12.24.05
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday season! Kris, Maz and I are heading home for the holidays but will be back right after the New Year!
Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks for a great year!
Peace,
12.20.05
Number 4 and PhiLL(er)
Whew. A weekend full of gigs! The Hiroshima Spirit of the Season Concert was great fun. Sharing the stage with the band's guest stars: Jim Gilstrap, Richie Gajate-Garcia, Daniel Ho and Diane Louie was absolutely phenomenal.
A big congratulations goes out to Daniel Ho who's album "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar" was nominated as one of five finalists in the Best Hawaiian Music Album category of the 48th Grammy Awards. Awesome! If only there were a Best Eclectic Taiko With Turntable Album recorded with a laptop category we might have a chance! Oh well, maybe one day:)
Speaking of eclectic taiko with turntable album recorded with a laptop "Dust and Sand" was number 4 on the NewAgeReporter.com charts this month! And a big thanks to PhiLL(er).com who reviewed "Dust and Sand" and used "Someday Six" on his podcast!
Peace,
12.16.05
This Weekend's Gigs!
Two gigs this weekend! Our annual works in progress concert is this Sunday. It's officially sold out so a huge thank you goes out to all those who reserved tickets! We'll be premiering 6 pieces and will be welcoming Maz back to Los Angeles. Maz just returned from a year and half studying taiko and fue in Tokyo and we are super excited to have him back!
On Ensemble will also be performing at Hiroshima's Spirit of the Season Concert this Saturday. It's going to be a great show with some really, really amazing guest musicians.
It's going to be a busy end of the year!
Peace,
12.10.05
Works In Progress Tickets and Hiroshima in Hawaii
Hello from Hawai'i! I'm doing this update from my hotel room in Honolulu... I just had a performance with Hiroshima at the Hawaii Theater and we have another concert tomorrow. The best thing about this trip is that the hotel we're staying at is walking distance from Jimbo's, my favorite place to get udon outside of Japan. Life is good.
On Ensemble's annual concert of new music, Works In Progress, is quickly approaching! This year we will be debuting six new works at the historic Miles Memorial Playhouse. Thanks to support from the JACCC's API/2 grant program, we are able to make this year's show free to the public, though reservations are required.
Tickets became available on our email list yesterday and they're almost gone! There are just a handful of tickets left so if you're interested, send an email to kris (kris@at@onensemble.org) or call (310) 350-8825 to reserve yours. Limit four tickets per person. Once tickets are sold-out, we will manage a waiting list to reassign cancelled reservations. Thank you to all of you who have already reserved your tickets!
Works
In Progress '05
Sunday December 18th, 7:30pm
Miles Memorial Playhouse
1130 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
Peace,
12.7.05
Slamdance!
Great news! The film that I was working on in November was just accepted as one of nine documentary films to the Slamdance Film Festival! The film is called Abduction and is about a 13 year old Japanese girl kidnapped by North Korean spies. It's directed by Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim of Safari Media and is executive produced by Oscar winning director Jane Campion. I don't want to give anything away here but its a fabulous film and it was great composing the music for the film. The world premiere will be on Sunday, Jan 22nd at the Slamdance Festival. I'll keep posting updates on the film as more news rolls in.
We also just got another album review this one from Tastes Like Chicken. They gave us a B+ and said our album makes Hello Kitty smile.
Peace,
12.6.05
December is here!
Yeah December is here! I love the winter. Great weather for soup and scarfs and warm cups of coffee and tea and snow don't forget snow. Don't get much snow in LA but I'm already looking forward to the family sledding trip that takes place when everybody gets together in Mt. Shasta for the holidays. Lots to do before Christmas though!
Kris and I had a great week working with Kelvin and Byron. We had great rehearsals, came up with some interesting material and had many wonderful discussions on the philosophy of music and art. We are getting very excited about our annual works in progress concert and our API/2 funding has officially come through! Yeah! API/2 is the Asian and Pacific Islander Artist Presenting Initiative (try saying that three times fast!) and was launched by the JACCC in 2004 with a grant from the James Irvine Foundation with the goal to "strengthen the artistic capacity of exemplary Asian and Pacific Islander artists, and to deepen public understanding and appreciation of API arts and cultural heritage."
Remember to get Works In Progress tickets make sure you are signed up on our email list!
On Friday Kelvin, Byron and myself went to First Fridays at the Natural History Museum to hear a discussion about the energy, climate change and ecological challenges facing us today. I should at this point disclose the fact that my wife works at the Natural History Museum:) The discussion was amazing. It's so great to hear intelligent people speak about the complicated issues facing the planet. I know that sounds like a "yeah duh" thing to say, but it's really true and it's really a shame that there isn't more depth and intelligence to the daily bombardment of crud news coming from the TV.
The next morning Kris, Kelvin, Byron and myself followed up the discussion with one of our own. Unfortunately I have to report that we did not solve any of the worlds problems but we did reflect upon our roles as creators of culture, vow to seek wisdom to temper knowledge, and reflect on our responsibility to all of our communities.
Peace,
11.30.05
Works In Progress '05
December 18th, 7:30pm at the Miles Memorial Playhouse! Sign up for our email list to be the first to find out about ticket reservations.
Byron Au Yong is coming to Los Angeles this week and Kelvin is in town as well to work on material for this year's works in progress concert. Byron recently wrote a 21st century composition manifesto published in newmusicbox.com. Check it out at his blog.
Peace,
11.29.05
Radio Update!
Just got back from a great radio interview and performance at 88.5FM KCSN. Thanks Meishel for having us on your show! I'm also taking this moment to update our radio play page which I haven't done since week 5!
We are having our annual Works in Progress show on December 18th at 7:30pm at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica. It's going to be free or near free, and we are expecting tickets to move quickly once we announce officially. So how do you get tickets? Well... We are going to announce on our email list first, so sign up for our email list!
I know... We are being manipulative trying to get you to sign up for our email list. You can still unsubscribe anytime you want and we really try to only use it for juicy bits of news.
