from left to right
Winchester Nii Tete, NATA, Cari and Isaku Kageyama.
Mother Earth Orchestra brought together instruments from various continents to a Noh Theater to take us on a musical journey that showed great potential of innovation.
It showed the music is truly evolving from its launch at Tokyo Harajuku Crocodile just a month ago.
Music allows for such development through collaborations that can be more than the sum of its parts.
And Music directs us to further fulfillment.
ISAKU KAGEYAMA and the MOTHER EARTH ORCHESTRA at Yokohama Kuraki Noh Theatre
Taiko, African percussion, digeridoo and electric guitar celebrate our time on Mother Earth with organic beats and melodies.
THURSDAY, September 23 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
Kuraki Noh Theatre 8-21-7 Okamura Isogo-ku Yokohama
2,500 yen (2,000 yen with reservations: e-mail Isaku @isakukageyama@gmail.com
How to get to Kuraki Noh Theatre
A 15 minute cab ride from Isogo Station.
Or take bus 64 or 78 from Isogo station on the JR line or Byobugaura station on the Keikyu line and get off at Sasabori.
Five minute walk from Sasabori bus stop.
MOTHER EARTH ORCHESTRA
Cari (guitar)
NATA (digeridoo)
Winchester Nii Tete (percussion)
Isaku Kageyama (taiko)
マザー・アース・オーケストラ 久良岐能舞台でライブ
和太鼓、アフリカン・パーカッション、ディジュリデュ、ギターのコラボバンドとして独自の音楽性を持つマザー・アース・オーケストラが久良岐能舞台にてライブを行います。
日時： 9月23日（木・祝） 開場18：00 開演18：30
場所： 久良岐能舞台 （神奈川県横浜市磯子区岡村8-21-7）
料金： 当日2500円 予約2000円
予約は： isakukageyama@gmail.com までメールをお送りください。
久良岐能舞台へのアクセスはこちらをご覧ください：
http://www.kuraki-noh.jp/navigation.pdf
出演：
影山伊作 (和太鼓)
太鼓集団天邪鬼の正メンバーとして国内外で活躍し、ミュージシャンとしても多大な可能性を感じさせる期待の若手奏者。太鼓集団天邪鬼の舞台で見せる本格的な和太鼓演奏に加え、ジャンルを超えた様々なアーティストとの熱いセッションにも注目が集まるマルチプレーヤー。
伝統と創造、和と洋、古来とアヴァンギャルド、様々な要素が交差する独自の音楽性を活かし、コンサートホール、ライブハウス、クラブイベント、レコーディング、舞台のみならず、CM（あいおい損保・新日本建物）や数多くのテレビ番組（SMAP X SMAP、未来図鑑）に出演。
ジャズトランペットの近藤等則、DJ Yama aka Sahib、アフリカン・パーカッションのWinchester Nii Tete、ロックギタリストのCariなどとのコラボレーションに加え、ロックギター、ジャズベースとのコラボバンド「Hybrid Soul」や民謡バンド「Minyo Ensemble of Tokyo」を立ち上げるなど、幅広い音楽活動が高く評価されている。
with
Cari (ギター)
NATA (ディジュリデュ)
ウィンチェスター・ニー・テテ(パーカッション)
better view and sound courtesy of bassist Craig Harris and more on his Facebook video section.
Thank you Craig Harris.
“Improvisation”
Kazutoki Umezu (sax)
NATA (digeridoo)
Craig Harris (bass)
Winchester Nii Tete (percussion)
Isaku Kageyama (taiko and percussion)
Video from my iPhone at links below just to give you an idea of what happened.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9017533
better quality video upcoming soon on YouTube:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9018530
the Music will get better.
please come to the Crocodile in Omotesando tonight (see previous blog post for details).
follow Isaku Kageyama on Twitter _ @isakukageyama
and claim your free beer tonight:
木曜日に原宿クロコダイルでライブやります。 僕に「ツイッターで見た」と話しかけてくれればクロコダイルビールご馳走します。 http://j.mp/cCTDlM
Playing at Harajuku Crocodile from 20:00 on Thursday the 19th. I’ll buy you a beer if you make it out!
