The larger goals of the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble project are to explore the possibilities of discovering new vital connections between the cultural traditions of Mongolia, Japan and the United States. By combining the American tradition for conceptual exploration of cross-cultural synthesis with ancient Mongolian and Japanese folk music traditions, we hope to engage a broad audience in three countries.
The Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble’s musical instrumentation and repertoire would include compositions with morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), Mongolian jaw harp, khoomei (throat singing), long song, matgaal (praise) songs, Japanese flutes and taiko (drums). Among the connections to be explored in this effort are distinct cultural commonalities, traditional music forms, cultural practices and ritual elements shared by Mongolia and Japan, such as ideologies in shamanism and mythology, as well as folk ritual elements that could be interwoven for presentation in public programs.
In late September, the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble’s musicians will meet in Mongolia to finalize the collaborative repertoire, having worked individually and in groups via internet exchange. Led by Artistic Director Kaoru Watanabe, the group in Mongolia will continue to develop the pieces in workshop, culminating in concerts in Ulaan Baatar and some regional centers of Mongolia. Should funds permit, a large taiko and some smaller drums will be donated to musicians in Mongolia to help sustain a Mongolian taiko drumming ensemble in Mongolia and Mongolian morin khuurs will be presented to musicians in Japan for possible future musical collaborations.
After the completion of the concert series in Mongolia, the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble musicians from Mongolia, Japan, and the United States will travel to the United States for a series of public programs and workshops on the East and West Coasts in October, 2009 and in 2010, it will culminate in a tour of Japan.
The members of the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble are:
From Mongolia:
Khongorzul Ganbaatar (longsong singer)
Tserendorj Tseyen (praise song specialist)
Shinetsog Dorjnyam (khoomei singer)
From Japan:
Miki Maruta (koto musician)
Tetsuro Naito (taiko drummer)
From the US:
Shoji Kameda (taiko drummer, percussionist)
Kaoru Watanabe (Japanese and Western flutes, taiko drummer and KTE artistic director)
Aziz Rahman and Teddy Yoshikami
Co-directors
Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble
Tserendorj Tseyen
He has been awarded in 1997 "Honored Art Worker of Mongolia." During the past forty five years, he has written eulogies, praises and verses and has performed improvisations. One of his great achievements was to develop the morin khuur repertoire with the support of the Mongolian President. He composed "Great Fiddle's Melody" which is broadcast on the first day of the Mongolian New Year nationwide.
Khongorzul Ganbaatar
Urtiin duu (longsong, Mongolia) Khongorzul Ganbaatar began her professional musical studies at the age of 22. She was raised in the Mongolian province of Khentii, where singing urtiin duu is ubiquitous as entertainment. She never sang publicly during her adolescence. On an impulse, she auditioned for the Than Khentii Folk Ensemble and was accepted as a member of the group. In 1998 she moved to Ulaanbaatar to study at the University of Culture and Art under Professor Delghr. In the same year she entered her first musical competition, the Ulaanbaatar Competition of Professional Longsong Singers, and was awarded first prize.
Since that time Khongorzul has performed as a soloist with organizations including the Mongolia Theater of National Dance and Folksong and the Traditional Music and Dance Theater and has been a soloist at concerts in the United States, Japan and China. Khongorzul performs with the Silk Road Ensemble and appears on the album When Strangers Meet.
Shinetsog Dorjnyam
For the past 5 years, Shinetsog has been a member of the The Mongolian Morin Khuur Ensemble. Established in 1992, the Ensemble consists of about 30 musicians whose members also make up smaller traditional groups such as the Chuluugen Morin Khuur Quartet and the Yatga Quartet. The Ensemble has won admiration both at home and abroad for its rich repertoire of traditional and contemporary Mongolian and world musics.
The Morin Khuur Ensemble has performed in the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, New York's Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Vienna Philharmonic, The Imperial Palace of the Prince of Japan, UNESCO (New York and Paris), and in other venues across Japan, Korea, China, Turkey, Canada, Italy and Macao.
The Ensemble's repertoire ranges from a slow, stately pace to energetic galloping rhythms. The melodies demonstrate the dynamism of the Mongolian character and the songs describe the natural joy and the beauty of nomadic life.
Tetsuro Naito
Tetsuro was a member of KODO – a Japanese drum (taiko) group based on Sado Island – until 2002. While performing with them, he also developed as a producer and composer having his works highly valued and released on CD’S.
In June 2002, he left KODO to start his career as a solo artist. With his superb technique and originality, he has recorded and toured with many musicians, such as Toshiki Kadomatsu, DJ Krush, Soul Flower Union, and the Yoshida Brothers.
Tetsuro earnestly faces the essential question, “What is the essence of things Japanese?” As a soloist, he searches with fascination the many possibilities of making taiko music with such an ancient instrument. On the other hand, as a director of Dong Gara and ToMoRo, he has found exciting expressive ensemble works. With the combination of these two seemingly simple, yet skillful approaches, his aim is to develop and expand the world of taiko. Additionally, Tetsuro offers composition and taiko workshops to spread his unique world to as many people as possible.
