TSUNAGARI TAIKO
FRIDAY, 11 APRIL 2025 | DOORS at 19:30, Music at 20:00
This is a gift economy event
Tsunagari Taiko features two superbly powerful, balletic drummers, Koji Hada of Aichi-based Wadaiko Unit KOH and Keita Kanazashi of the Tokyo-based HA•YA•TO. You may recall Keita’s thrilling performance here last spring, alongside tsugaru shamisen shredder Hanawa Chie. This will be absolute thunder!
About Koji
Born in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture, Koji started playing Japanese drums when he was in junior high school. After graduating from high school, he joined a Japanese drum performance group and began performing.
He trained at the Warabiza Theatre (Tazawako Art Village, Akita Prefecture) and learned the basics of Japanese folk performing arts such as Japanese drums, bamboo flutes, folk songs, Japanese dance, and folk dance, as well as vocal music, music theory, drama, and contemporary dance. He has since studied wadaiko, tsugaru shamisen, folk songs, folk dance, and Shinobue flute.
In 1999, he formed Wadaiko Unit KOH, with his drumming and multi-instrumentalist wife, Hikaru Hada. Koji has played all over the world as a solo performer, with Wadiko Unit KOH, and as a guest member of other ensembles.
https://www.wadaikounitkoh.com/%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/
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About Keita
Percussionist Kanazashi Keita started to play Taiko at local Tokyo festivals when he was 11 years old. In 2001, he formed the three-piece taiko group HA・YA・TO with his two younger brothers. Since then he has performed throughout Japan and internationally, in taiko ensembles, bands, and as a solo wadaiko artist. Keita’s style of performance is deeply influenced by elements of Kendo, Japanese dance, and Kabuki-bayashi, and is praised as a beautifully balanced fusion of sensitivity, power, dynamism, profound passion, and breathtaking elegance.
https://keita-taiko.com/
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