Daihachi Oguchi

Daihachi Oguchi, a pioneer in making taiko an international art form, especially among overseas Japanese communities, has died.
A big taiko event in his honor is being organized in Japan in August.
Details are upcoming.
The first time I saw Mr. Oguchi perform was in San Francisco in the 1970s with San Francisco Taiko Dojo.
He used to say there are two drums _ one on Earth and one in Heaven.
That’s why the players trained in his style point their bachi sticks upward, reaching for the sky, in between beats.
He is probably up there now playing that heavenly drum.
It’s a testament to the power of taiko and the commitment of Mr. Oguchi and others who have followed in his path to see how taiko has grown to be played all over the world _ as faraway as from the shrine in Nagano that’s home to Oguchi’s Osuwa Daiko as Brazil and Kuwait.
It’s now simply taken for granted that taiko is modern music capable of delivering professional level performances and world-class artistic expression as much as jazz or the blues or hiphop.
Every taiko drummer in the world, including my son, owes so much to Mr. Oguchi.
In his art, vision and pure persona, Mr. Oguchi deserves the highest honors for what he has done for Japan’s image in the international community _ inclusive, honorable, innovative and a lot of fun.
(More links to the Obit. )

From One Drummer to a Thousand Drummers

My son Isaku Kageyama is in Sao Paulo now as part of the centenary celebrations of Japanese immigration in Brazil _ home to the biggest Japanese population outside Japan.
Taiko drumming group Amanojaku, which takes traditional festival sounds to deliver modern concert-level music, got a standing ovation for their performance there earlier this week.
The English language Asahi did a story about the trip.
This is from Isaku on his blog:

Today was one of the biggest concerts of my life, and a day that I will never forget. When we finished playing and the audience jumped up and started clapping – I thought all our work in Brazil over the past 5 years had truly been worthwhile.

I saw a number of familiar faces in the audience, and it gave me the energy I needed.

Of course there were a number of imperfections, but we managed to pull through. The imperfections were primarily in relation to tempo and lack of responding properly to minor mistakes.

Generally speaking, good rehearsals are designed to iron out mistakes so that they don’t happen in the first place – but they also give players an opportunity to anticipate the types of mistakes so that they can respond to them in a timely and appropriate manner.

The gig is now history, and now we will focus on Saturday’s Sennin Daiko, and the big gigs we have coming up back in Japan.

CONCERTS in Japan:

TOKYO
Wed., August 13, 2008 19:00 (Doors open at 18:30)
Thu., August 14, 2008 14:00 (Doors open at 13:30)
Nerima Bunka Center
AMANOJAKU TAIKO DRUMMERS with Kyosuke Suzuki (yokobue flute) and Katsunari Sawada (shamisen)
Advance Tickets: JPY 4000, Door Tickets: JPY 4500
Ticket Pia – http://pia.jp/t  P-Code: 293-971
TEL: 0570-02-9999
Amanojaku - http://amanojaku.info
TEL: 03-3904-1745 FAX: 03-3904-9434

SAPPORO, Hokkaido
July 13, 2008 at 12:30 (Doors open at 12:00)
12th Nippon Taiko Festival
AMANOJAKU appears with other guest taiko groups including Osuwa Daiko.
Sapporo Education and Culture Hall
Advance Tickets JPY 2500, Door Tickets JPY 3000
Ticket Sales: Ticket Pia TEL 0570-02-9999+Pコード(290-857)
Contact: Nippon Taiko Foundation TEL 03-6229-5577

OHAMA, Yamagata Prefecture
July 27, 2008 at 18:00 (Doors open 17:00)
AMANOJAKU appears with Osuwa Daiko, Oedo Sukeroko Taiko, Chichibu Yatai Bayashi, Choshi Hanedaiko and others.
Kan Nihon-kai Taiko Festival
Ohama Seashore Stage
Advance Tickets JPY 2000, Door Tickets 2500
Contact: Kan Nihon-kai Taiko Festival Organization Office TEL 0234-26-0381

