Workshops

One of the goals of the KWTC is to bring quality guest instructors to NYC in order to give students the widest possible array of knowledge and insight into the world of taiko. Past instructors have included (in alphabetical order):

Kenny Endo, Yoshikazu and Yoko Fujimoto, Patrick Graham, Shoji Kameda, Ryouta Kataoka (a blind professional taiko player from Tokyo), Takumi Kato (All Japan Odaiko champion), Yuta Kato, Chieko Kojima, Riley Lee, Tetsuro Naito, and Tamango (tap dancer).

These instructors bring their knowledge of taiko from international organizations and groups such as the Taiko Center of the Pacific, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Kodo, Ondekoza, TaikOz, URBAN TAP, TAIKO PROJECT, and On Ensemble.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

KENNY ENDO
Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 6-8 PM 

The great Kenny Endo returns for another workshop to share some of his vast knowledge and experience. Exact material to be decided. For more information and to RSVP, email evan@taikonyc.com.

KENNY ENDO is one of the leading artists in contemporary percussion and rhythm. He is the vanguard of the taiko genre, continuing to pave new paths in this Japanese style drumming even after thirty-five years as a career taiko player. A performer, composer, and teacher of taiko with numerous awards and accolades, Kenny Endo is a consummate artist, blending Japanese taiko with rhythms influenced from around the world into original melodies and improvisation.

Originally trained as a jazz musician in the Asian American cultural renaissance of 1970s California, Endo began his taiko career first with L.A.’s  groundbreaking Kinnara Taiko, and then with the renowned San Francisco Taiko Dojo, the first kumi daiko group outside of Japan. In 1980, he embarked on a decade-long odyssey in his ancestral Japan, studying and performing with the masters of ancient classical drumming, traditional Tokyo festival music, and ensemble drumming. Endo has the honor of being the first non-Japanese national to have received a natori (stage name and masters degree) in hogaku hayashi (classical drumming). In the hogaku world, Endo is known as Mochizuki Tajiro.

In the greater musical world, “Kenny Endo” has become synonymous with “taiko.” He is arguably one of the most versatile musicians in the genre, crossing easily between the classical Japanese style and his own neo-classical, globally-inspired variety. Among his many distinctions are an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, an artist residency at the Lincoln Center Institute in New York,  his own “Kenny Endo Day” proclaimed by the Mayor of Honolulu, and certificates of honor from the House and Senate of the State of Hawaii and Honolulu City Council.