While still a member of KODO. he conducted workshops for SOH DAIKO (a taiko group in New York) and SAN JOSE TAIKO (a group based in California. And after his departure from KODO, he continues to offer basic taiko lessons to non-taiko drummers, including Swedish percussionists in Japan, reaching out to all those interested in learning more about taiko.
Miki Maruta
Miki Maruta studied the koto under Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai and Takako Kikuuta, and graduated from the Takasaki College of Music with top of honors, after earning a scholarship there to study koto music. For two years beginning in 1990, she taught koto music and the jiuta sangen genre as a artist in residence at Wesleyan University in the United States. In 1994 she was selected for an internship in the performing arts at the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the same year played at the 12th Interlink Festival. In 1996 Maruta performed at the Tampere Music Festival and in 1998 participated in Butch Morris’“U.S. Conduction Tour.” Also in 1998 she was invited to perform at a concert put on by the Korean Contemporary Music Society. Maruta appeared in a festival sponsored by Kanagawa Prefecture in 1999, the sixth “Hibiki no Renaissance,” and played a concert together with Terry Riley. She appeared in concert in Tunisia in 2001 at the behest of the Japan Foundation. That same year she released a solo CD on King Records entitled “Tori no Youni”( Like a Bird). After performing a solo recital in 1995, she began giving regular live shows primarily in the Tokyo area that feature a wide range of materials, from classic pieces to first performances of classic songs, recordings, and improvisation. While doing so she has utilized her flexible sensibility and adaptability to collaborate with artists across an array of genres. Maruta’s performances at music festivals both in Japan and abroad have also been warmly received.
Shoji Kameda
Shoji Kameda is one of North America's most gifted taiko (Japanese drum) artists. In his 24 years of experience he has become known as a talented composer, musician and producer with the imagination to take an ancient art form into new realms.
In 2001 Kameda set off on his musical path founding the On Ensemble with fellow taiko artists Kristofer Bergstrom and Masato Baba. In the following year On Ensemble was awarded the Duane Ebata Memorial Award “in support and recognition of emerging artists of promise who are furthering the development of Asian Pacific American Performing Arts.”
In 2005 Kameda produced On Ensemble's first CD "Dust and Sand" which received nationwide radio play, reached as high as number 3 on the New Age Reporter Charts and was hailed as “completely original and brilliantly conceived.” In 2006 Kameda was selected through a highly competitive process as an Asian Pacific Performance Exchange fellow, spending six weeks at UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performance, collaborating with master arts from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the USA.
In 2007 he was invited to Malaysia as a guest artist for a production at the National Arts Academy, and took part in a two week intensive study program with Cudamani, one of the world’s leading Balinese gamelan ensembles. Later that year he collaborated with composer Eric Whitacre to develop taiko parts for the world premiere of “Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings”.
He composed and recorded an original score for “Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story” winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Slamdance Film Festival. Kameda also performs and records with the grammy nominated jazz fusion band Hiroshima and has appeared on their last two albums; “Obon” and “Little Tokyo”.
Kaoru Watanabe
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. Fue teachers and collaborators include Tosha Meisho, Matsuda Hiroyuki, Suzuki Kiyosuke, Motofumi Yamaguchi and Isso Yukihiro. Taiko teachers and collaborators include Tosha Kiyonari, Tanaka Denzaemon, Tanaka Denjiro, Kiyari Miyake Daiko Dosoukai, Yumigahama, Kenny Endo and of course Kodo. 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. Eventually, he plans for the Center to develop beyond just the study of taiko to other Japanese traditional and modern art forms as well, with the ultimate goal of fostering a deeper understanding of World cultures, communities and of ourselves.
Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble Tour Schedule
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 - Khan Bank Theatre
Concert at 7:00 pm
Seoul Street - 25
Ulaan Baatar,
Mongolia
Information please call 96 779885 or 99 702593
Friday, October 9, 2009 - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
2700 F Street,
NW Washington, DC 20566
Tickets and Information: 800-444-1324 or 202-467-4600
Fri, Oct 16 - Symphony Space
8:00 pm
2537 Broadway at 95th Street,
New York, NY 10025-6990
Tel: 212.864.5400
World Music Institute for Tickets 212 545-7536
Saturday, October 17, 2009 - Charles B. Wang Center Theatre
8:00pm - 10:00pm
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY
Reserved seating for all VIP ticket holders. Reservations highly recommended.
Please reserve your tickets by e-mailing wangcenter@stonybrook.edu or call (631) 632-4400.
Tuesday , October 20th - The Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus.
10:15AM & 12:15PM
1 University Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Contact Community Works – performances@communityworksnyc.org or (212) 459-1854
Friday, October 23 - Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee - Stanley Civic Center
7:30 pm
123 N. Wenatchee Avenue, Wenatchee, WA 98807
Phone: 509-663-ARTS(2787)
Email: tickets@pacwen.org
Sunday, Oct 25 - Town Hall Seattle
7:30pm
1119 Eighth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
Tel:(206) 652-5858
Japan Society, New York Taiko Workshop with KTE's Tetsuro Naito, Sunday, October 18th, 12:30 to 2:30 pm.
http://www.japansociety.org/event_detail?eid=357f0804
Formative Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble group named Kawada concert in 2007
The Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble project has been supported, in part, by funds from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Asian Cultural Council and the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program.
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