Peace,
11.24.05
Thanksgiving
Happy almost Thanksgiving! I love this time of year. The official start of the holiday season!!! Yes, I know sometimes I rant about the commodification and materialization of the holidays and yes I know that an atheist getting excited about a holiday celebrating the birth of the son of god is ironic and yes I often feel that in addition to Thanksgiving we should have a very somber memorial day when we reflect on the genocide of the native people, the cultural mechanisms that allow for such inhuman treatment of others and look inward to find those parts in ourselves.
But there are so few times in our busy lives that we take the time just to be with our families and loved ones, take the time to be thankful for all that we have, take the time to buy a gift for someone and give. That's what the holiday season means to me, family, giving thanks and giving to others. Certainly these are things worth celebrating.
Peace,
11.23.05
Dust and Sand Reviews
Here's a very nice review our CD from Transform online. They called it, "completely original and brilliantly conceived". That will definitely make the quote sheet in our promo packets:)
Peace,
11.22.05
30 things I learned from Kenny Endo
Wow. Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble concert was awesome! The North American Taiko community owes a lot to Kenny Endo. Kenny has trained half the On Ensemble, and is one of my continual sources of inspiration! So in order to celebrate his 30th Anniversary Concert, I present: 30 things I learned from Kenny Endo (and Chizuko too):
1. Represent the art form responsibly. (okay... I'm still working on this one)
2. Practice, practice and practice more.
3. Put everything you have into every single performance.
4. Primary lines.
5. If you are going to be serious about this art form you need to study in Japan.
6. Packing is an art form.
7. Don't worry it will fit.
8. Good drummers sound good. Great ones make everybody sound good. (definitely still working on this one)
9. The taiko path is easy start down but hard to stay on.
10. If you're going to be a professional taiko player make sure you find the right life partner! (check!)
11. You're never finished learning.
12. Drive a tan '88 Toyota van. (check!)
13. Toyota vans are stolen easily. (double check!)
14. The gig isn't done until the taiko are all back and put away.
15. Every time you perform it will be someone's first time seeing taiko and someone else's last time seeing taiko... so don't screw it up. (okay... i added that last bit myself)
16. Insane schedules are normal.
17. Sleep is for the weak.
18. Stay in shape and train everyday. (hmmm... definitely failing this lesson at the moment)
19. Rehearsals aren't supposed to be fun, performances are fun. If you are having fun at rehearsal but no fun at the performance something is very wrong.
20. It's completely possible to live off of $350 a month.
21. If you do number 20, 18 and 2 together you'll be in the best shape of your life.
22. The taiko life is crazy. (really... this one is true)
23. After 10 years of playing taiko, you're ready to begin.
24. After 20 years of playing taiko, you have something to offer. (somehow I find myself off by ten years here... after 20 years I feel like a complete beginner.)
25. Live, eat and breath music.
26. Do it yourself.
27. Always be working.
28. Lead by example. (his example... not mine:))
29. Have higher standards.
30. Don't let anybody or anything stop you from doing your music.
If you aren't in the taiko community this list will probably seem a bit cryptic. But just to give you an idea about what I'm talking about I'll share one of my favorite Kenny Endo stories. After sophomore year at Stanford I decided to stop out of school for a year, move to Hawai'i with Maz and study with Kenny. The morning after we flew into Hawai'i we had a performance at a local television station. So at 4am we meet at sensei's house to load up the drums and all of the equipment is storied in this little portable storage unit. You open the doors and it's packed solid with taiko of all shapes and sizes. My description won't do it justice but the way the equipment is packed is unbelievable. It's absolutely the most equipment you could possibly fit into that space. In order to get the largest drum out every single instrument must be taken out in order. So at 4am we are loading this enormous drum in to a truck and make our way to the station. Within 12 hours of landing in Hawai'i Maz and I had practiced, slept for 2 hours and were now doing our first Kenny Endo gig. It was the year that changed everything. Getting to spend that time with a master of the art form and seeing what kind of dedication it took was invaluable learning experience. It was then that I decided to dedicate myself to the taiko path and follow my passion for this music where ever it took me at whatever the cost. Thanks for everything Kenny and happy 30th taiko anniversary!
Peace,
11.20.05
Kenny Endo 30th Anniversary Concert Today!
I meant to post this yesterday! Kenny Endo is having his 30th Anniversary Concert today at 4:00pm at the Japan America Theater. The box office number is (213) 680-3700.
Kenny Endo is not to be missed. For those of you that don't know he's the foremost taiko artist in the United States, a pioneer, a legend in the taiko community and an inspiration to all of us on the taiko path.
See you at the concert!
Peace,
11.17.05
iTunes and Amazon!
More ways to get "Dust and Sand"! I'm happy to announce that our CD is now available on iTunes and Amazon.com. Yeah!
We have some very nice costumer reviews at CDBaby and would love to have some costumer reviews at iTunes and Amazon.com. So if you got the CD, like it, and feel so inclined please take the time to write up a costumer review. Every little bit helps.
In other exciting news... I'm currently composing and recording music for two documentary films. I'll most more updates once the films come out and maybe even some snippets of music:)
Peace,
11.15.05
Number 3
Here's some happy news. "Dust and Sand" made it debut on the October NewAgeReporter.com chart at number 3! Check it out at NewAgeReporter.com.
We also got a nice not from our friend Barden who heard Gengakki on NPR's Morning Edition today and "just about peed my pants". Not quite the reaction we're looking for when someone hears our music but we'll take it.
Peace,
11.13.05
Radio week 5
Okay I got a bit confused. The NewAgeReporter charts come out this weekend. I'll post the results once they do. What I reported on three days ago were the playlist spins, kind of the unofficial charts I guess.
Week 5 of our radio promotion concluded last weekend and I just updated the radio page with more stations! We added our first Japanese station! LoveFM from Fukuoka. Somehow a station named LoveFM seems very Japanese to me. If you've ever lived in Japan you probably know what I mean.
