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Livestream episode archives from AIRMW LIVESTREAM ARCHIVE View AIRMW's livestream episodes starting from March 2020, as we switched from in-person performances to online presentations through the end of the year. PROGRAMS: AIRMW Stream AIRMW for HotHouse Global 思考回路•Shikoukairo Patterns of Thought II AIRMW Livestream Series AIRMW hosted livestream performances and presentations featuring our members, friends and collaborators. May - December 2020 AIRMWStream HotHouse AIRMW curates for HotHouseGlobal T atsu Aoki curates AIRMW for HotHouseGlobal featuring musicians, academics, and artists from AIRMW's national and international network. April - July 2020 思考回路 • Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought II Virtual programming for 思考回路 • Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought II , AIRMW's 2020 Arts Initiative project July 2020 SKII

The MIYUMI Project Tatsu Aoki's ensemble, The MIYUMI Project , is one of the longest-standing amalgams of Chicago's avant-garde jazz and Japanese traditional music. Drawing from aesthetics rooted in the Japanese tradition and Japanese taiko drumming permeate the laboratory of sound where he explores the nexus of cultures: Asian and American; Japanese and African; past and present. The improvised compositions provide a conceptual framework for each band member to interpret, which in turn coalesce and transform into a vast contemporary expanse of musical immersion for the audience. Over the past two decades, each successive grouping of Miyumi Project musicians has contributed to the unique blending of modern application with a traditional sensibility. The final result is a continuous evolution of a "live and raw" musical happening. BAND CAMP

SUPPORTERS Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Walder Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts and the Joyce Foundation. Our Dojo Project is supported in part by a Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF.

Asian Improv Records (AIRecords) is record label project managed by Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) to support experimental music and Asian & Asian American artists. More than a label, AIRecords is a cultural archive of Asian and Asian American artists active in the creative music communities in Chicago and beyond. AIRMW oversees the project to continue supporting underrepresented artists and musical experimentation. AIRecords was founded in 1987 by Bay Area musician-activists Jon Jang and Francis Wong as a vehicle for Asian American composers, performers and their collaborators to release music to the public during the emergence of the Asian American Consciousness Movement. Beginning with Jang’s landmark LP recording The Ballad or the Bullet? and in quick succession Glenn Horiuchi’s three LP releases Next Step (1998), Issei Spirit (1988), and Manzanar Voices (1989); the label catalog has grown to over 100 titles. Visit our website: asianimprovrecords.com LEARN MORE