KURASHIKI, Okayama Prefecture
August 3, 2008 at 18:30
Starring AMANOJAKU with local groups in 3rd Japan Taiko Festival
Kurashiki TIVOLI Park “Plaenen Stage”
Just get an admission ticket to TIVOLI Park!
Contact: Kurashi TIVOLI Park Information Center TEL 086-434-1111

ALSO:
Contact Isaku at Amanojaku 03-3904-1745 or email: isaku.kageyama@amanojaku.info

And search for “amanojaku” on iTunes Music Store, Napster, eMusic.com, and other online music distributors.

Together for a Century: AMANOJAKU Taiko in Brazil


TOGETHER FOR A CENTURY:
One Thousand Brazilians Drum up a Celebration
The 100th Year Anniversary of Japanese Immigration to Brazil

(TOKYO) _ The celebration of the 100th year anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil will be coming to Sao Paulo’s samba venue Skol Arena Anhembi with an unmistakable blast in a June 21 taiko drumming performance by Amanojaku, a Tokyo-based group now on their sixth visit to the country.

Amanojaku blends an innovative, modern sound that is all Tokyo with “hogaku” sounds including Kagura festival music and Edo-style Sukeroku taiko, to create fascinating Japanese contemporary percussion music.

Amanojaku has performed in the U.S., Great Britan, Thailand and other nations. But in recent years, much of their ambassadorial work has focused on Brazil, the nation with the biggest overseas Japanese community in the world.

The drummers for the Sao Paulo event are mostly Japanese-Brazilians in their teens and 20s. Amanojaku drummers have been working closely with the youngsters, delivering the message that taiko is a way to connect with Japanese roots and to revel hiphop-style in cultural pride.

It’s a surprising ironic twist of rediscovery for Japan, a nation where an idolization of the West has many _ young and old _ forgetting their own legacy, or maybe just taking it for granted.

The Japanese Brazilan youngsters will perform the tune, fittingly called “Kizuna (Bond),” co-composed by Amanojaku leader Yoichi Watanabe _ a spectacular rendition by 1,000-drummers-strong lined up along the 500-meter long venue.

“Playing taiko requires more than just technique,” says Mr. Watanabe.

Learning the value of hard work, perseverance and teamwork is all part of taiko, he says.

The event is a moving and joyous testament to the success story of Japanese-Brazilians, who are now an integral part of a dynamic and booming Brazil.

For photos, video clips and interviews in Japan and Brazil, please e-mail Isaku Kageyama at
isaku.kageyama@amanojaku.info
or call Amanojaku at 81-3-3904-1745 (for calls from Japan: 03-3904-1745).

AMANOJAKU CONCERTS:

IN TOKYO
Amanojaku Taiko Concert – Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Japanese Immigartion to Brazil
Personnel: Amanojaku, Kyosuke Suzuki (yokobue flute), Katsunari Sawada (shamisen)
Date and Time: August 13, 2008 Wednesday at 19:00 (Doors open at 18:30) and August 14, 2008 Thursday at 14:00 (Doors open at 13:30)
Place: Nerima Bunka Center TEL: 03-3993-3311
Ticket Prices: Advance Tickets: JPY 4000  Door Tickets: JPY 4500 All seats are non-reserved
Ticket Release Date: June 5, 2008
Ticket Sales: Ticket Pia – http://pia.jp/t  P-Code: 293-971
TEL: 0570-02-9999
Contact: Amanojaku - http://amanojaku.info
TEL: 03-3904-1745 FAX: 03-3904-9434
Sponsors: Asano Taiko

ELSEWHERE:

Ecchu Oshima Daiko 20th Anniversary Concert
Date and Time: June 15, 2008 at 14:00
Place: Kosugi Bunka Hall “Rapport”
Contact: Hechima Sangyo TEL 0766-52-5454