Peace,
11.10.05
Playlist spins at NewAgeReporter.com
Hey this is fun. Last month amongst stations that report to NewAgeReporter.com "Dust and Sand" was number 12! This month we are on the chart at number 5:) If you don't believe check the link yourself! Little Man makes the list as the 5th most played song in November and Fingertips as October's 5th most played song. Gengakki, Someday Six and Zeecha all make the lists as well, but you have to scroll down several page to find them.
I also found "Dust and Sand" as number 511 on RIYL's not weighted charts. I know number 511 doesn't sound all that impressive, but then I realized the chart goes all the way to 1046 and includes all genres. After that I felt so elated that I had the number 511 tattooed onto my forearm. Just kidding mom.
Peace,
11.6.05
Triangle Project, Radio and Kant
Okay a lot in this little update. First of all I'd like to congratulate PJ Hirabayashi, Yoko Fujimoto and Nobuko Miyamoto on last night's LA premiere of the Triangle Project. For those of you who don't know each of these women are ground breaking, pioneering artists who have made incredible contributions to their art forms. To see them come together in collaboration was truly awesome! On Ensemble was able to secure a few tickets to give out to our email list members so it was great to see the On Ensemble crowd there too! We are going to try to find little perks like this here and there so the email list is something you are excited about being on instead of just another source of mass email. So if you haven't signed up you can do so on the left there <--
I just updated our radio play page. When we first started this radio campaign I thought I would keep track of all the radio play we got and search the web for play lists, new stations etc. etc. Turns out to be an overwhelming task. I'm not complaining at all, it's a great problem to have! We've been added to another 31 stations this week and list keeps growing and growing.
I was summoned for jury duty last week. We went through the selection process and then the next day the two parties settled their dispute. It was the first time I had been selected for jury duty and I was kind of looking forward to it. The experience did make me reflect on the nature of civic duty. During my reflection I came to the conclusion that I should try to re-read some of the great thinkers so I started with one of my favorite philosophers: Immanuel Kant. Then I got really excited about the whole idea and now my wife and I are going to have a little philosophy reading list. Should be great fun.
I found a few great online resources if you are interested:
Wikipedia - I start a lot of inquires here. If you don't know about Wikipedia after you use it a few times you'll find yourself constantly going back. The philosophy behind Wikipedia is also very interesting and it speaks to the power of community.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Sometimes I miss the red tiled roofs, the quad, the all nighters, the life of a Stanford student. Then I realize the two people I hang out with most are Emi and Kris (Stanford taiko alums), I don't have a 9 to 5 job, and I just spent all night reading philosophy. Not a lot has changed.
Project Gutenberg - This one is great! I remember Kris telling me about Project Gutenberg years ago and during my little thought adventure I found Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, for free available for download at Project Gutenberg.
Peace,
11.3.05
November already?
Oh, I am falling behind. Halloween came and went and now it's already November!
Radio promotion continues to go well! I'm involved in a major recording session right now and haven't had time to update the radio play list but will very soon. We also were played on Morning Edition again!
I've turned into a vampire these days. I'm in the studio all night recording till the early morning. Then I come home and sleep during the day. Wake up right in time to cook dinner for my wife before she comes home from work. She has dinner, I have breakfast then it's off to the studio again. I haven't seen the sun in days.
Once I get the okay to reveal what these crazy recording sessions are all about I'll post an update. Till then you'll have to guess... :)
Peace,
10.27.05
Radio week 3!
Woah. It's Thursday already. I meant to do this update days ago! We are into week three of radio promotion for "Dust and Sand" and have more radio stations to add to the growing list of stations playing our CD. Check out the list of stations here.
What's been interesting is that we've had almost every song on the CD get radio play! I didn't think songs like "Zeecha" (all percussion and turntable) or "Taiko Overtone Quartet" (weird melody and nine minutes long) would get much love on the radio but I've been pleasantly surprised.
The reviews are starting to come it too. We had a great review at Blogcritics.org and I'll keep you updated as more come in!
Peace,
10.24.05
Review at BlogCritics.org
Just got another review this time a CD review from BlogCritics.org. Here's a bit of what said about "Dust and Sand":
"The last track on the album 'Taiko Overtone Quartet' is a beautiful example of the skill that On Ensemble has as well as one of the most innovative sounds I've ever heard." -BlogCritics.org
Check out the full article here and I'll post it on our news page as well.
Peace,
10.21.05
Review at AllAboutJazz.com
We just got a review about our performance at the Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival at AllAboutJazz.com. I have to update the bios on the website. The reviewer though Yuta was Maz... Sorry Yuta. I need to add Kelvin's and Yuta's bio. Depite the personnel mixup it's a very favorable review and I'll add it to our On Ensemble in the news page.
Peace,
10.21.05
More Play on Morning Edition
Just got news of more play on NPR's Morning Edition! This time it looks like they played "Taiko Overtone Quartet" and "Someday Six". Yeah! Thanks to Gwen and JD for the heads up on this one!
Peace,
10.19.05
Radio Promotion Week 2
The second week of our radio promotion wrapped up over the weekend and we've been added to another 35 radio stations just this week! I updated the radio page, so check out the updated list. It keeps growing and growing!
Peace,
10.17.05
Congratulations TAIKOPROJECT!
Congratulations to TAIKOPROJECT for becoming the first North American Taiko group to take first place in the Tokyo International Taiko Competition! Taiko competitions aren't popular here in the states but they are an accepted part of the Japanese Taiko scene and TAIKOPROJECT was the first North American Taiko group to be invited to the annual Tokyo competition. Congratulations TAIKOPROJECT!
I served as Musical Director for the development of TAIKOPROJECT and have since stepped down from the position as much of the original cast has "retired", but the new cast has stepped forward without missing a beat! It's really inspiring to see the level of taiko talent being developed in childrens groups and collegiate groups and makes it makes me very excited about the future of our art form in North America.
"Omiyage", one of the pieces I composed for TAIKOPROJECT was performed at the competition and was mentioned in the article about open source ideals with the North American Taiko community. "Omiyage" was inspired by the tradition of gift giving it takes its name from and is a song that is meant to be shared. The basic idea is that anyone, is free to perform, record and even makes changes to the piece as long as they share the song with others in the same spirit. It's meant to be a contribution to the public domain, to the free and open sharing of ideas in the belief that everybody benefits when ideas and information are shared freely. I could go on and on here, but will spare you all the sermon...