Isaku will be cooking up a melting plot of a hot groove with Japanese sax legend Kazutoki Umezu, master percussionist from Ghana Winchester Nii Tete, bassist virtuoso from the US Craig Harris and a Japanese who plays an aboriginal instrument NATA.
No borders for this batch.
Isaku Kageyama on taiko drums will lead his Mother Earth Orchestra, a multicultural celebration of sound, with Winchester Nii Tete on African drums, Kazutoki Umezu on saxophones, Craig Harris on bass and Nata on didgeridoo.
It’s Great Japanese Music from modern-day Tokyo that follows proudly in the footsteps of the Art Ensemble of Chicago _ an energetic driving groove, where anything goes.
It is funky, fun, free.
And it’s the kind of exhilarating music that makes everything seem somehow a lot easier to bear.
At the Crocodile in Harajuku Thursday Aug. 19.
Doors open 6:30 p.m. Music starts 8 p.m.
6-18-8 B1 Jingumae Shibuya-ku Tokyo
TEL: 03-3499-5205.
3,000 yen admission (drinks, food available but will cost you extra).
For more information, email Isaku at isaku.kageyama@amanojaku.info
Isaku Kageyama is an award-winning taiko drummer and a member of Tokyo-based taiko ensemble Amanojaku, and teaches taiko not only all over Japan but also in Brazil and in the U.S.
He also plays with musicians of various genres, including Toshinori Kondo, Winchester Nii Tete, Seijuro Sawada, Cari, Terumasa Hino and Yoshinori Kikuchi.
He leads his taiko rock group called Hybrid Soul, with Chris Young on electric guitar and Pat Glynn on bass, which is coming out with a CD this year.
The point through all this is to cross musical and cultural boundaries to claim a legitimate and respected place for taiko and Japanese-American music in the legacy of modern art and innovation.
Isaku, 28, was born in San Francisco and began studying at age 6 with Kenny Endo, formerly of San Francisco Taiko Dojo, who now works out of Hawaii and is one of America’s most respected taiko drummers.
Isaku began studying with Yoichi Watanabe of Amanojaku, master composer in modern Tokyo-style taiko, shortly after he began his studies with Kenny Endo.
Isaku Kageyama now performs with Amanojaku all over Japan and abroad, and has done concerts in Rio De Janeiro, Denver, Honolulu and other cities.
He has also taken part in Japanese TV shows with SMAP, Shuzo Matsuoka, Tsunku and the Sumida River fireworks, as well as in TV ads for Aioi Insurance Company.
Follow Isaku Kageyama on Twitter: @isakukageyama
Listen to his music on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/isakukageyama
Winchester Nii Tete and Isaku Kageyama at Shinjuku Takanoya in Tokyo.
Children of music. Music is power. Music is spirit.
It is so important for a person to take a stand for the music, or whatever else, he or she stands for.
And Isaku really took a stand _ literally on his cajon _ with Winchester Nii Tete and Cari at “The Beat Ahead” at Harajuku Crocodile in Tokyo.
Isaku Kageyama has been playing professionally for years in Amanojaku, the taiko troupe led by his master teacher Yoichi Watanabe, as well as other contexts.
Those situations often required the player to carry out the vision of the leader or pull the whole group together.
A lot of musical technique, hard work and dedication is involved in carrying that out.
But something different happened that night.
Isaku told his own story, holding his own with full accountability for what he stands for _ his own colors, his own music, his own view of the world.
It was a cathartic moment for my son _ and for me.
All the technique in the world doesn’t make sense or take meaning without this sense of purpose.
And that’s what makes it all _ the pursuit of technique, the years of hard work, the struggles of everyday life _ worth it: That real purpose.
It was stunning to see the transformation before me, although I knew all along someday it would happen.
I forgot to take photos.
more on YouTube
“The Beat Ahead” opened with a rock group led by Isaku’s new collaborator Yuu Ishizuka, who hails from Oedo Sukeroku Taiko.
The closing segment was all taiko with Isaku and Yuu collaborating.
It was great to see drummers from different backgrounds share ideas and create new sounds _ something that surprisingly happens rarely in the world of taiko.
There is so much more to be explored.
