Tuesday, November 27, 7:30pm
Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall, Princeton University
Free and open to the public
The Dept. of Music invites you to an evening of traditional Japanese music and improvisatory fusion, featuring Japanese taiko drum and flute master Kaoru Watanabe and koto (Japanese zither) and shamisen (lute) player Sumie Kaneko. Percussionists Barbara Merjan and Evan Schnoll round out the ensemble.
KAORU WATANABE is a master of Japanese flutes (shinobue, nōkan, ryūteki), taiko drums, and Western flute. He is a former member and artistic director of Kodo, the internationally acclaimed taiko drumming troupe. He has collaborated with Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hildalgo, Carlos Nunez, and legendary Kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo. Since 2006, he has taught taiko and flutes at the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center in New York. He is currently a Lecturer in Music at Princeton, co-teaching Japanese Taiko in Transpacific Perspective with Prof. Noriko Manabe (Music).
Kaoru Watanabe website: http://www.watanabekaoru.com
Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center website: http://www.taikonyc.com/
SUMIE KANEKO studied shamisen at the Tokyo University of the Arts and jazz vocal performance at Berklee College of Music. She played shamisen, percussion, and sang in the world premiere and several productions of Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home. In addition to traditional music and jazz, she leads the band J-Trad and More, which blends jazz, rock, and Japanese and Indian instruments.
Sumie Kaneko website: http://www.sumiekanekomusic.com
Pop/Non-Western Music Colloquium Series 