Congratulations again TAIKOPROJECT! Woohoo!
Peace,
p.s. If you are interested in "Omiyage" contact me and I can provide you with a score and audio recording of the piece.
10.16.05
More radio news!
Few more nice bits of news. "Someday Six" was played on KMSU in Southern Minnesota, "Zeecha" was played on KUNM in Albuquerque, and "Dust and Sand" was the number one new world add on KAOS 89.3FM based out of Olympia, WA.
Peace,
10.14.05
Radio play update!
More good news! We're starting to get radio play! KCUR in Kansas City played "Same Planet", WWSP in Stevens Point, WI played "Fingertips", the program Echoes which is carried by several stations including KNSQ 88.1 in Mt. Shasta (hi mom and dad) played "Gengakki", and West Virginia Public Radio recently played "Zeecha".
Also we were recently featured at SoundRoots a blog on global culture! SoundRoots is also a supporter of the Creative Commons License! Nice to see another like minded people out there in the world.
We'll continue to post updates on radio play and press coverage as it comes in and keep an archive of it here.
The Story of Taiko Overtone Quartet
Back in September of 2004 when we posted the rough mix of "TOQ" I wrote about how I initially got into throat singing. When it comes to throat singing I am but an amateur. It's a sound that I find myself drawn to and something I will continue to develop and practice but if you want to hear the real deal you should check out Huun-Huur-Tu or the Gyuto Monks. It should be noted here that while the Tuvan throat singing and Tibetian throat singing are similar techniques the music is stylistically very different. Back in High School, I bought an album of the Gyuto Monks released on Windham Hill Records. I remember putting my headphones on and listening to it over and over. It should also be noted that the Gyuto Monk's CD is one of the best deals ever on iTunes. There are only two tracks on the CD each one is 20 minutes plus, but on iTunes two tracks run you a whopping $1.98.
TOQ was one the second song we recorded and follows the rough structure of our live version. I first wrote TOQ after Byron Au Yong (composer of Two by Four) took a trip to Korea and brought us back this beautiful gong. Usually I'm very weary of gongs. They are too associated with that "asian" stereotype that we all hate. Like that lame half step/minor third interval scale, or that chopstick font, I mean who comes up with this stuff anyway? So it takes a lot for me to use a gong. But the gong that Byron bought back for us did it. The tone is so complex and rich I knew I had to use it in a song.
TOQ was also our first attempt at using throat singing in a piece. So with all first (and second and third and fourth...) attempts the results can be somewhat clumsy. Oh wait, actually we did we use throat singing to a lesser extent in Gengakki early on. Since these attempts we've used throat singing in "After Rain" and a new song we've started working on and it continues to become a more natural part of our palette.
As with all of our pieces TOQ is in a continual state of change and transition. I had an interesting chat last night with a friend over IM about the nature of design, aesthetics, beauty and change. It made me think of the aesthetic philosophy of wabi-sabi often described as the beauty that reflects the simple truth that: nothing is complete, nothing is perfect, nothing is permanent.
Its hard for me to describe in writing what my aesthetic or what an On Ensemble aesthetic might be, because it isn't about the finished piece. It's about a process, it's about a way of approaching music and art and ideas. It's about embracing change, it's about being open and accepting of new ideas it's about knowing that nothing is perfect or complete. There is no way for our music to encapsulate the aesthetic fully, because it is much bigger than that and because we are limited as musicians, artists and humans. The best we can do is hint at it.
Nothing is complete, nothing is perfect, nothing is permanent. Words to live by.
Peace,
10.11.05
On Ensemble on NPR's Morning Edition
This is exciting! "Little Man" was played as a musical interlude on today's (Tuesday, October 11th) Morning Edition. Yeah! If you hear On Ensemble on the radio, send us an email and let us know!
Peace,
10.9.05
Radio Promotion Week One!
Great news! The report from our first week of radio promotion has come in and we've had stations from Barcelona, Spain to Honolulu, HI add us to their playlists!
KABF - Little Rock, AR
KAMU - College Station, TX
KASU - Jonesboro, AR
KCCK - Cedar Rapids, IA
KCWC - Riverton, WY
KEUL - Girdwood, AK
KGLP - Gallup, NM
KGLT - Boseman, MT
KGPR - Great Falls, MT
KRCL - Salt Lake City, UT
KSER - Everett, WA
KTUH - Honolulu, HI
KUMR - Rolla, MO
KVNF - Paonia, CO
Radio Bespi - Barcelona, Spain
The Smiling Ear - Hilo, HI
WDIY - Whitehall, PA
WESS - Stroudsburg, PA
WHPC - Glen Cove, NY
WICN - Shrewsbury, MA
WITR - Rochester, NY
WNMC - Traverse City, MI
WRSU - New Brunswick, NJ
WSGE - Dallas, NC
WVUD - Newark, DE
WYSO - Dayton, OH
We'll keep an updated list of all the stations playing "Dust and Sand" here. If you listen to one of these stations you can help us out by requesting they play your favorite track from our CD.
Kaoru heads out of town tomorrow morning. He's continuing his whirlwind workshop tour of the United States. It was great to be able to perform with him at JANM and I'll post some of the music we did together this week as soon as I get around to it. If you want to keep up on what Kaoru and the rest of the KODO members are up to you can check out the KODO Weblog. Kaoru posts in English but most of the other KODO members post in Japanese so brush up on your kanji, pull out that electronic dictionary and get cracking! Or try the Google translator which yields some humorous if not informative results.
Peace,
10.8.05
Belated Props
Oops... I forgot to give out thank yous in my last update which was the whole reason I was going to update in the first place. Go figure...
A huge thank you goes out to Donna Ebata and KASA for all of her work in organizing Thursday's performance. Also a big thank you goes to Sabrina Motley and Sojin Kim at the Japanese American National Museum for all of their support. And last but not least thanks to Tom Goller for doing an awesome job with the lighting and sound.