AIRMW NEWSLETTER

CHICAGO ASIAN AMERICAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025 marks the 30th anniversary celebration programming starting in September at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival with guest Yamashita Yosuke. Main programming is presented over four days in November at Elastic Arts featuring established and emerging voices that represent the multigenerational landscape; plus a discussion panel our AIRMW space about the history, inception and growth of the festival. We celebrate the last event of the CAAJF at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in December with a special Reduction 11 program in conjunction with the Yoko Ono exhibition, reviving music from the SKYLANDING album from Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project commissioned to celebrate Ono's permanent sculpture in Jackson Park, in 2016. 30th ANNIVERSARY of the CHICAGO ASIAN AMERICAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025 MAIN PROGRAM November 7-10, 2025 at Elastic Arts (3429 W. Diversey Ave. #208) from 8:30pm Friday, November 7 @Elastic Arts Set 1 (8:30pm) – Francis Wong and Chicago Time Code Set 2 (9:30pm) – Jeff Chan and Ratchet Saturday, November 8 1pm @ AIRMW (4875 N. Elston Ave) – CAAJF Panel Discussion 8:30pm @ Elastic Arts Set 1 (8:30pm) – Ester Hana Set 2 (9:30pm) – Yoko Noge and Jazz Me Blues Sunday, Nov 9 @ Elastic Arts Set 1 (7:30pm) – Takashi Shallow Set 2 (8:30pm) – Chien-an Yuan and All Things Shining Set 3 (9:30pm) – Kioto Aoki, Haruhi Kobayashi and Mai Sugimoto Trio Monday, Nov 10 @Elastic Arts 8:30pm – Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project Tickets available at the door $20/ $10 with student ID CAAJF programming at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival September 2025 Satuday, September 27 • Nikutai Mondo Trio @ 1pm • Asian American Jazz Fest 30th Anniversay Panel @ 4:30pm Sunday,September 28 • CHICAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN ENSEMBLE: Origins of Now 2025 @ 3pm Visit the full Hyde Park Jazz Festival schedule here CAAJF and TL22 CAAJF is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation, the Walder Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and a special project grant from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. REDUCTION 11 Friday, December 19 @ 7pm Edlis Neeson Theater at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago In tandem with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko is delighted to present Reduction 11, as part of our annual end-of-year concert series. This year's program features the music of Yoko Ono's SKYLANDING, a project recorded by Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project in 2016 and a collaboration with Yoko Ono for her sculpture in Jackson Park. The MIYUMI Project plays with Tsukasa Taiko to present this project on the theatrical stage with traditional Japanese music & dance. *Tickets available November 10* 29th CAAJF in 2024: November 1 & 2 8:30pm @ Elastic Arts (3429 W Diversey Ave #208) Francis Wong Ensemble & Chien-An Yuan + Naomi Columna AIRMW presents two acts for the first night of the 29th edition of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. The evening opens with Chien-An Yuan and Naomi Columna, followed by Francis Wong's ensemble with Chicago musicians. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Joy Yang Trio (Joy Yang, Mitchell Maftean & Ori Sergel) Day two of the 29th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival (CAAJF) presents the Joy Yang Trio at Elastic Arts to celebrate her newest album "LIVE ON" released through Asian Improv Records November 4 7pm @ Green Line Performing Arts Center (329 East Garfield Boulevard) Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project closes out this year's CAAJF at Arts + Public Life's First Monday Jazz The MIYUMI Project is a cross-cultural music journey and one of the first Asian-American/African-American collaborative music projects to come out of the Midwest in the late 90s. This project illuminates the drum traditions of Japanese taiko and jazz in a musical approach that incorporates the drummer languages of each genre. Infusing Japanese-influenced aesthetics of accompaniment within the rhythm section, the group carries this concept of time into, through, and underneath the music as an essential and natural thread. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4 LEARN ABOUT CAAJF CIRCA 1995

