September 12, 2016 7:00-9:00 PM Kaoru Watanabe: Japanese Taiko Drum and Shinobue Flute Concert

Japanese taiko drumming is a modern blend of traditional festival drumming and contemporary percussion ensemble playing. Growing out of postwar Japan, it features performance techniques that are starkly different from Western practice, with graceful, powerful body movements reminiscent of dance or martial arts. A masterful and engaging performer, Kaoru Watanabe will present a concert of traditional and original compositions that push the boundaries of tradition into innovative combinations. The concert will also feature taiko drummer Fumi Tanakadate and master Korean Piri player Gamin.

Kaoru Watanabe is a Japanese taiko drummer and shinobue flutist. After obtaining a BFA in jazz flute performance at the Manhattan School of Music, he joined Kodo, Japan’s most renown taiko ensemble, training in Sado Island, Japan, and performing around the globe over a decade. Now based in Brooklyn, he operates his own taiko center and has also taught at Princeton, Wesleyan, Colby, and Dickinson. He has collaborated with National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo, Jason Moran, So Percussion, Adam Rudolph, Kenny Endo, Stefon Harris, and Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, Imani Uzuri, calligrapher Kakinuma Koji, and many others. He has performed his compositions in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum, Kabukiza, and Blue Note NYC.
Videos of Watanabe can be seen at http://www.watanabekaoru.com/media/
Temple University Rock Hall
1715 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122