In other exciting news TAIKOPROJECT held a pot luck performance tonight at Senshin to help raise money for their trip to Japan. They will be competing at the Tokyo International Taiko Contest next week! Masato will join TAIKOPROJECT for the competition. In addition to the compulsory piece they will be performing two pieces (Expanding and Omiyage) that I composed for the group back in 2004. Good luck TAIKOPROJECT!
Peace,
10.7.05
The Adventures of Rabbit and Turtle Part 2
Kaoru and I had a very successful and fun debut performance at the Japanese American National Museum's brand new Forum space last night! I might be posting some MP3s of what we did so keep checking back. In the meantime you can check out the MP3 of Oknuj.
Kaoru will be holding two fue workshops this Saturday October 8th at the JACCC. The beginning fue workshop will be at 10:00am-12:00pm and the intermediate level workshop from 2:00pm-4:00pm. During the workshop Kaoru will give a short lecture/demonstration of different types of fue and playing styles as well as his experiences with KODO and living and studying music in Japan. No experience necessary for the beginning level workshop!
The last of the stories behind "Dust and Sand" concludes this weekend. I'm off to get some much needed sleep...
Peace,
10.4.05
The Adventures of Rabbit and Turtle
Just got finished with the first night of rehearsal with Kaoru for Thursday's JANM performance. We had a fantastic time! Fun was had, music was made. Here's a little sample of what transpired the first night:
Oknuj.mp3 - 7.9 MB
Remember to call JANM at: (213) 625-0414 and reserve your seat if you plan on coming. I'm so excited about the music right now that I can't sleep so I decided to post this little update.
Peace,
10.3.05
Kaoru Watanabe and Shoji Kameda at JANM Part 2!
Oops. I forgot to add that admission is free but you should call for reservations at: (213) 625-0414.
Peace,
10.1.05
Kaoru Watanabe and Shoji Kameda at JANM!
This is going to be fun! Kaoru Watanabe and I will be performing an evening of improvised music for taiko and fue at the Japanese American National Museum this Thursday at 7:30pm. The performance is part of the exhibition on North American Taiko and it's FREE!
I first met Kaoru back in 1997 when I was studying with Kenny Endo. At the time Kaoru was a member of Soh Daiko and we met at a Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble performance in New York. Kaoru, to my knowledge is the only non-Japanese national to become a performing member of KODO. He studied music at the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Manhattan School of Music where he majored in jazz flute/saxophone then moved to Tokyo to study Noh Kan and Edo Bayashi style of fue (bamboo flute). He then entered the two year apprenticeship program for KODO and became a performing member in 1999. As a member of KODO he has toured the world performing with such luminaries as Zakir Hussein, Aiero Moreira, Giovanni Hildago and Carlos Nunez. He also acts as the artistic director of KODO's annual world music festival, Earth Celebration.
Basically he's an insane musician. Period.
In other exciting news, October 1st marks the beginning of radio promotion for our new CD "Dust and Sand"! We've partnered with Ed Bonk of Lazz Promotions to promote "Dust and Sand" and will be posting updates on the progress of our radio promotion right here!
Peace,
9.30.05
Zeecha!!!
A little late but week seven of our stories from behind the recording of "Dust and Sand" continues today with "Zeecha".
"Zeecha" is a very special song to me. I've been avoiding this update a little because I never know where to start with this song. The song is about good friend of mine who committed suicide eight years ago. There... I said it. His name was Luis and we met at Stanford. I remember the day we met. It was during freshman orientation, a week when there are only freshman on campus. It was so exciting being at college, getting adjusted to my new life... I was walking through the White Plaza and I heard a familiar sound coming out of the Asian American Activities center. TAIKO! I peeked my head in and saw a skinny upper classman practicing yatai bayashi all by himself in the corner. It was Luis. I introduced myself, told him I was planning on trying out for the group and we hit it off right away.
Up to that point in my life, I had always taken taiko for granted. I liked it, it was a fun activity, but at the time I didn't have a passion for it. Luis had the passion. He thought about taiko differently. It wasn't just a two or three time a week activity to do with friends. It was art. It was something he poured all of himself into. He used to walk to class carrying his batchi practicing in the air. He was always composing, or practicing or working on his craft. Eventually he stopped going to classes, and just practiced all the time. His dream was to join KODO.
He was one of the most creative spirits I have ever met and he had a huge influence on me. Seeing someone so dedicated to his art was inspiring. I started to think about taiko differently. Maybe it was more than just a fun activity. The group would practice from 8 till 11 or so then Luis and I would stay afterwards and just jam, or work on new parts for a song until the wee hours of the morning. The first taiko song I ever composed, came out of those late night jam sessions. At that time Stanford Taiko played a lot of songs the standard taiko songs: Matsuri, Hachijo, Miyake etc. etc. There were a few original pieces and there was always this internal debate about how faithful we should try to be to "tradition".
During my sophomore year, I was artistic director and the group had a big fight over how much we felt we could change one of the "traditional" pieces. I use the term traditional with hesitation because what we thought was traditional wasn't really traditional... but that is a whole other story...
Anyways... Part of group wanted to do the piece exactly how we had been taught and the other part of the group wanted to change it a bit and merge two pieces together. There were a few very tense practices and lots of email going back and forth. Luis wrote an email to the group that I still have which suggested the group take a radical approach: stop playing the traditional pieces. It was shocking. I mean that was 80% of the repertoire. But he had a point... If we really didn't understand the "traditional" pieces why play them? If none of us (at that time) had learned any of the pieces from the source why play them? His idea was that Stanford Taiko should create music from what we know. Play our pieces, write new ones... do the music that we know and quit pretending that we were representing something that none of us really understood.
It's funny to think back on how I thought back then in light of where I found myself now... But Luis's suggestion was radical for Stanford Taiko at the time. It was hard to give up those pieces. It was easier to play the "traditional" pieces and hide behind them. It felt more legitimate to play a piece from Japan. Felt more Japanese. More legit to dress ourselves in the culture, to use these words we didn't really understand, to bow... I'm smiling as I write this, laughing to myself at my own naivete... my continuing naivete...