ARTS INITIATIVE PROGRAM The Arts Initiative Program is an incubation program where AIRMW provides organizational structure, financial support and other resources to Asian and Asian American artists and smaller organizations outside of AIRMW; with the ultimate objective being to increase the capacity of both partners to create and produce work in a sustainable manner. SELECT PROJECTS AIRMW at Elastic Arts (2023-24) In collaboration with Elastic Arts Foundation, AIRMW presents a monthly AIRMW at Elastic Arts series inviting local and national musicians and performers for an evening celebrating Asian and Asian American artsists. Jackie Andres, Inangbayan / Motherland (2023) AIRMW presents Jackie Andres's debut solo show Inangbayan / Motherland at Hairpin Arts Center. In the exhibition, we are given the unique opportunity to follow a gentle and restless investigation of the ‘inbetween’. Motherland offers insight into drawing the lines and making connections for ourselves. To be both outside and inside, to be at home and far away, but more than anything, to chase a feeling that feels so close, yet is unreachable. Andres reaches from her own experience as a child of Filipino immigrants and as a young person in the world experiencing a primitive desire to belong. The show features hand manipulated film, Super 8 footage, and print media to lead her audience with care to an intimate look into the peripheral details of the Asian American diaspora. More about this event HERE . NOBLE Exhibition by Nancy Wong (2022) AIRMW hosted Nancy Wong's solo exhibition at the Hairpin Arts Center, featuring her ongoing photo project titled Noble. This work seeks to build a diverse, multigenerational archive of contemporary Asian America through portraits of its constituents. Each portrait acts as a visual acknowledgement of the vast and varied stories – the dreams, the fears, and everything in between – that constitute the Asian American community. Wong’s subjects are invited to select the clothing in which they are photographed, and to bring an object of significance to their Asian American identity to be photographed with as well. Our Perspective with Mia Park (2019-2021) Mia Park is a Chicago actress, TV show host and co-founder of A-Squared Theater Workshop. Mia’s project is the Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings, which is a staged play reading series intended to provide inspiration, space, and audiences for Midwest Asian Pacific American playwrights, directors, and actors. They are script-in-hand concert readings where actors read plays written and directed by Asian Americans, and is the first ever Asian American play reading series in the Midwest. As the sponsored artist, Mia is given full curatorial and creative agency to organize event proceedings. Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project | 思考回路 • Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought (2018-2022) Initiated in 2018, the Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project is a program produced by Asian Improv aRts Midwest that facilitates an immersive exchange between Japanese-American artists in Chicago and artists from the Obihiro & Tokachi region of Japan. The exchange began in 2018 with AIRMW artist Kioto Aoki's residency and exhibition in Obihiro City, then a series of exhibitions titled 思考回路 / Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought between 2019–2021. The 2022 programming realized the release of Hiroshi Mehata’s solo album through Asian Improv Records, recorded during his visit to Chicago in 2019 as part of the first 思考回路 • Shikoukairo presentation.

