kaoru watanabe's Page
Profile Information
- My Role
- Artist
- My Discipline(s)
- Music
- About Me And My Work
- Kaoru was born in St. Louis, MO to symphony musician parents. After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music with a BFA in jazz flute and saxophone performance, he moved to Japan and joined the internationally renowned taiko drum ensemble KODO, where he studied and performed taiko, traditional Japanese folk dance and song, with a special emphasis in various fue (bamboo flute) such as the noh kan, ryuteki and shinobue. Beginning in 2005, Kaoru served as one of their artistic directors, focussing on KODO's world music festival Earth Celebration, curating and directing collaborations with such artists as Zakir Hussein, Carlos Nunez, Giovanni Hildago and Yamashita Yosuke. Kaoru has also performed and recorded with such artists as Jason Moran, Stefon Harris, Adam Rudolph, Tatsuya Nakatani, Tamango and with the legendary Kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo.
In late 2006 Kaoru left Kodo and returned to NY to teach and continue performing fue, western flute and taiko around the world in a variety of settings - collaboration with musicians, dancers, and visual artists of both western and eastern disciplines are a constant source of inspiration.
In August of 2008, he founded the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center to provide a place where people are encouraged to study fundamental playing technique, develop a stronger understanding of the cultural and historical background of taiko.
- Art Forms And Cultures I Would Like To Engage With
- I feel like I get to do a lot of my dream collaborations! I don't know, who else? Bill T Jones? Issey Miyake? Bjork? Wayne Shorter? Spike Jonze? Hariprasad Chaurasia? Radiohead?
- My Creative Influences & Favorite Artists
- how much time you got?
- My Artistic Affiliations
- Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center, Khoomei Taiko Ensemble, KATARU, NakaNaka Series@drom
- My Web link
- http://watanabekaoru.com
Kaoru watanabe's Blog
Urban Tap in Paris, France
Posted on June 15, 2010 at 6:38pm 1 Comment 0 Favorites
June 9th, 2010
On a rainy evening, Tamango hosted a show for the French music television channel Mezzo. With multiple camera men swarming the stage and about 300 or so people crowding the room, Tamango was in especially fine form. Tamango owned the stage and motioned for his collaborators to join him one by one. Percussionist Daniel Moreno, tabla player Mosin, the great saxophonist David… Continue
Urban Tap in La Havre, France
Posted on June 15, 2010 at 6:16pm 0 Comments 0 Favorites
June 8th, 2010
La Havre, France, a port city in Northern France has two theaters right in the heart of town, Grand Volcan and Petit Volcan (the big and little volcano). These two theaters, designed by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, are adjacent concrete upward sloping forms, as if Frank Gehry designed some miniature nuclear power plants.
The group I am performing with is Urban Tap, a group of musicians and dancers…
Continue La Havre, France, a port city in Northern France has two theaters right in the heart of town, Grand Volcan and Petit Volcan (the big and little volcano). These two theaters, designed by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, are adjacent concrete upward sloping forms, as if Frank Gehry designed some miniature nuclear power plants.
The group I am performing with is Urban Tap, a group of musicians and dancers…
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