That was Luis though. He was always thinking about the larger concept. Always a little ahead of where I found myself. His passing was very hard for me. It was a tough time for all of us who knew him and writing this song was a part of my personal healing process. Zeecha was one of the kiai's that Luis made up. He would just shout it during a song and it kind of caught on. We even used it to start a song once instead of the standard so-re.
I wrote Zeecha after I returned to Stanford from Hawaii. It was a very different song back then. Then I re-wrote it when we started On Ensemble, then re-wrote it for the CD and will continue to change and evolve as long as I live. Sometimes it might get better, sometimes worse... who knows. who cares. That isn't the point. The only thing that will stay consistent is the intent of the piece, the celebration of the creative spirit.
It's a reminder to myself of why I decided to be an artist. What it really means to pour all of yourself into your art. It's easy to get caught up in hustling for the next gig, or in all the office work, or the stress of rehearsals... easy to forget why music is important, easy to start prioritizing making rent money rather than making art. But life is short and precious. It should be celebrated with every breath, every note, every moment.
Peace,
9.28.05
San Jose Taiko at the Cerritos Center!
Just a quick update here: San Jose Taiko will be performing at the Cerritos Center next Friday October 7th! For you taiko fans out there this is going to be a great opportunity to see one of the premier US taiko groups performing at one of the premiere venues in Southern California.
I'll be posting the weekly story soon I promise! Things are a little behind this week as we are sending out massive numbers of CD for the official start of our radio promotion on October 1st!
Peace,
9.25.05
Whew, what a weekend!
This is usually the time of week when I post the new story about a song from "Dust and Sand" but I'm going to make a small change to the schedule and talk about this weekend's performances at the Madrid Theatre and the Watts Towers Day of the drum festival.
Both performances went very well! The Watts Towers Day of the Drum festival was a great event to play at. I also performed with Hiroshima today on the second day of the festival and both days I was completely awed by the caliber of musicians (myself not included) at the festival. It was phenomenal! Before we went on the JLS All Stars played a set that was jaw dropping. And before that it was Nedra Wheeler with her band who played a set with guest appearances from the Mariachi Divas that was so bad (in a good way) that I felt like packing up my equipment and heading to the studio to practice forever. Honestly... One of those performances that makes you think "I'm so glad I became a musician! This is it!" and "What the hell am I doing? Who am I kidding? I've got nothing to compare to that!" simultaneously. She was awe inspiring. If you get a chance to see Nedra Wheeler live you had better go. After our set, Spanky Wilson sang a killer set with an amazing band. They even did this great rendition of a Hiroshima classic: Dada.
On Saturday we went on after another ridiculous percussion group whose name escapes me at the moment. One of the five members of the group was Munyungo Jackson, percussionist extraordinaire and the man who hooked us up with the Day of the Drum performance. Thanks Munyungo!
All in all a great weekend of music!
Peace,
9.23.05
Weekend Gigs
It's been a crazy week. Kelvin flew in Monday and we've been practicing every possible hour since then in preparation for this weekend's gigs. On Saturday we're playing at the Watts Towers Day of the Drum at 1:00pm and then on Sunday we'll be at the Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park at 12:00pm. I'll also be playing with Hiroshima on Sunday at the Watts Towers Jazz Festival. Going to be quite a weekend!
Today we had two lec/dem performances at schools in Ojai and Carpinteria. In between we had some time to kill so Kris, Kelvin and I went to the beach and practiced on a wooden picnic table. The picnic table actually made a pretty good sound. Too bad I didn't have my laptop with me, because it would've been a neat recording... Watashi Watashi Tachi being pounded out with the sound of crashing waves in the background.
So in other good news... My uncle and aunt were nice enough to sell me their 1993 Ford Aerostar! We're going to use it as the official On Ensemble van, and shoji's back-up for when Gold Leader gets stolen again:) And get this... it's RED! Awesome! So now the big question is: should its call sign be Red Two, Red Five or Red Leader?
It's a tough question. Personally I'm leaning toward Red Two. You know... Wedge's call sign at the Battle of Yavin. Red Leader would also be good... I mean he did sacrifice himself for the team and died honorably... Not screaming "there's too many of them!" or something lame like that. Of course, there is always Red Five, but that's like picking the most popular, just because it's the most popular. And it's pretty dorky to name you van after that whiny Skywalker kid... Obviously Red Two is the more respectable choice. The choice of a serious musician with something to say.
Peace,
9.18.05
Someday Six
Week six of our stories from behind the recording of "Dust and Sand" continues today with "Someday Six". This was definitely one of the most fun songs to record. Initially "Someday Six" started as a version of "Itsuka". We wanted to get one of Mich's compositions on the CD and were going to remix "Itsuka" with an mbira melody. Here's a short clip of what it was going to sound like:
Itsuka test edit 0.1.mp3 - 2.6MB
The mbira melody used in this actually came from an earlier idea I had came up with while testing our recording equipment.
Test1.mp3 - 3MB
The recording stinks on these sketch tracks but I still like that little melody so you might hear it again in some future On Ensemble recording. Anyway, back to "Someday Six"...
Eventually we figured the song changed too much and Mich didn't think it was really "Itsuka" esque enough... so we changed to title to reference "Itsuka" and just came up with a different piece.
Like I mentioned before recording this song was a lot of fun. Kris and I just locked ourselves in the studio and recorded anything that would make a sound. Earlier that day Kris had bought a muffin from Starbucks and it came in this little paper bag so the first sound you hear is Kris breathing into the Starbucks bag. Another fun sound came from dropping a pile of CDs. We recorded a bunch of these CD drops then picked the ones we liked best. The low note is an uchiwa being rubbed so that it resonates. Then we added a bunch of percussion: shakers, goat toe shakers, pu 'ili, spash cymbals etc. etc. On the outtro we added an ocean drum that was given to us by famed taiko maker Mark Miyoshi. I actually used a similar outtro on an electronic music song I did during my Tokyo days.
