Kaoru watanabe's Friends

kaoru watanabe's Page

In your own words, what is your ethnic identity? (for individuals): Japanese, American, Japanese American

Your Artistic Background/Mission: I started both classical flute as well as Japanese taiko drumming as a middle schooler. By college I had dropped taiko and was engrossed in the study of jazz flute and saxophone at the Manhattan School of Music. After graduation, I moved to Japan and spent the next 8 years with the taiko drumming ensemble Kodo with whom I performed all over the world. I was also able to study and perform with many great Japanese artists. I am currently based in NY performing and teaching Japanese flutes and drums. I have a small taiko school in Brooklyn and will be co-teaching a course at Princeton University in the fall.

Your Creative Influences: Japanese traditional music (Noh, Kabuki, Gagaku, various matsuri festival music, minyou, etc), Japanese avant garde improvisational music, jazz music (from Duke Ellington to John Zorn to Coleman Hawkins to Brian Blade to Eric Dolphy to Sidney Bichet to Coltrane to Jason Moran, Miles etc etc etc), western classical music (from Bach to Copeland to Stravinsky to Mahler to John Adams, etc), 80s and 90s hip hop (Tribe, De La, etc), pop artists such as Bjork and Radiohead, Yo La Tengo, Animal Collective, Battles, etc Caetano Veloso, Hermeto Pascoal, Martin Puryear, Isamu Noguchi, Hokusai, Zeami, Issey Miyake, Richard Pryor, I don't know where to draw the line!

At 11:02am on June 15, 2010, Yungflutes said…: Hey Kaoru, Thanks for being my A4friend!

At 7:54pm on May 7, 2010, Caroline M. Sun said…: Hi Kaoru,
Sorry I had to miss your presentation yesterday--I caught a very bad cold! I am sure that it was a wonderful discussion and very helpful to everyone that attended. Good luck with all your future teaching! Best wishes, Caroline