Joji Hirota

taiko percussion star

Since 1986, Joji has worked extensively for WOMAD , as a solo percussionist and, in 1991, with a new group 'TRISAN', formed with Guo Yue and Pol Brennan, which toured internationally, being nominated in 1993 by Tower Records New York for best contemporary instrumental music. Hirota has toured extensively throughout Europe, Mexico, Canada and the USA, South America and Japan, collaborating with many great musicians.

  
In London in 2004, Joji Hirota received a commendation from Ambassador Orita for his contribution to the introduction of Japanese culture in the UK through the medium of Taiko drumming and other musical activities. 
As well as composing film & TV scores, creating stage music for the RSC, and working with the classical ensemble 'Tozai', Joji has released five solo albums, "Sahasuhara',  "Wheel of Fortune" "Rain Forest Dream", "The Gate" and the recent 'Taiko' recorded with his London based Taiko Drummers group.

John Kaizan Neptune

shakuhachi virtuoso

His first major highlight ' Bamboo' was awarded Outstanding Album of the Year for 1980 by the Cultural Affairs Agency of the Japanese Ministry of Education-- the first time ever a jazz album or foreign artist has been so honored!

 
Neptune has collaborated extensively beyond traditional Japanese music and takes the shakuhachi to places yet unexplored, to settings unimaginable - within jazz fusion, Indian  classical music or the world of string quartets - resulting in over 25 sets of recordings.
Whilst exploring new ground, John regularly returns to his "traditional Japanese roots" Working with traditional Japanese instruments, he creates melodies and harmonies that have a strikingly non-traditional flavor to them. "It was my intent," reports John, "to feature traditional instruments in ways that are not typically traditional."

John has toured North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia and when not recording or performing he spends his time making shakuhachi and other bamboo instruments in his home-workshop in the Japanese countryside.

Kenny Endo

US taiko master

'Tradition as a Basis for Innovation' - Kenny Endo is a performer/composer and a leading spirit in contemporary taiko.  Utilizing the traditional Japanese drum in innovative collaborations, his music blends taiko with rhythms influenced from around the world in original melodies and improvisation. 

Trained in western drums and percussion from early childhood, Endo began his studies of kumi daiko (ensemble drumming) in 1975 with Kinnara Taiko of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo.  In 1980, Endo embarked on a decade-long odyssey in Japan studying with the masters of hogaku hayashi (classical), matsuri bayashi (festival), and kumi daiko.  He is the first non-Japanese national to be honored with a natori (stage name and master's degree) in hogaku hayashi, and has an M.A. in Music specializing in ethnomusicology from the University if Hawai'i. 

Recently, Endo has performed as a taiko soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, with percussionist Kiyohiko Semba and the Hawaii Opera Theater     Endo's original compositions and performances have been well received by audiences throughout the world.  As a composer, Endo has released three CDs: 'Eternal Energy' (1995), 'Hibiki' (1998), and 'Jugoya' (2000). 

Resident in Hawaii, Endo maintains an active schedule performing, collaborating, composing, and teaching while also serving as Artistic Director of Taiko Centre of the Pacific, a school of traditional Japanese drumming based in Honolulu.