GezGez.mp3 - Arugakki - 8MB
One of my friends Seiji (DJ Lavles) used to hold a monthly event at this tiny bar in Setagaya and I would do an hour set there under the name: Arugakki. It was great to have to come up with an hour's worth of music every month. I haven't really been composing much electronic music since moving to LA but have kind of gotten back into it recently. My new DJ/Producer name is going to be: Kametron, the transformable turtle robot! I know, I know, I'm a geek. I can't help it.
Peace,
9.15.05
Theater MU
This actually came it a little while ago but I forgot to post it. Theater Mu of Minneapolis will be using a bit of music from "Dust and Sand" for their latest production "Happy Valley", directed by taiko extraordinaire Jennifer Weir! For those non-taiko people who read this: Theater Mu is a Asian American performing arts organization based in Minneapolis. They have a theater troupe and a taiko group and their taiko group just performed at this year's North American Taiko Conference! Wow can't believe that was just two months ago... seems like forever.
Kris is back from the Western Arts Alliance booking conference and Kelvin is coming to Los Angeles next week to start rehearsing for our gigs on the 24th and 25th. Kris hates pants. It's a known fact. If you are birthday or x-mas shopping for him forget the pants. Mu Daiko brought us out to Minneapolis in December as guest artists for their annual concert two years ago and he didn't wear pants. It was December in Minneapolis and no pants. We walked into this restaurant and everybody stopped eating and turned to see who this smiling freak in shorts was. It was awesome.
Peace,
9.13.05
The Story of Two by Four
Week 5 continues with our behind the scene stories of "Dust and Sand" today with Two by Four. Two by Four was composed for On Ensemble by Byron Au Yong and was made possible by the support of the Durfee Foundation and the American Composer's Forum.
Byron was one of the first people we connected with creatively after moving to Los Angeles and the idea for the piece came to him after visiting Mt. Shasta with us. On his blog Byron writes:
"I remember when I wrote TWO BY FOUR in 2003. I visited the musicians in Mt. Shasta where they were rehearsing. One night, Shoj, his dad, Mas, Kris, and I huddled under the piercing stars on a summer evening. I fell asleep listening to their deep voices tell stories from the past. In my slumber, I discovered that TWO BY FOUR was about creating an alternate story for North American taiko music based on noise and the ephemeral quality of stars. Being near a sacred mountain, I was reminded to listen and feel the night in this way, calmly taking in the activity of nature."
One creative component we pursue as an ensemble is the commissioning of pieces from composers outside of the taiko community. Though Byron has taiko experience he really composes from a unique perspective. It's always exciting to see how another composer approaches the art form and it helps us expand our own artistic boundaries.
The lyrics of the piece are constellation names sung in Japanese and Latin. The taiko and gongs are rubbed, scraped and struck to produce the bed of noise that supports the singing. The piece is written for 3 performers and besides the delay used on the singing the recorded version is the same as the live version we perform.
Recording Two by Four was actually pretty straight forward since we didn't re-arrange the piece. We did re-record Kris' vocals after we got the ME-1NV preamp and the difference was dramatic. I recorded the taiko parts in an afternoon then mixed the piece over a weekend at my in-laws house.
In creating Two by Four Byron developed a scoring system unique to the needs of the piece. The score itself is a work of art with various shapes and symbols set into larger structures representing the 9 sections of the piece. Byron also composed short poetic phrases to help give feeling and shape to each section.
We first performed Two by Four back in 2003 and it has since become a mainstay in our repertoire. It is one of my favorite pieces. As an ensemble we are constantly discovering new aspects of the piece and I'm sure our interpretation will change in subtle ways as we continue to invest ourselves into Byron's multi-faceted composition.
Peace,
9.9.05
Yarrr!PR
Just a quick update before the weekend. We've teamed up with Yarrr!PR (Thanks Becki!) to handle publicity for "Dust and Sand" and have an electronic presskit at YarrrPR.com. We super excited about working with Becki and we'll post updates as news comes in.
Kris is with our booking agent, Cadence Arts Network, at the Western Arts Alliance booking conference this week! This year the conference is in Albuquerque NM. Look for him and the On Ensemble at the Cadence Arts Network booth.
For those of you in Los Angeles, I'll be performing with Hiroshima for a free concert this Saturday Sept. 10th! It's in Little Tokyo at the JACCC plaza and is a benefit for the Little Tokyo Business Association. So... come down support the community and enjoy a free concert:)
Peace,
9.5.05
The Story of Same Planet
Hope everybody had a great Labor Day weekend! Updated the calendar section with new performances. Week four of our "Dust and Sand" background stories continues today with "Same Planet". This track is probably our most obviously electronica influenced song. Though many of the elements of the track sound computer generated all but the turntable are acoustic sounds that were electronically tweaked.
The ambient textures in the beginning are two shime being rubbed and scratched with the hand. This is a great example of a sound that we wouldn't have been able to get without the Great River preamp. The reason why you pay $1000 for one channel is to be able to amplify a sound as soft as rubbing a shime with your hands without introducing a lot of noise.
To get the "screaming" sounds we used a crash cymbal, played the sound backward and then added an uchiwa sound played backward with a delay. The bass drum beat is the dumbek, pitched and run through some pretty heavy compression. The high hat sound is what an atarigane sounds like as an 8bit sample. Imagine trying to play an atarigane through your old NES system and that's pretty much the sound we were going for. The snare sound is a small chudaiko hit with a take batchi. The other random sounds in there are a 12bit shaker sample, a mokugyo and a clave. The only non acoustic sound is the bit of turntable we added to complement the vocal textures in the second half of the piece.
I didn't write "Same Planet" with intention of doing a electronica piece, though it is not surprising it came out that way, considering my appreciation of IDM, drum and bass, garage and the myriad of electronic sub-genres. The first elements we recorded were the two tracks of shime rubbing and scratching and everything was built around that. Initially I wanted to do a non-rhythmic track with just ambient textures, I don't know what happened. I'm a sucker for a beat. Sigh...