DONATE Support from our community is vital for us to be able to continue our educational efforts and to produce high-quality arts presentations, raising the awareness of the Asian American experience on an international level. Donations help us support the in-house programs and artists, as well as our collaborative, curatorial and artistic production ventures. Your contributions are meaningful and help us to continue our work. PAY WITH CREDIT CARD ON PAYPAL CHECKS / CASH Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) 4875 N Elston Ave, Chicago IL, 60630 Checks can be made out to: Asian Improv aRts Midwest OR FIND US ON PAYPAL / VENMO / ZELLE admin@airmw.org @AIRMW admin@airmw.org THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

TSUKASA TAIKO taikolegacy.com Artists History Taiko Workshops Tsukasa Calendar Taiko Legacy Contact TSUKASA TAIKO is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest that aims to preserve, develop, and pass on the traditional concepts of Japanese art as a cultural legacy, while expanding and evolving the art of taiko. Dedicated to understanding and strengthening Japanese American, Asian American, and Japanese identities, Tsukasa Taiko offers taiko instruction, workshops, educational presentations, and performances that advance the understanding of taiko within the context of the cultural, performing and musical arts. Special workshops also include, shamisen (3-stringed lute), and shinobue (bamboo flute) to all ages and skill levels. It works closely with schools, companies, and organizations to provide special performances and presentations on the history of taiko and Japanese music. As an active performing group, Tsukasa Taiko presents over fifty shows a year, both locally and internationally, including venues and events such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Steppenwolf Theater, the Chicago Cultural Center, The Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Harris Theater, Millennium Park, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Chicago Symphony Center, the Smithsonian, and the Malta International Theater Festival in Poland among others. Tsukasa Taiko’s director, teachers, and staff are all dedicated professionals, recognized as world class, working artists. Director Tatsu Aoki is a renowned musician, composer, and recording artist, who works in traditionally based Japanese music as well as experimental and jazz idioms. Guest artist Noriko Sugiyama has returned to Chicago from Japan, to work with Tsukasa Taiko. Lead performer Kioto Aoki is Chicago's sole taiko artist, working on solo musical projects and installations while simultaneously maintaining a visual arts practice. With strong leadership and aesthetic vision, Tsukasa Taiko works to cultivate artistic excellence and is positioned to further expand and advance Japanese music in Chicago, and to develop as a cultural beacon for the future. NATIONAL PRESENCE, COMMUNITY ROOTS Tsukasa Taiko maintains an active national performance schedule and has presented its works at venues outside of Chicago including the Smithsonian, Krannert Art Museum, Indiana State Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco among others. Tsukasa Taiko established The National Gintenkai Project, regularly collaborating with GenRyu Arts (GRA) in San Francisco to expand our professional unit activities and partnership across the nation. This National Gintenkai is the premier performing ensemble dedicated to reviving compositions from 1970’s Tokyo to maintain the traditional aesthetics of the Japanese arts through taiko. 司太鼓は、シカゴ定住者会を拠点に活動するシカゴ地域で唯一の日本人太鼓グループです。プロ指導陣により、太鼓を通して日本の文化・ 伝統を継承すると共に、より進化した太鼓芸術をめざして活動を続け地域の日系・アジア系コミュニティーの発展に尽くしています。 また、年間を通してシカゴ市内のみならず海外においても幅広く活動しており太鼓クラス、ワークショップ、レクチャー等で太鼓の叩き方を教えるだけでなく、文化・芸術活動がコミュニティーの歴史・伝統を反映する大きな存在であるという認識を深めてもらうことにも努めています。 太鼓ワークショップには4歳以上なら参加者年齢、経験を問わず体験して頂けます。 詳細、ご質問、メッセージ等々メールにてお問い合わせください。日本語・英語と双方随時受け付けておりますので、以下のアドレスへお気軽にご連絡ください： tsukasataiko@airmw.org Specific inquiries about Tsukasa Taiko can be directed to tsukasataiko@airmw.org or info@airmw.org

