Endo, Agatsuma Bring Modern Style to Ancient Instruments

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Endo, Agatsuma Bring Modern Style toAncient Instruments

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By
Susan Hamaker– June 7, 2013Posted in: Arts & Entertainment, Features

Two musical legends performed together for the first time on Japan Society’s stage June 5. Taikomaster Kenny Endo and shamisen virtuoso Hiromitsu Agatsuma treated the audience to a specialconcert.
A performer, composer, and instructor, Endo is a leading force in percussion and is probably themain reason Westerners know anything about taiko. He has blended the traditions of ancient classicaldrumming with other genres, making taiko a global instrument. Agatsuma began playing the tsugarushamisen at a young age, winning several competitions before taking the instrument to new heights
with the hard rock band MUSASHI.

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Endo, Agatsuma Bring Modern Style to Ancient Instruments

6/11/13 1:09 PMKenny Endo after their concert atJapan Society
At Japan Society Endo and Agatsuma each performed solo sets before playing together. The program
was a mix of traditional folklore songs and original compositions that ranged from quiet andintrospective to driving and pulsating.
During a brief artists’ talk led by Japan Society Artistic Director Yoko Shioya, the pair revealed thatthey were both considered outsiders while learning their respective instruments. Endo, who grew up
on the West Coast, encountered difficulties when he first moved to Japan to study taiko because helooked Japanese but couldn’t speak the language fluently. Fortunately for him – and the world’s
music lovers – he found the right teachers, and what he thought would be two years of study in Japan
turned into a decade-long stay.
Surprisingly, Ibaraki Prefecture native Agatsuma became an outsider in his own country when hechose to learn the tsugaru-shamisen, whose style was developed in Aomori Prefecture in Northern
Japan. He may not have been able to speak the local dialect, but he proved he could play the beloved
regional instrument with an aggressively skilled style. Like Endo, Agatsuma has Western influences,as evidenced by the pair’s playful “Smoke on the Water”-esque encore and Agatsuma’s Stone Roses
T-shirt he sported at the informal reception following the concert.
Endo and Agatsuma both showed the Japan Society audience that you can have a deep appreciation
for ancient traditions while giving it modern touches.

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Tags: Hiromitsu Agatsuma, Japan Society, Kenny Endo, taiko, Traditional Japanese music, tsugarushamisen
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