"Same Planet" is not a song we're able to perform live at the moment (hard to play a cymbal backwards) and reflects our approach to recording music. We want to use the computer and the recording process as another instrument, another creative tool. Our focus in recording this album was not to reproduce a live On Ensemble concert, our focus was to make the best music we could given the creative tools at our disposal. Our basic approach to the music remains consistent but the music must change and reflect the difference in process between live performance and a studio recording.
This philosophy was dictated by the limitations of our recording equipment. With a more elaborate set-up and studio we could capture the feeling of a live performance more accurately, but when you are trying to create music with a laptop, a couple mics and one clean channel of amplification you really have to get your limitations to work for you not against you.
I feel like I should take this moment to recognize one of my creative heroes: Robert Rodriguez. Three years ago I rented the DVD of "El Mariachi" and watched it with the director's commentary and it changed my approach to creating music. It's the best director's commentary ever and I highly recommend it for anybody with the secret ambition to change the world through art. I can't explain it all here, just rent the DVD and watch the commentary and you will understand.
Peace,
9.3.05
On Ensemble top seller in August
We just found out that "Dust and Sand" was one of the top 50 sellers during the month of August at CDBaby.com and will be featured on a special promotional CD put out by CDBaby! A big thank you goes out to all of you who bought our CD, your support really makes a difference to us!
The proceeds from our initial online sales are going toward off setting the cost of radio promotion and PR for the album. We are very excited about working with Yarrr!PR and Lazz Promotions to promote "Dust and Sand".
If you are enjoying the CD please share it with your friends and family. All of the music on the CD was released under a creative commons license that allows you copy, publish and distribute it for non-commercial purposes. We encourage you to post MP3s on your website or blog, email them to friends and burn copies of our music. As a relatively unknown group we rely on word of mouth to get our music out into the world and there is not better recommendation than that of a friend!
Peace,
9.2.05
Katrina sadness
Events like this have a way of putting everything in perspective. Our thoughts go out to those in need during these trying days. Join On Ensemble in donating to the Red Cross relief effort.
Peace,
8.27.05
The story of Fingertips
Part three in our "Dust and Sand" background stories continues today with Fingertips. Masato composed fingertips back in the Spring of 2004 and we premiered it at the University of California Riverside. Fingertips is notable as the first On Ensemble song with English lyrics and the closest we've come to a traditional pop structure (verse, chorus, bridge etc..)
Recording Fingertips was especially challenging because of the vocals. Before Maz left for Japan I tried to record his parts for the CD in a mad rush. The problem was that we really weren't ready to record and the sessions were very rushed. I really wanted Maz on the CD so we used his vocals from those early sessions even though they weren't really usable (not because of Maz's performance but because of the engineering and micing mistakes). They were actually recorded a good 4 BPM slower than the end song so it took a lot of editing and digital manipulation to hammer them into somewhat usable shape.
In terms of instrumentation we used bongos, chudaiko, shime, okedo, hand claps, dumbek (digitally pitched down), toere and shakers. The initial rhythm sections that we built up for the verses sounded great by themselves but way too busy once we added the vocals. This is a song that we'd probably do differently now, knowing what we learned from the recording process. Oh well... live and learn.
One thing you'll hear in this song is a lot of taiko being played with the hands. We found that it really helped to use a mixture of batchi, brush and hand strikes in the dense rhythmic sections. This is especially true during the extended rhythmic bridge in the middle of the song. The first solo sounds like congas but are actually a small chudaiko and an okedo played with the hands. The second solo is played with bongos.
There are some fun rhythmic things happening in the middle section. The first half features improvisation in 4/4 followed by 7/8 breaks. The base pattern for the improvisation is a Tahitian inspired rhythm (listen for the toere). Actually it is more of a downtempo Tahitian inspired rhythm... The second half features improvisation in 7/8 followed by 4/4 breaks.
I used a lot of delays with this mix. On the vocals and on the shakers in the middle section and the hand claps in the 7/8 section. I'm just a sucker for a hand clap with a delay... that and an 808 cowbell. I know everybody does it but one day I'm gonna use that 808 cowbell and it will be obvious how many hours I spent listening to The Egyptian Lover as a kid. Who am I kidding I'm going to listen to it right now!
"The pyramids are oh so shiny... Egypt, Egypt! The freaks are on the floor now... Egypt, Egpyt!"... (Egypt, Egypt - The Egyptian Lover)
Tangent alert! Tangent alert...
Actually... listening to this (Egyptian Lover) makes me wonder if that's why I like breathy vocal colors with my beats... hmm... I guess I am a child of the break beat after all.
Peace,
8.27.05
The return of gold leader!
That's right! Its like deja vu! For the second time this year gold leader has been stolen and returned. Amazing. I'm gonna start leaving a note with the van when I park it over night. It'll read something like: "Dear Potential Joy-Rider, Look. If you really want to take the car out just buzz my door and I'll give you the keys. Really. Just return it after you're done and we'll both be happy!"
We started a MySpace.com page. Check it out and be our friend.
We're actually just starting the process of a massive website redesign with more interactive features, more downloads, etc. But don't hold your breath... Its a massive undertaking and we're just getting started so in the meantime you can post comments on the MySpace site or just email or IM us.
Peace,
8.24.05
Taiko-related patents?
Thank you all for your kind responses concerning the recent article at NewsForge about On Ensemble! The article discussed On Ensemble's policy about sharing music, and touched on some of the past legal disputes about patenting taiko styles.
Well our good friend David Ishimaru (Dishi), fellow Stanford Taiko geek turned high-power patent lawyer, let us know about some other interesting references to "taiko" in the patent world. He turned up one patent relating to the method of tying the Japanese kimono sash (obi), called "o-taiko". He also found this gem, a variation on "tako-yaki", the fried octopus snack:
From the patent text:
"PURPOSE: To obtain TAIKO YAKI (drum-shaped pancake filled with bean jam) having nutrition and good taste, by making dough from eggs, stock from chicken, etc., and wheat flour... forming one piece containing cabbage, etc., and one piece containing a dropped egg and combining both the pieces into a drum shape."
Thanks Dishi!
8.22.05
On Ensemble featured in Open Source Taiko article