HISTORY 1984 - BEGININGS In 1984, Chicago artist and community leader Tatsu Aoki founded Innocent Eyes and Lenses (IEL) in response to the need for an organization that was dedicated to presenting Asian American artists and programs that were relevant to the community. Since then, IEL, an Illinois-based non-profit organization, has been a leading force in presenting the Asian American experience through the arts in Illinois. 2004 - A NEW NAME After 20 years of working as IEL, we made the decision to change our name from Innocent Eyes and Lenses to Asian Improv aRts Midwest in 2004. This change was made in order to reflect the community that IEL has been serving since its inception as well as to recognize the partnership that has been established with the San Francisco-based Asian Improv aRts. Founded by musician and community activist Francis Wong, Asian Improv aRts has been a leader in building community through the Asian American cultural arts on the West Coast for two decades and we are honored to be a part of the Asian Improv family. AIRMW has had tremendous success in connecting artists, community organizations and the city’s cultural institutions and has presented programs featuring world-class artistry while remaining rooted in the Chicago Asian American community. AIRMW has collaborated with and/or received support from organizations that include the Japanese American Service Committee (JASC), the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Illinois Arts Council, the Illinois Humanities Council, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Boeing Corporation, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago Foundation and Meet The Composer among many others. 2023 - A PERMANENT HOME Thanks in part to our community supporters, members and the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF, AIRMW was able to purchase our own building at 4875 N Elston in the North Mayfield neighborhood. We had our soft opening in February 2023 and officially opened to the public in April. We look forward to be able to start a new chapter in our new space. --- Visit our sister organization in San Francisco, Asian Improv aRts

REDUCTION TAIKO LEGACY & Thank you to all who made it to Reduction 11 & Taiko Legacy 22 See you next December 2026 for Reduction 12 and Taiko Legacy 23! 2025 presentations at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Edlis Neeson Theater Friday, December 19 : REDUCTION 11 Saturday, December 20: TAIKO LEGACY 22 REDUCTION 11 Friday, December 19 @ 7pm co-presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago In tandem with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind , at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko is delighted to present Reduction 11 , as part of our annual end-of-year concert series. This year's program revisits songs from SKYLANDING , a 2016 project album by Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project commissioned for Yoko Ono's first permanent US sculpture unveiling in Jackson Park. The album reinterprets the music of Ono's Plastic Ono Band through Aoki's distinct cross-cultural sounds informed by traditional Japanese music and creative jazz. Tsukasa Taiko & GenRyu Arts join the program to present a special theatrical version of this album. Reduction 11 also marks the last of 30th anniversary of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival programming, celebrating three decades of jazz and experimental music by Asian and Asian Americans in Chicago. Featuring: Nicole Mitchell, Dee Alexander, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Rami Atassi, Jamie Kempkers, Tatsu Aoki, Eigen Aoki, Kioto Aoki, and Gintenkai at Tsukasa Taiko Pre-show programming at 6:30pm will be the final public presentation for Kioto Aoki & Helen Nagata's Folk Arts Mentorship program grant received from the Illinois Arts Council. Reduction 11 TL22 TAIKO LEGACY 22 Saturday, December 20 @ 2pm Presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko present Taiko Legacy 22 with a return to the original essence of theatrical taiko. Tsukasa's performance unit Gintenkai is joined by the next generation of community performers and longtime collaborators Melody Takata and members of GenRyu Arts from San Francisco to present the simplified grandeur of contemporary taiko with traditional aesthetics. Featuring: Melody Takata & GenRyu Arts, Yoshinojo Fujima, Ikunojo Fujima, Kioto Aoki, & Tsukasa Taiko. Taiko Legacy 22 is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation, the Walder Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts and the Joyce Foundation, and a special project grant from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Taiko Legacy 22 and Reduction 11 are programs of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and are supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation , Prince Charitable Trusts, The Joyce Foundation and a special project grant from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Previous Shows Previous production: TAIKO LEGACY 21 Taiko Legacy is one of the lar gest taiko concerts in the midwest built on the efforts of community activism in Asian American and Japanese American performing arts across the country. Led by Chicago’s renowned taiko group, Tsukasa Taiko present s a conceptually diverse and dynamic musical performance full of original arrangements that pay homage to ozashiki (geisha chamber music), ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music), and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). Taiko Legacy returns for the 21st edition of this annual concert rooted in the traditions of ozashiki (geisha chamber music), ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music), and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). The performative arrangements of original compositions from Tsukasa Taiko recontextualize the cultural traditions within contemporary ecologies of art, music and theater. Led by professional taiko artists and the longstanding Gintenkai community performance ensemble from Tsukasa Taiko, Taiko Legacy 21 also feature next generation youth members who form a vital part of this ongoing legacy; alongside guests Hyakkyou Fukuhara from Tokyo, and Melody Takata and GenRyu Arts from San Francisco. REDUCTION 10 Reduction is a theatrical presentation with a goal to construct a bridge between tradition and modernity in a single performance and define the contemporary Asian American and Japanese American musical experience. Accentuating the potential and artistry of refined subdued taiko performance, Reduction presents an influx of free fluid improvisational compositions amongst the steady melodies and rhythms of traditional Japanese instrumentation. Asian Improv aRts Midwest celebrates a decade of Reduction, reinterpreting the possibilities of theatrical taiko emphasizing the refinement of musical silence and improvisational artistry. The Reduction series presents a convergence of classical and contemporary musical traditions, intertwining traditional Japanese instrumentation with performative experimentation. For Reduction 10 Tsukasa Taiko is joined by special guests Hyakkyou Fukuhara (Tokyo, Japan), Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Yoshinojo Fujima & Ikunojo Fujima of Shubukai to continue cultivating a contemporary artistic vernacular of the Japanese musical experience. This year's pre-show* features the final public presentation of Kioto Aoki & Helen Nagata's apprenticeship for Ethnic and Folk Arts Master/Apprentice Program (MAP) from the Illinois Arts Council for 2024. *This program partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Taiko Legacy 21 / Reduction 10 are programs of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and are supported in part by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Walder Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and the National Endowment of Arts.

