Taiko Drummer Takumi Kato performed at his largest venue in the United States for the Kaleidoscope Festival at 7:30 p.m. on Apr. 28 in the Swope Music Hall.
Soon Kato will be playing Taiko drums by the request of Japanese Emperor Akihito.
“I’m very honored and nervous to perform for him,” Kato said.
Kato was nervous throughout his performance, but the crowd cheered him on throughout the evening. In the first performance Kato wore a tropical-themed robe to honor those who lost their lives from Japan’s tropical storm and earthquake last year.
The theme of the first song was about different relationships, different tongues from the family and outside of them through which people are connected.
Performances recap:
“I’m still nervous,” Kato said after his performance. “It reminded me of great love back home. This song reflects that.”
Kato’s family was always supportive of his career. His family helped put together his outfit. His grandma made the armbands—except for the shoes, he joked.
The next song he connected the theme to his family and community. It reflected social networking. It invoked a noisy household, and his mom had an American bold personality.
After his performance, he asked the audience if it was okay to drink water. He’s played the drums for 10 years. He used to do 1,000 push-ups a day to build the muscles to perform. He was the youngest of three children. He admits he is still childish.
Ikuko Kurasawa, an instructor in Japanese at Penn. State University Greater Allegheny, performed with Kato for the first time that night. Kurasawa met Kato through mutual friends and was asked to perform for him. They performed a song about friendship.
Pictures of the Taiko Drum event:
In the fourth performance, Kato played someone’s original song using a traditional Japanese bamboo flute. In the fifth performance, Kato used all three drums. One of the audience members asked him to take off his shirt. He placed his robe on the floor and took a picture of the audience on his phone. His drums were 50 years old. Each of the sticks that he uses is different. The heavy ones create a deep tone. The drum skins last 10 years and are very thick.This night was Kato’s fourth performance at SRU.
Kato's Final Performance
Kato had CDs and T-shirts to raise money the earthquake and tsunami after the show. He also has his own charity studio called "Nukumori no Mori" to raise money for people and the enviroment through traditional music and Taiko peformance.
Steve Strain, a biology professor, has been going to the Taiko Drum performances for four of the five years they performed at SRU.
“I can’t even tell you why I like it,” Strain said. “It’s just neat.”
In high school, he used to play the trombone. His older son, 16, wants a career in music and is planning to study music in college.
Colleen Reilly, the director of Kaleidoscope Festival for two years, leads arts administrations academics curriculum in theater. Being the director is part of the contract.
“I’m thrilled to be opening the community to the art culture,” Reilly said. “I appreciate the picnic in the quad donated by AVI Foodsytems. Overall, the departments are shown.”
Kato’s violin teacher recommended him to play the drums.Most of the audience stayed to take pictures with Kato. There was a five-dollar suggested donation and the entire event lasted for 40 minutes.
“I have enjoyed seeing brothers sitting together,” Kato said. “In Japan, you don’t see families sitting together.”
Interview with Takumi Kato:
Check for arts at SRU in the upcoming article about the Sculptural Invitational on Friday, May 11.
You may view more Takumi Kato's performances on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ericakurvach/feed
No comments:
Post a Comment