Description
Special guest: Taiko master Jimi Nakagawa
OTONOWA, led by Akira Tana. Enjoy Jazz interpretations of timeless Japanese folk and pop music Inspired by the tragic 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami in Northern Japan. MORE INFO:  www.otonowa-usa.com
Drum maestro AKIRA TANA has performed with many of the top names in the jazz world. HIs group, OTONOWA was founded in 2013 to tour and raise funds for the communities devastated by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. The project pays homage to the victims of the natural disaster by presenting traditional and pop Japanese songs that Tana and Otonowa completely transform into modern American jazz instrumentals. Some of the tunes have been part of Japanese culture for generations, and even the pop tunes would be familiar to a majority of Japanese people.The Otonowa musicians are a unique blend of Japanese and Japanese Americans, and the seamless blending of these disparate art forms is a testament to the cross-cultural mastery of these musicians and to the adaptive and inclusive nature of jazz. Although other artists have brought Asian sensibilities to American jazz songs, Otonowa is unique in transforming Japanese songs into the modern jazz idiom. Akira Tana and Otonowa are the rare artists with the musical chops and cultural sensitivity that can pull off a project with such depth and beauty. Otonowa is Akira Tana – leader/drums, Masaru Koga- reeds and shakuhachi, Art Hirahara-piano, Ken Okada-bass, Special guest artist: Jimi Nakagawa-taiko.
