Search Results

AIRMW EVENTS March 2026 Today Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun 23 24 25 26 6:00 PM Conversations at the Edge - Kioto Aoki: Findings 27 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 5:00 PM Tsukasa Taiko at Stomping Ground 23 24 25 26 27 8:30 PM AIRMW at Elastic Arts: Takashi Shallow 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5

ARCHIVE Archive of a few past programs held at our AIRMW space, including Happening at AIRMW and AIRMW Presents series. AIRMW Artist Presentation Series A series featuring artists within the AIRMW network to talk about their practice within the context of AIRMW's missions of empowering Asian and Asian American artistic diaspora. Find AIRMW and affiliate artists' albums our record label, Asian Improv Records asianimprovrecords.com Visit our livestream episode archives from AIRMW airmw.org/stream Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project An AIRMW Arts Initiative Program, the Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project was 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 from 2018 - 2022. chicagobihiro.org The Asian American Cultural Legacy is an AIRMW project which documents the overlooked histories of Asian and Asian American musicians and music in Chicago & beyond aaclchicago.org Founded in 1995 as the Asian American Jazz Festival by partner organization Asian Improv aRts, the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival continues the tradition of hosting a yearly festival of creative music and jazz by Asian diasporic musicians. aajazz.org Tatsu Aoki Collection at Experimental Sound Studio Selection from Tatsu's private collection of recordings during his time with the Fred Anderson Trio at the Velvet lounge, made publicly available through ESS. https://ess.org/audio-archive/collections/tatsu-aoki-collection-29/

DOJO PROJECT Welcome to the AIRMW Cultural Hub! AIRMW is delighted to share that we now own a permanent home at 4875 N. Elston in the North Mayfield neighborhood. In February 2023 we officially opened to the public and have since been hosting our in-house rehearsals, affiliate programming, and performances. As of winter 2024, we have completed the in-house lighting and projection systems. We are still working finalizing installation of stage equipment, adding to necessary inventory for the media rooms, and furnishing our office and kitchen spaces. We look forward to welcoming everyone to our space and we continue to update our home. Land Acknowledgement This AIRMW arts hub is located on traditional, unceded homelands including the heart of the Bodewadmiakiwen (Potawatomi) Nation, as well as lands of the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Myaamia (Miami), Oceti Sakowin (Sioux), and Peoria Nations. For time immemorial, the region has been a center for indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Most tribes were removed to states including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and other western states. Chicago, due to the 1956 Indian Relocation Act removing tribal members from their tribal lands to cities, is now a city with one of the largest urban American Indian communities in the United States. Members of this community (representing 175 tribes) continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions, and care for the land and waterways. We embrace our commitment to Indigenous rights, racial justice, and cultural equity. See how our new space is being used in our programs archive and a view of our facilities The Dojo Project sponsored in part by the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF At AI RMW our mission is to build a vital, self-empowered Asian American community in the Chicago area by maintaining traditional practices and recontextualizing them within the contemporary arts landscape—keeping traditions alive while informing new works with an underlying artistic value. As we consider the sustainability of our organization and cultural mission, we began our Dojo Project Campaign to officially fund our move to a new space in 2019. We envision our new space to be not only AIRMW’s foundational base but as an art center that can support other smaller organizations, projects and individual artists within the Chicagoland community. We are looking to create a small black-box theatre space to support performances and productions of AIRMW and by other artists and organizations within the community. We would like to thank our early fundraising do nors, dedicated organization members who sh ape our programs, community supporters, and the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF for making this drea m possible. We could not have done it without your investment and support. If you would like to contribute to help our move, or our ongoing and future organizational activities, you can make a tax-deductible donation below: DONATE Campaign Asian Improv aRts Midwest is a registered 501(c)3 organization February 2023: Soft Opening! On February 24 & 26, AIRMW hosted a two-day private celebration at our new arts hub at 4875 N. Elston. Our very first event at the space included a warm welcome from the Pulaski Elston Business Association and local Alderman, support from the Consul-General of Japan, our affiliates fro m the West Coast, and concluded with a traditional kagami-biraki ritual. – Behind the Scenes – When we bought the building it was mostly unfinished, so we have installed doors, windows, electricity, plumbing, HVAC system, and more for our move. Take a look at the development of our space below. We continue to update the interior as we begin to make this building our home and community hub.

