In today’s world, it seems that as violin music has fallen from the spotlight, it has diminished to a small clique of avid fans.

Fortunately it has not fallen any further than this! That small clique of fans keeps the embers lit so that we can all enjoy their talent.

A violinist today must struggle against not only the difficulty of playing this beautiful instrument, but also the difficulty to find an active, vibrant audience willing to support their talent.

One of those special artists who has found a large audience is Taro Hakase of Japan. This year he celebrates his 20th year as a performing artist. And today we had the pleasure to be entertained by him at NHK Hall in Shibuya.

Taro Hakase has found his niche and it is a young vibrant plethora of the masses. At first I thought it might just be the hype that brought so many people together. But after being a part of his show (from the audience ) I am convinced there is much more at work here.

Taro’s music spreads the gamut of formats and bounds across generes the way Superman leaps tall buildings in a single bound.
Through skillful arrangement of piano, bass, wind instruments, keyboard, percussion, synthesizers, and a dazzling light show, interspersed with crowd involvement, clapping, dancing, and yes even singing by the crowd, Taro takes the performance above and beyond merely ‘enjoying’ or ‘listening’ to music into that special destination known as entertainment! He is an extraordinary entertainer who knows it is more than just notes that strike a chord. In his own words, he wants to set your heart to vibrato.

In today’s concert he pitched his new CD and DVD heavily but with a flair for enthusiasm that made his blatent sales pitch almost humble and something you looked forward to between songs.

He must be doing something right! After two nearly non-stop hours of music and pure entertainment he had whipped the crowd into a frenzy–by the end of the concert he had every one of the 3,500 people in the packed house standing, clapping, dancing, and begging for more…He left the stage and walked back in with 60 kids playing his latest project, Himawari.

You can hear Himawari twice a day everyday on the NHK drama Teppan as this is the theme song for the program.

And in full disclosure I must mention that my son was one of the fortunate kids who managed to play in the surprise encore on stage in front of those 3,500 eager spectators.

A great entertainer. Taro Hakase.

Thank you Taro. And Merry Christmas!

D

The beautiful Tokyo Opera City!  (I had to duck several eager attendants who tried diligently to keep me from taking this photo…really a beautiful hall and the sound was wonderful.  But what were we doing in this hall?  How about I tell you the story about how we met  Tomas, a talented Czech violinist that we met by chance.

Tomas was here in Japan with the Slovakia Radio Philharmonic.  He originally hails from Czecho but moved to Slovakia last year to play in the Philharmonic.  And what talent he brings!  We met Tomas as he was wandering around the Shibuya area.  He stopped by and observed some kids and their violin lessons.  Naturally, we got to talking and learned about his trip and their schedule.

Those of you who know me know that I believe that life is not so much the destination as it is the journey. And on this journey called life I have had the great fortune to meet many talented and wonderful people. This was one of those awesome moments.

With his busy tour schedule he did not have much free time, but he gave us an open invitation to attend his final performance in Tokyo. We parted, but kept in contact via e-mail.  We tried to arrange time to meet in Tokyo before his peformance, but there just was no room in his schedule.

And so, a week after we first met, I packed up the family and we headed out to Tokyo Opera City to listen to the Slovakia Radio Philharmonic play their swan song to a packed house. Thanks to his invitation, we had wonderful seats! 

And what a performance it was! Every person in that hall was moved by the tremendous power and beauty of the full stage of 80+ members who poured their heart and soul into the music that evening. 80+ musicians eager to return home after more than 40 days on the road, happy to see such a packed audience, and feeding off the energy of the crowd, they played their best, most powerful concert of the tour. The show was at once a success.

The orchestra even wowed those in attendance with *two* encores and had the crowd clapping along for their final piece of truly entertaining melodies. Standing ovation and thunderous clapping.  The hall echoed with shouts of “BRAVO” from every corner!

After that tremendous show we met  Tomas for tea and dinner.  He also invited a few friends and the first clarinent also joined us.  We all enjoyed each other’s company tremendously over good food and great conversation.  Of course, I will have to mention his awesome friends in another post, but I’m sure you will enjoy that just as much!

But alas, as soon as we really grew to enjoy each other….the night was soon over.

Parting is always sweet sorrow…sad to be leaving, but glad to have met.

Through music, we are all connected. In music we transcend language. We enter the zone of pure thought. Pure emotions. Expressions through page after page of hundreds and thousands of notes from dozens of instruments blended together to bring us all together if just for an instant.

Individuals make a difference.

We must never lose the music in our lives or in our hearts. Play on Tomas. Play on.

Your fans, D, Family & Friends

I was getting on a train in Misawa, Japan when I saw an interesting “violin” case. I say violin case because that’s what I’m familiar with and it looked like an oversize one of those. Inside was a shamisen. And putting it gently away was none other than Kevin Kmetz! We chatted for a second or two before he had to jump on his train. I hung around for a little while longer and chatted with his charming mom! You can check out his YouTube Channel  and a couple of official websites: God of Shamisen and his EMI page!  Wish you much continued success Kevin!