ARTISTS & COLLABORATORS Learn more about our artists below: An important aspect of AIRMW is that we are an artist-run and artist- supported organization. Many of our performers and staff members have practices both through and in addition to our work through AIRMW. We also have many local, national, and international collaborators from the creative and traditional music scenes. Program Artists Staff Artists Collaborators Program Artist TATSU AOKI (青木達幸) Tatsu Aoki is a composer, a performer of traditional and experimental music forms, a filmmaker, and an educator. He was born in 1958 into the Toyoakimoto artisan family, and performing by the age of four. In the early 1970s, Aoki was active in Tokyo’s underground arts movement with experimental arts and music. In 1977, Aoki left Tokyo and is now one of the most in-demand performers of bass, shamisen, and taiko, contributing to more than ninety recording projects and touring internationally over the last 35 years. He is noted for being the longest associated bassist for the late Chicago legend Fred Anderson.

Aoki has initiated and managed several programs to advance the understanding of traditional arts and community through the arts, including the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival, the Tsukasa Taiko Legacy, and the Toyoaki Shamisen arts residency projects. The concept of Legacy is very prominent in all of Aoki’s music and projects. He insists on demonstrating the authenticity of the Japanese Legacy using traditional instruments such as shamisen and taiko, especially with newer contemporary applications. He performs throughout the Chicagoland, the Midwest areas, and nationally, the driving point is to instill the importance of Legacy through in-house programs Tsukasa Taiko and Toyoaki Shamisen and his end of year Taiko Legacy production. These and other projects are all components and examples of his drive to establish artist guided community participation as well as projects that have exclusive artist involvement, which raise the bar for quality and awareness of the Japanese cultural arts here in Chicago.
 He continues to be based in Chicago, working internationally in a wide range of musical genres including Japanese traditional music, experimental, and creative jazz, his collaborative projects ranging from puppetry, neoclassical Japanese dance, and experimental dance films. For more information visit: www.tatsuaoki.com tatsuaoki.com KIOTO AOKI (青木希音) Kioto Aoki is the 5th generation of the Toyoakimoto house, an okiya (geisha house) performing arts family from Tokyo with roots dating back to the Edo period. Standing on the professional stage from the age of 7, and studying under father Tatsu Aoki (Toyoaki Sanjuro), she continues the family legacy as musician on taiko and tsuzumi, and using her stage name Toyoaki Chitose (豊秋千東勢) when on shamisen. Working within traditional and experimental contexts as a second generation Japanese American, Aoki sustains this traditional music lineage traversing geographical and cultural boundaries. Kioto's playing is informed by the Japanese aesthetics of ma and emphasizes the melodic phrasing of space and choreography to challenge common perceptions of percussion as mere rhythm. Her stoic, durational explorations involve performative soundscapes that oscillate between the organic textures of live performance and sonic nuances of cyclical, droning sustain. Aoki maintains a balance of retaining the artistic and aesthetic integrity of traditional Japanese music with a contemporary sensibility that extends beyond the measures of cultural preservation bringing taiko to the contemporary artistic ecologies of music, sound and performance. kiotoaoki.com FUJIMA YOSHINOJO (藤間 淑之丞) Fujima Yoshinojo (a.k.a. Rika Lin), studied under Fujima Shunojo and is a shin-nisei, a part of postwar Japanese American diaspora, an interdisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and a Grandmaster in Fujima style Japanese classical dance. Her choreography, which stems from traditional pedagogy, lulls people into believing what at first appears to be a traditional Japanese dance but is in fact a transgression filled with subtle expressions of humor and protest. Yoshinojo blends traditional aesthetics with contemporary music and movement practices to make dance pieces relevant with 21st century ideas of roles and identity. For more information visit: www.yoshinojo.org yoshinojo.org NORIKO SUGIYAMA (杉山典子) taikolegacy.com Noriko Sugiyama earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Keihin Women’s University in March 1985. Upon graduation, she started her career as a professional teacher at various public schools specializing in music education. In the early 90’s, Noriko became interested in traditional taiko performance and joined Ayutsubo Daiko, a local taiko preservation and performance group in Shizuoka, Japan. Through training and studies at Ayutsubo Daiko, Tsukasa Taiko, and the Japan Taiko Federation for nearly twenty years, she became an expert taiko performer and instructor. In 2009, Noriko first performed with Tsukasa Taiko in the “Taiko Legacy 6” concert. In addition, combining her teaching skills and knowledge of historical and cultural aspects of taiko, Ms. Sugiyama has become an outstanding lecturer on taiko history and an expert trainer on all aspects of authentic taiko performance, from playing to vocalizing to costuming. As International Residency Performer and Instructor of Tsukasa Taiko, Noriko travels back and forth between the U.S. and Japan, maintaining the link to Japanese cultural tradition fundamental to our mission. FUJIMA IKUNOJO (藤間 郁之丞) Fujima Ikunojo is a Chicago-area native and Japanese American, and received her training from Fujima Shunojo. She has attained her professional name, natori, and teacher’s license, (shihan), and has been a contributing member participating in community performances and the annual student recitals of the Shubukai dance troupe for over 30 years. shubukai.org Collaborators COLLABORATORS Mwata Bowden · Ed Wilkerson Jr. · Micheal Zerang · Hamid Drake · Nicole Mitchell · JoVia Armstrong · Coco Elysses Douglas R. Ewart · Dee Alexander · Melody Takata · Francis Wong · Lenora Lee · Chizuru Kineya · Hyakkyou Fukuhara Koryu Nishikawa V · Yasushi Shimazaki · Shijuro Tachibana · Sennosuke Wakatsuki · Kizan Kawamura · Mai Sugimoto Yoko Reikano Kimura · Dohee Lee · Ayako Kato · and more. Staff Artist STAFF ARTISTS Kishino Takagishi • Haruhi Kobayashi • Caleb Willitz IN MEMORIAM FUJIMA SHUNOJO (藤間 秀之丞) (Founder and leader of Shubukai through April 2024) Fujima Shunojo earned his professional name at an early age. He opened his own school of classical dance and taught for several years in Tokyo before coming to the United States; first, on tour with a classical dance troupe, and later, permanently. For the past 40 years, grandmaster Shunojo sensei has directed his own dance group in Chicago. And in 2011, Grandmaster Fujima Shunojo received the Japan America Society Cultural Achievement Award for his continuing work in traditional Japanese classical dance, and in 2013 he received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation Award for his ongoing work in the United States promoting Japanese culture through teaching and performing Japanese Classical Dance; in addition to the annual recitals, Fujima Shunojo and his dancers perform for various civic and cultural groups, colleges/universities and various festivals in and around the Chicago and Mid-west area. Fujima Shunojo passed away in April 2024.