The theme of this year’s concert is “Taki”, the Waterfall

 


This afternoon concert will feature the company’s core performing ensemble, Artist in Residence-Hideko Nakajima Sensei and her group Hideki Kai, Kaori Nakano, Shoko Hikage and Special Guest from Japan – Noriko Sugiyama.  Also featured will be the intergenerational membership of Genryu Arts’ taiko and dance school.


$25 at the door

$20 advance

$15 youth and senior


Thanks to our generous Funders: SFAC CEG, Zellerbach Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Grants for the Arts, National Endowments for the Arts, California Arts Council, The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and Alliance for California Traditional Arts.


Scroll down for Bios of Featured Artists and co-presenters

 

When: November 11, 2012

            12:30 PM


Where: Japanese Cultural and

            Community Center of

            Northern California

            (JCCCNC)


Featuring

  1. Bullet Gen Ensemble

  2. Bullet Gen Taiko and Dance

Plus Special Guest Artists

  1. BulletHideko Nakajima from San Francisco

  2. BulletKaori Nakano

  3. BulletShoko Hikage

  4. BulletNoriko Sugiyama from Japan






Click here to buy Tickets online

or call 1-800-838-3006

Join us on Sunday November 11th for our

17th Anniversary Concert


“Taki” The Waterfall

*Page background music:

Jugoya arranged by TOYOAKIMOTO

 
 

Gen Ensemble

Gen Ensemble is the performing arm of GenRyu Arts and consists of teenagers and young adults who have grown up learning taiko and other Japanese performing arts under the guidance and tutelage of Sensei Takata.  The ensemble members are strong supporters and ambassadors of the mission of GenRyu Arts and play a key role in communicating Gen Ryu Arts values and objectives.  They are also leaders within the GenRyu Arts organization and assist Sensei Takata in teaching classes and planning and coordinating events and performances.  Current members of Gen Ensemble are: Megan Lee, Nicholas Low, Wesley Hitomo Yee, Jenna Lee and Brian Ebisuzaki.

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Hideko Nakajima

Hideko
Nakajima has been performing traditional Japanese music professionally for over 45 years. She began playing shamisen at age 6, and soon after became a child star singing and playing accordion in Japan. She established herself as a singer with King Records and, after moving to the U.S. in the 1970s, began teaching voice.

Nakajima received her Junshihan degree in 1983 from Hideo Fujimoto (founder of Fujimoto School of Shamisen of Tokyo), then in 1985 received her Shihan degree, which allowed her to form and direct her own shamisen ensemble. Since then she has been teaching shamisen and voice. She has collaborated with GenRyu Arts on many taiko concerts.

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Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California

Founded in 1973, the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California has been serving the community for over 35 years. The JCCCNC strives to meet the evolving needs of the Japanese American community through offering programs, affordable services and facility usage. The goals are:

  1. •To manage and maintain a multi-service community center which is owned and operated by the Japanese American community.

  2. •To organize and provide educational, cultural, recreational and social programs that meet the growing needs, interests and concerns of the community.

  3. •To preserve and promote the Japanese American cultural and historical heritage.

  4. •To enhance understanding and appreciation among the Japanese American community, American public and people of Japan.

  5. •To provide administration and program space for non-profit organizations in the community.

  6. www.jcccnc.org

 

Melody Takata

GenRyu Arts is directed by its founder Melody Takata, a multi-faceted artist trained in Japanese Classical Dance, Taiko and Shamisen.  Sensei Takata has been performing for over 20 years in Japan and U.S.A.  Ms. Takata grew up in the Japanese American community of Los Angeles with a rich experience in traditional arts. From age 8 she learned odori (Japanese dance) at the Nishi Hongwanji as part of the obon festival ritual (festival honoring ancestors).  At age 10 she began formal study of Nihon Buyo (formal name for Japanese classical dance) at the Fujima School and has performed dance at numerous theater works under Madame Fujima Kansuma until age 20.  From age 13 to 18 she studied shamisen with the Kineya School.  At 15 she began studying and performing with Los Angeles Matsuri and at 20 traveled to Japan to study and later perform as a member of Tokyo’s O Edo Sukeroku Taiko, one of Japan’s most highly renowned taiko ensembles. Ms. Takata completed the ACTA master apprentice program for 2002-2003 on shamisen with Hideko Nakajima Sensei.  Most recently, Ms. Takata has reestablished study with Madame Fujima Kansuma in Los Angeles to strengthen her integrity of Nihon buyo and to ensure a high standard of integration of odori into Gen Taiko’s repertoire. 

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Asian Improv aRts

Asian Imptov aRts’ (AIR) mission is to produce, present and document artistic works that represent the Asian American experience.  With a unique and active network of professional and emerging musicians and artists, community organizations, and activists, AIR has consistently produced or facilitated cultural events of the highest quality that have brought international attention to the Asian American arts movement in the Chicago and San Francisco Bay Areas.  In addition, AIR provides critical technical assistance, advocacy, production support, mentorship and networking to artists and arts organizations through its Community Arts Development Program and the California Asian and Pacific Islander Arts Network.  

www.asianimprov.org