Enjoy!

D posting from the Marunouchi line somewhere under the Tokyo Megalopolis.

This year is Kawaihae’s tenth anniversary. I first met Kawaihae through Jeff, the lead singer with an awesome voice. Jeff was working in Kumagaya Japan while I was down in Nagoya. But that’s not where I heard him sing.

A MASTER PERFORMER
and a masterful artist. Jeff adds his talents on the ukulele to his talented voice among other entertaining skills in his repretoire as he livens up any party. Jeff brought his ukulele and his voice to Australia where he entertained us with humor, magic, and music.

And this week’s performance did not disappoint. The five members of the band were in great form, energetic, and fired up the mid-week crowd.

During the set there were such happenings as seeing (or rather hearing) Jeff’s instrument lose its tuning. Without batting an eye and without breaking a sweat, and while continuing to sing, he put the strings into place, tuned up, and sang on. Ladies and gentlemen…it was a sight to see. Vance K. kept the crowd in fine spirits with his smooth bilingual emcee talents while breaking out the shaka strum on his uke. Scott kept the bass beat locked down with his cool unflappable style. An-san, pummeled out perfect rhythms for straight sets while Jimbo cheerfully kept everything tied together on lead guitar.

HULA?
But it wouldn’t be Hawaiian style without solid support from the crowd. And talk about support? Under Vance K.’s skillful encouragement, hula dancers were brought up on stage in an impromptu call. They showed they still had the moves. Even Jimbo put down the guitar to show off his moves.

HANA HOU!
At the end of the night, the crowd was on their feet and begging for more. And more we got. The whole place was packed and dancing , moving and shaking. From little kids to adults, Kawaihae brought Aloha to Akasaka.

THE MUSIC
Hear more of them, buy their DVDs.

Mahalo.

Dylan

And one of my major complaints about the iPod is the way I get the music into the little box.  In order to play CDs that I own, I must sync my iPod to a single computer, and spend hours ripping the hundreds of CDs into that machine.  Further, if the album is duplicated in the CD database, or if it is stored in a manner that is not to my liking, I have to spend some time editing the entry, genre, album name etc. I just don’t have the desire to spend this kind of time.  I wish someone could just take all of my CDs, put them into a memory storage device, with the album covers, and then send me the whole device.  Ultimately, this device would be portable and plugable.  I should be able to copy these tunes to my car, my home stereo, my office desk, and anywhere else I might want to listen to music.  I don’t want to be tied to an iPod.  I don’t want to carry my iPod. I don’t even want an iPhone.  I want to go as simple as possible…

And while walking around one of the shopping centers in Den Haag, I found a Bang & Olfsen store.  For those of you not familiar with this high-end brand of audio equipment, don’t bother price shopping.  This brand comes up with some of the best fidelity, and truly unique style of music machines.  I loved their vertical CD player. 

I walked into the store and told the salesman what I was looking for.  He walked me right over to the $8,000 digital music system.  I fell in love the instant I heard the concept.  They take my CDs, covert them to a lossless format, upload them to a box, and then give me a stereo system that would meet most of my needs.  Most, but not all.

I found the organization system great.  The concept of matching songs was neat–you pick the first song, the machine picks all other songs that match the beat and style and unending music begins to play in a way you’ve never heard before.

I like this system!  But I want an iPod price…

 D

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/beosound5

Heavenly Star I

Dig the future and check out their sound!

Catchy, energetic, and just fun to watch the choreography along with the cool tunes….

“Here it goes, here it goes..Here it goes it again…..”

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=YNfkkydKl6I

I like the video too.  Simple, never direct, always in reflection.  Almost as an afterthought.  Often the world is reflected in those around us.  You can never see yourself the way others see you.

I searched the web and found very little in English.  It turns out this dynamic violinist is blind, but by the manner of his stage entrance and exit, that was difficult to discern.  His expression of power, energy, finesse and passion are clearly embodied in his music. 

His devotion to his profession began at an early age when his father told the 7-year old Narimichi that he would never see again.  Despite what must have been anger at the poor fortune of having his eyes melt from a bad combination of incorrect diagnosis and inappropriate medication, he fondly recalls his time at UCLA Medical clinic where doctors determined his ailment.

A PDF that has an extract and talks about his book. “Bokuwa Namidano Denai Mede Naita” (I cried with my eyes, which cannot produce tears. Find it here.

The U.S. Amazon.com only lists a few of his CDs, You can find them by clicking on this search “Search Amazon for Narimichi Kawabata“. 
The Japan site: Amazon.co.jp has a more extensive list of books and CDs.  You will find them by clicking on this search “Search Amazon in Japan for Narimichi Kawabata“.