked in harmony to create the experience of being enveloped by the sound and space.

Please visit the gallery and let me know what you think!

Simone Leigh: You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been
Curated by Rashida Bumbray

This solo exhibition presents the New York premiere of Simone Leigh’s most recent sculptural explorations of materiality, women’s work, and Afrofuturism. Leigh is known for her archaic, anthropomorphic forms in porcelain, terracotta, tobacco, glass, and steel that employ early African ceramic techniques to evoke contemporary parallels and underlying social and economic conditions. For You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been, Leigh draws from a diverse range of influences, from early African-American face jugs and the manifesto of Africobra to Star Trek and Gilbert and Sullivan in order to evocatively explore the slippages between the multifarious cultural, political, and colonial histories that have laid claim to marginalized bodies.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a special event takes place in the theater on Monday, February 13, 7pm.

512 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011 (212) 255-5793
Exhibition Hours: Tues–Fri, 12-6pm; Sat 11–6pm FREE

Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Chitra Ganesh

February 16th@the Lincoln Center Atrium and ongoing at the Kitchen

Kaoru — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:30:03 +0000

February 16th Thursday
Imani Uzuri’s The Gypsy Diaries
The concert is free.

Imani Uzuri’s The Gypsy Diaries with Marika Hughes, cello; Christian Ver Halen, acoustic guitar; and Kaoru Watanabe, Japanese flute
Vocalist/composer Imani Uzuri offer selections from her forthcoming new album The Gypsy Diaries, a lyrical spiritual soundscape, featuring vocals, violin, cello, acoustic guitar, Japanese flute, sitar and daf. Recently featured in The New York Times, Uzuri is an eclectic artist who creates and performs across various genres, including concerts, experimental theater, recordings, visual/ performance art and sound installations. Uzuri’s nomadic world travels to places from Morocco to Moscow and her interest in sacred music and experimentation is reflected in her various projects including her critically acclaimed debut album Her Holy Water: A Black Girl’s Rock Opera and in her collaborations with diverse artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Vijay Iyer, Wangechi Mutu, Sanford Biggers and Robert Ashley. Television appearances include David Letterman, BET and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. New York Magazine has called her work “stunning.”
http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium-the-nick-rolfe-project-and-imani-uzuri

Simone Leigh: You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been
Open until March 11th

I recently collaborated with artists SImone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh for their installation at the Kitchen. A friend said I should describe it as a sound installation. The work features the fue, taiko and other percussion. I am very proud of this work and hope as many of you are able to see it as possible. It’s free to the enter and will take just a few moments out of your day to visit, so if you are anywhere in the Chelsea area, please drop in any time between

Exhibition Hours: Tues–Fri, 12-6pm; Sat 11–6pm FREE
http://www.thekitchen.org/event/292/0/1/