100th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration to Brazil Celebrations
Date: June 21, 2008
Place: SKOL ARENA ANHEMBI (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Contact: Associacao Brasileira de Taiko TEL +55-11-3341-1077

12th Nippon Taiko Festival
Date and Time: July 13, 2008 at 12:30 (Doors open at 12:00)
Place: Sapporo Education and Culture Hall
Ticket Prices: Advance Tickets JPY 2500, Door Tickets JPY 3000 (All seats are non-reserved)
Ticket Sales: Ticket Pia TEL 0570-02-9999+Pコード(290-857)
Contact: Nippon Taiko Foundation TEL 03-6229-5577

Kan Nihon-kai Taiko Festival
Date and Time: July 27, 2008 at 18:00 (Doors open at 17:00)
Place: Ohama Seashore Stage
Ticket Prices: Advance Tickets JPY 2000, Door Tickets 2500
Contact: Kan Nihon-kai Taiko Festival Organization Office TEL 0234-26-0381

3rd Japan Taiko Festival
Date and Time: August 3, 2008 at 18:30
Place: Kurashiki TIVOLI Park “Plaenen Stage”
Ticket Prices: Please purchase an admission ticket to TIVOLI Park
Contact: Kurashi TIVOLI Park Information Center TEL 086-434-1111

Search for “amanojaku” on iTunes Music Store, Napster, eMusic.com, and other online music distributors.

Story of Miu 9

Continued from previous Story of Miu entries.
The “plop plop plop” of electronic waterdrops sound from my cell phone, the ringtone I’ve set so I know it’s e-mail from Miu.
On the subject column, an animation icon of a glittering pink heart bounces around.
“It’s him!” her message reads, a little ominously.
I press the tiny keyboard quickly with my thumb for an immediate reply: “Who he?”
It turns out she recently joined a world-music band with African drums, guitar, keyboards, traps drumming and singing that she was introduced to by a friend in high school.
Miu is learning how to play the kpanlogo with this group.
But more importantly, she has met someone.
He is the band leader Yuga. He’s 21, and so a few years older than Miu.
This is what Miu says, a bit breathless on the phone, when I call her in the evening after I get home from work:
He has the most beautiful dark eyes like those of a wise elephant.
He write songs about being free, being in love and never forgetting the passion for life.
And what is fascinating about him is that he is not interested in money, status or careers, Miu says.
He works for a Tokyo dot.com that is contracted out to create ringtones for mobile phones.
And this is apparently a lucrative business because every tune on the Japanese pop charts has to be programmed into a ringtone.
But there’s special software to do it so it’s pretty easy, leaving Yuga a lot of time to work on his art, like composing, writing lyrics, collaborating with illustrators, rehearsing for performances and working on sound engineering on recordings.
Some of his songs are movie scores because the trend for some of the most mainstream Japanese movies lately is to use indies soundtracks.
As I gather from what Miu tells me, this person has never been abroad and doesn’t understand any English.
He doesn’t even have a passport, Miu says with a giggle, as though that only adds to his charm of being someone totally genuine whom only she has discovered.
He speaks with a slight accent of the Sea of Japan, which makes the speaker’s tone softer than the Tokyo dialect, as though that person is somehow in perpetual doubt.
The shifts in intonation are similar to the speaking style of Korean actors that older Japanese women are so crazy about, like “Yon-sama,” Miu says, to her, another profound observation.
Not that I like Yon-sama at all, Miu adds with a laugh.
He calls me “MEEEH-you-san,” it sounds so sexy!
There isn’t much point in contesting her observations.
I know Miu is in no mood to be challenged about any of them, anyway.
I am invited next weekend to what’s called “raibu,” short for “live performance,” meaning a concert, where I will have an opportunity to meet Yuga.
But I am more happy for her than worried.
I can tell from the sound of her voice that she is literally floating, so euphoric is she about Yuga’s existence.
Miu is way too young to start growing cynical about relationships.
She deserves to have, for once, this feeling of being so in love your feet don’t quite touch the ground.