Discover Top Posts Tagged with #kris bergstrom

Crossover Taiko Live!

So I got tickets for a taiko performance called "Crossover Taiko Live". I was a little apprehensive about going because I had no one to go with and it was in Shibuya on a school night. But I can't resist an intriguing taiko show, plus groups from LA were coming and I've got to go support my California comrades.

Bit first I had to get there. I thought maybe it wouldn't be hard to find a concert hall in Shibuya but alas. I arrived in Shibuya straight from ICU around 7pm and since fall is creeping upon us, the sun had set long ago. Fortunately for me Shibuya at night might as well be noon on a cloudy day due to all the lights and flashing billboards. However, Japan continues to have NO helpful street signs, or even street names for that matter. I wandered in what I prayed was the right direction while I flipped back and forth on my iPod between the Google Maps screenshot and a week GPS while the 20% battery left alert flashed at me menacingly.

Somehow I made my way to the Shibuya O-nest. The O-nest is not a concert hall. Shibuya O is a group of buildings where I assume events like concerts are held. There's O-East, O-West, O-Crest, and O-nest (and also "7th Floor"). I found East & West & Crest but had to ask a guard to find nest. The elevator up to it was tucked behind a row of jihanki (vending machines) and was exceedingly tiny.

So I arrived at O-nest after a short trip up the the 6th floor in a dubiously safe elevator. The venue was... not what I expected for a ¥4000 ticket and a mandatory ¥500 drink charge at the door. It was a room a that looked like a basement with a fairly small stage, a tiny bar in the back, and eight rows of folding chairs. I guess that place could sit maybe 150 seats tops.

But really who cares about the venue when the music and performance is mindblowing??

The first set was On Ensemble from Los Angeles consisting of Karl Bergstrom, Masato Baba, Shoji Kameda, and Kelvin Underwood. They are a taiko ensemble but taiko isn't all they do. They include drumset, fue (flute), koto, turntables, vocals and other things I don't know the names of. If I were to describe their music I'd say taiko meets hip-hop meets jazz meets techno maybe? It was absolutely mindblowing and I've never seen taiko used in that way. That set alone would have made it worth the trip and $45.

But they weren't the only performance. Following an intermission where people awkwardly maneuvered the folding chairs to get back to the bar and bathrooms, we were treated an an incredible set by Kenny Endo (based out of Hawaii) and his group of four other Japanese musicians: Kiyohiko Semba (drumset, taiko, & percussion), Kyosuke Suzuki (flute, taiko, & percussion), Hitoshi Hamada (vibraphone and percussion), and Kaori Takahashi (electric violin). Their music was powerful (especially since I was maybe five feet away from the stage) and moving. At the end On Ensemble joined them in a few songs.

I loved this performance, hands down. I had never seen taiko used in those ways, I've never seen it performed with such an eclectic mix of both Japanese and non-Japanese (and some even non-acoustic) instruments. The mix of East and West in something that I (in my very unprofessional and probably unqualified opinion) think is very characteristic of Japanese-American taiko. It was incredibly moving.

Also, as an aside, I don't know very many people in the taiko community. I of course know the world-renowned Japanese group Kodo (who I will talk about in a later post) and I know of two other names: Kenny Endo and Kris Bergstrom. I know of Kenny Endo because a friend and former Psyko Taiko-er (my taiko group back in the States) did a taiko internship with him in Hawaii. And I know of Kris Bergstrom through word of mouth of people who have gone to his workshops. So it's pretty incredible that I got to see the only two famous taiko people whose names I know both perform at the same concert in Shibuya.

I also got to talk to Kris Bergstrom after the show, shake his hand, get a signed copy of On Ensemble's CD Bizzare Heroes, and promise to check out the taiko classes he's helping to put on when I get back to LA.

This was an amazing experience and made me realize/remember how much I like fusion taiko music and how much taiko means to me and why I do it. The performers energy and love for their work was so clear and strong, like a blast of hot wind that makes your skin tingle.

#taiko #text #kenny endo #wadaiko #kris bergstrom #on ensemble #shibuya #concert

Kris wrote this essay (click on the title!) on composition for me. Here is my response:

Kris,

Just read the essay. I found the paper to be a very interesting point of view that I hadn’t ever considered, especially the part about Kodo mimicry. It’s incredibly true though. Whether we do it consciously or not, like for everything in this world that we seek to master, we tend to follow our own fantasy guidelines about what is right and wrong… rather, what is great and what is mediocre. With respect to composition, I fall into that trap all the time; I find that this lies primarily in my definite affinity towards the “epic-ness” of a lot of Japanese taiko. A piece like Sekaiju no koe definitely bears an epic title, and even after tons of revisions, the piece does not seem to fully embody the “tree’s voice” that I have in my head when I wrote this for Rutsubo.

But this essay questions that very statement, which I find interesting. Is it really Rutsubo Taiko playing the “tree’s voice” in my head? Or is it Shidara? Or Kodo? At least I know it’s probably not Ondekoza, given the daily horror stories I heard from one of my dearest friends last autumn. So I suppose the flaw in this piece lies in something more fundamental than what I had originally thought: there is a distinct disconnect between what I know and what I want to share with the world. This is yet another indication that I need to spend some time in Japan learning from a teacher/teachers that embody/ies musically the traits that I find most appealing.

I guess I was going to ask some questions, but it appears that in writing you this email I have answered them myself. I appreciate you sending me that essay. Best,

#composition #taiko #kodo #formality #Kris bergstrom #on ensemble #percussion