Japanese culture and traditions, national music instruments percussion Taiko drum and Koto. The resulting sounds are rhythms primed for any R&B, chill, hip hop, downtempo, jazz, trip hop, or any type of production you're inspired to make. Japanese traditional music instrument taiko drum. Ichitaro then had a unique experience of running 15,000 km across the continent of U.S. Originally used in both Japanese folk and classical musical traditions, taiko drumming has moved with the times and evolved into a modern art form called kumi-daiko, which refers to ensemble taiko drumming. Japan, Ichitaro started his career as Taiko drummer in 1990 joining the popular Taiko percussion group Ondekoza led by the founder Tagayasu Den. We recorded his performances in both the traditional Japanese style and his newer style of playing taiko, which is more like a percussion cage. Japanese taiko drums are perhaps some of the most dramatic percussion instruments ever created. He was a featured guest on Yo-Yo Ma's Grammy Award-winning album Sing Me Home.įor this Originals session, Watanabe brought taiko drums and a wide selection of other Japanese percussion instruments to create a diverse range of sounds. Daihachi oguchi, the founder of osuwa daiko, created the. One World Taiko, founded in 1990 in San Francisco, California, is led by founding members Gary Tsujimoto and Nancy Ozaki. 'Kumi-daiko' literally means an ensemble that consists of various drums. They perform on traditional Japanese drums such as odaiko (large), chudaiko (medium), shimedaiko (small, rope-tied drum) and incorporate the shinobue (bamboo flute) and various Japanese percussion instruments. He's collaborated with such artists as National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo, Jason Moran, So Percussion, Adam Rudolph, Kenny Endo, Stefon Harris, Kiyohiko Semba, Alicia Hall Moran, Tamango, calligrapher Kakinuma Koji, visual artist Simone Leigh, and director Martin Scorsese. Taiko (taigu) are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. He has spent decades artfully blending the sounds of Japanese instruments with others from around the world. Kaoru Watanabe is a Brooklyn-based composer and musician, specializing in Japanese percussion and shinobue flutes.