This is my brand new web site _ Yuri Kageyama dot com. Thank you Ian Lynam for brilliant design work, a delightful collaboration process and being a patient and fun teacher. I hope I have lots to update on this site. And I hope to keep writing on this blog like the diary and running notebook for my poems that it has always been. And oh, we got another reading: at The Booksmith in The Haight, a day after the big book party at Yoshi's.
BOOK PARTY: A celebration of Music and Poetry upon the publication of YURI KAGEYAMA's "The New and Selected Yuri: Writing From Peeling Till Now" from Ishmael Reed Publishing Co. ERIC KAMAU GRAVATT, drummer for McCoy Tyner, Weather Report, Source Code, Charles Mingus, Stanley Clark, Wayne Shorter and many others. ISAKU KAGEYAMA, drummer for Amanojaku, a Tokyo taiko group, Toshinori Kondo, fusion trio Hybrid Soul. MAKOTO HORIUCHI guitar/musical director. Special Guests ISHMAEL REED poet, TENNESSEE REED poet and HIROYUKI SHIDO bass. At Yoshi's restaurant in San Francisco 1330 Fillmore Street (at Eddy) TEL: 415-655-5600. Tickets at Yoshi's Box Office: http://sfyoshis.inticketing.com/ $15 advance/$20 at door covers both sets 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. An evening that challenges preconceptions, crosses borders without even thinking about it and ever so whimsically mixes into a ferocious blend a range of cultures, generations and genres coming together in a single courageous voice of Poetic Song.
Isaku Kageyama believes taiko must claim its legitimate place in the world of great music. Japanese culture is beautiful. But unless Japan can be part of the world and see its place in the true sense _ with all the duties, responsibilities as well as rewards involved _ it won't work. Art is a way of facing up to that important and universal Question _ and maybe one of the few ways where there is a true Answer. Luis Silva made this multicultural video statement in his gorgeous documentary for WeAllJapan, that says it all. LONG LIVE GREAT JAPANESE TAIKO MUSIC.
Click on this, "Midare Uchi" to watch on YouTube in a rare collaboration by drummers from three Tokyo groups plus a kawaii guest. from the recent BEAT AHEAD at Roppongi's SuperDeluxe in Tokyo starring Isaku Kageyama of Amanojaku, Yuu Ishizuka of Bachiatari and Makoto Sekine of Medetai. Below, they join forces on "Bujin" the trademark Amanojaku piece by master composer Yoichi Watanabe. Click on this to see that _ also on YT as the embedding isn't working for some reason.
Not your everyday around-the-corner taiko, this is serious music that challenges the boundaries of ethnic tradition and identity and universal eternal art. Isaku Kageyama with Daisuke Watanabe and Chris Holland of Amanojaku Tokyo's top taiko group led by master drummer and composer Yoichi Watanabe play in a collaborative concert with Yuu Ishizuka, and Makoto Sekine. SUN Nov. 28 6 p.m. at Roppongi SuperDeluxe 3-1-25-B1 Nishi Azabu Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan. TEL: 03-5412-0515 3,500 yen w/advance reservation. 4,000 yen at the door.
Drummer Isaku Kageyama of Amanojaku collaborates with Yuu Ishizuka of Bachiatari and Makoto Sekine of Taikoshownin Medetai to explore new possibilities in MODERN TAIKO. at Super Deluxe in Roppongi, Tokyo. SUN Nov. 28, 2010. Doors open 5:30 p.m. Music starts 6 p.m. advance 3,500 yen. door 4,000 yen. Make your reservations online. B1F 3.1.25 Nishi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0031, Japan tel: 03-5412-0515 5 minutes walk toward Nishi Azabu on Roppongi dori from Roppongi station (Hibiya Line or Oedo Line). 30 seconds walk from Roppongi 6-chome bus stop (TO-01 Shinbashi >> Shibuya). 1 minute walk from Roppongi 6-chome bus stop (TO-01 Shibuya >> Shinbashi).
Video/photos by Ryan Bruss. Mother Earth Orchestera Sept. 23, 2010 at Kuraki Noh Theater Isaku Kageyama taiko/cajon Winchester Nii Tete African kpanlogo, odono and other drums Nata didgeridoo Cari electric guitar
Found on YouTube this video of Amanojaku performing "Dotou" at a Tokyo school July 2010. They smoke! A great taiko tune by Amanojaku leader and master drummer Yoichi Watanabe. From left to right: Isaku Kageyama, Chris Holland and Daisuke Watanabe.
from left to right Winchester Nii Tete, NATA, Cari and Isaku Kageyama.
Mother Earth Orchestra brought together instruments from various continents to a Noh Theater to take us on a musical journey that showed great potential of innovation. It showed the music is truly evolving from its launch at Tokyo Harajuku Crocodile just a month ago. Music allows for such development through collaborations that can be more than the sum of its parts. And Music directs us to further fulfillment.
ISAKU KAGEYAMA and the MOTHER EARTH ORCHESTRA at Yokohama Kuraki Noh Theatre
Taiko, African percussion, digeridoo and electric guitar celebrate our time on Mother Earth with organic beats and melodies.
THURSDAY, September 23 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) Kuraki Noh Theatre 8-21-7 Okamura Isogo-ku Yokohama 2,500 yen (2,000 yen with reservations: e-mail Isaku @isakukageyama@gmail.com
A 15 minute cab ride from Isogo Station. Or take bus 64 or 78 from Isogo station on the JR line or Byobugaura station on the Keikyu line and get off at Sasabori. Five minute walk from Sasabori bus stop.
伝統と創造、和と洋、古来とアヴァンギャルド、様々な要素が交差する独自の音楽性を活かし、コンサートホール、ライブハウス、クラブイベント、レコーディング、舞台のみならず、CM（あいおい損保・新日本建物）や数多くのテレビ番組（SMAP X SMAP、未来図鑑）に出演。
ジャズトランペットの近藤等則、DJ Yama aka Sahib、アフリカン・パーカッションのWinchester Nii Tete、ロックギタリストのCariなどとのコラボレーションに加え、ロックギター、ジャズベースとのコラボバンド「Hybrid Soul」や民謡バンド「Minyo Ensemble of Tokyo」を立ち上げるなど、幅広い音楽活動が高く評価されている。
with Cari (ギター) NATA (ディジュリデュ) ウィンチェスター・ニー・テテ(パーカッション)
please come to the Crocodile in Omotesando tonight (see previous blog post for details). follow Isaku Kageyama on Twitter _ @isakukageyama and claim your free beer tonight: 木曜日に原宿クロコダイルでライブやります。 僕に「ツイッターで見た」と話しかけてくれればクロコダイルビールご馳走します。 http://j.mp/cCTDlM Playing at Harajuku Crocodile from 20:00 on Thursday the 19th. I'll buy you a beer if you make it out! Isaku will be cooking up a melting plot of a hot groove with Japanese sax legend Kazutoki Umezu, master percussionist from Ghana Winchester Nii Tete, bassist virtuoso from the US Craig Harris and a Japanese who plays an aboriginal instrument NATA. No borders for this batch.
Isaku Kageyama on taiko drums will lead his Mother Earth Orchestra, a multicultural celebration of sound, with Winchester Nii Tete on African drums, Kazutoki Umezu on saxophones, Craig Harris on bass and Nata on didgeridoo. It's Great Japanese Music from modern-day Tokyo that follows proudly in the footsteps of the Art Ensemble of Chicago _ an energetic driving groove, where anything goes. It is funky, fun, free. And it's the kind of exhilarating music that makes everything seem somehow a lot easier to bear. At the Crocodile in Harajuku Thursday Aug. 19. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Music starts 8 p.m. 6-18-8 B1 Jingumae Shibuya-ku Tokyo TEL: 03-3499-5205. 3,000 yen admission (drinks, food available but will cost you extra). For more information, email Isaku at isaku.kageyama@amanojaku.info Isaku Kageyama is an award-winning taiko drummer and a member of Tokyo-based taiko ensemble Amanojaku, and teaches taiko not only all over Japan but also in Brazil and in the U.S. He also plays with musicians of various genres, including Toshinori Kondo, Winchester Nii Tete, Seijuro Sawada, Cari, Terumasa Hino and Yoshinori Kikuchi. He leads his taiko rock group called Hybrid Soul, with Chris Young on electric guitar and Pat Glynn on bass, which is coming out with a CD this year. The point through all this is to cross musical and cultural boundaries to claim a legitimate and respected place for taiko and Japanese-American music in the legacy of modern art and innovation. Isaku, 28, was born in San Francisco and began studying at age 6 with Kenny Endo, formerly of San Francisco Taiko Dojo, who now works out of Hawaii and is one of America's most respected taiko drummers. Isaku began studying with Yoichi Watanabe of Amanojaku, master composer in modern Tokyo-style taiko, shortly after he began his studies with Kenny Endo. Isaku Kageyama now performs with Amanojaku all over Japan and abroad, and has done concerts in Rio De Janeiro, Denver, Honolulu and other cities. He has also taken part in Japanese TV shows with SMAP, Shuzo Matsuoka, Tsunku and the Sumida River fireworks, as well as in TV ads for Aioi Insurance Company. Follow Isaku Kageyama on Twitter: @isakukageyama Listen to his music on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/isakukageyama
Taiko drummer Isaku Kageyama will be among those playing at Summer Sounds at Laputa in Aoyama _ a restaurant, swimming pool and music club all in one in Tokyo _ next Saturday, Aug. 14 at about 8 p.m. The event starts at noon and continues until 11 p.m. Admission is free if you get there by 2 p.m. (if you're into that). The flyer giving samples of artists' performances here. Isaku's take on the endeavor in his blog entry here. So eat, swim, dance, groove, sit aorund, whatever but listen to good music.
Poet, writer in Tokyo. "The New and Selected Yuri _ Writing From Peeling till Now" Ishmael Reed Publishing Co. 2011. "Peeling" I. Reed Press. Poems, stories, essays in "Y'Bird" "Pow Wow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience _ Short Fiction from Then to Now" "San Francisco Stories" "On a Bed of Rice" "Konch" "Breaking Silence" "Greenfield Review" "Beyond Rice" "River Styx" "Other Side River" "Yellow Silk" "Stories We Hold Secret" "MultiAmerica" and other publications. Read with Ishmael Reed, Shuntaro Tanikawa, Geraldine Kudaka, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Russel Baba, Seamus Heaney, Shozu Ben, Winchester Nii Tete, Eric Kamau Gravatt, Takenari Shibata, Toshinori Takimoto, Teruyuki and Haruna Kawabata, Keiji Kubo, Yumi Miyagishima, Carl Freire, Abel Coelho, Yuri Matsueda. "Talking TAIKO" a film by Yoshiaki Tago documents her poetry. "A Back Alley Asian American Love Story of Sorts" by Niccolo Caldararo of her story was shown at the San Francisco and New York Asian American film festivals, won awards at the 1986 Palo Alto Film Festival, 1987 Ann Arbor Film Festival, 1988 Onion City Film Festival. Magna cum laude Cornell University, M.A. the University of California Berkeley.