AIRMW Artist Presentation archives AIRMW Artist Presentation Series - Archive In-house series creating a space for artists, educators, academics and community members to present and discuss their various practices. AIRMW Presents The first season of the AIRMW Artist Presentation Series featured our in-house and close collaborative artists. Each will be presenting their artistic practices with a performative element followed by a discussion moderated by AIRMW Executive and Artistic Director, Tatsu Aoki. Spring 2025 Curated and organized by Kioto Aoki

TOYOAKIMOTO SHAMISEN https://toyoakimoto.org/ Toyoaki Calendar Toyoakimoto is AIRMW's shamisen (three-stringed Japanese lute) program in the ozashiki style from Tokyo, continuing the legacy of the Toyoakimoto house that goes back to the Edo Period in Tokyo, Japan. The program is led by Toyoaki Sanjuro (豊秋三寿路) ( Tatsu Aoki) and supported by Toyoakimoto name recipients: Toyoaki Umeshi (豊秋宇女紫) (Kiku Taura), Toyoaki Chitose (豊秋千東勢) (Kioto Aoki), and Toyoaki Toho (豊秋東穂) (Miyumi Aoki). L to R: Toyoaki Umeshi | 豊秋宇女紫 (Kiku Taura), Toyoaki Toho | 豊秋東穂 (Miyumi Aoki), Toyoaki Toyoko | 豊秋豊子(Takako Kimura), Toyoaki Chitose | 豊秋千東勢 (Kioto Aoki), & Toyoaki Sanjuro | 豊秋三寿路 (Tatsu Aoki)

Experimental Sound Studio’s Creative Audio Archive: The Tatsu Aoki Collection – A collaboration with AIRMW Experimental Sound Studio’s Creative Audio Archive: The Tatsu Aoki Collection A collaboration with AIRMW ABOUT THE TATSU AOKI COLLECTION at EXPERIMENTAL SOUND STUDIO In 2024, longtime Japanese-born, Chicago-based musician and arts organizer Tatsu Aoki shared a part of his collection documenting legendary jazz musician and venue owner Fred Anderson to Experimental Sound Studio’s Creative Audio Archive, in joint ownership with Asian Improv Arts Midwest. This concentrated collection of over 60 items spans 1998-2000 and documents an important period in Fred Anderson’s career and in Chicago jazz and improvised music, as well as the little studied connection between the Chicago jazz and Japanese music scenes. These items consist primarily of live recordings from 99-2002 of The Fred Anderson Trio at The Velvet Lounge, as well as a handful of VHS tapes from live shows. They are being cataloged and preserved by the Creative Audio Archive at ESS, and made publicly available for listening and research. The featured concert below features archival footage that documents a live performance by the Fred Anderson Trio in Osaka in 1999. Funded by a Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation Broadening Narratives grant, this series is part of a larger initiative by ESS to share many of the materials and recordings in the Creative Audio Archive more widely through first person narratives and contemporary artistic engagement with its ten collections. Our goal is to celebrate these unique, often singular recordings as part of the historical canon and as generative, living materials with the power to inspire new work for generations to come. Listen to a selection of the digitized recordings on Soundcloud ABOUT THE CREATIVE AUDIO ARCHIVE ESS’s Creative Audio Archive (CAA) currently houses ten collections of 7,000+ recordings and sonic art ephemera documenting the experimental music landscape of the latter half of the 20th century (Chicago focus). The collections provide a look into pivotal decades in the development of Western experimental cultural expression, the evolution of race and gender in independent cultural production, and the evolving interdisciplinarity in sonic cultures. ABOUT ESS Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound. As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, heralds new works, and builds a broad, supportive community of makers, enthusiasts, and creative partners through production, presentation, education, and preservation. AIRMW Presents Osaka Meets Chicago The Fred Anderson Trio with Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, & Tatsu Aoki September 11, 1998 Heat Beat – Osaka, Japan This project is a collaboration between Experimental Sound Studio & AIRMW Image courtesy of Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Kioto Aoki

Past programs archive at AIRMW PAST PROGRAMS A few of our past programs held at the AIRMW space including our AIRMW Presents and Happening at AIRMW series as well as collaborative programming with local organizations. AIRMW PRESENTS AIRMW Presents In-house programming presented by AIRMW ひとつからふたつでてまたひとつになる。| One becomes Two becomes One. September 25, 2023 Tokyo-based artist and curator Naoki Nakatani investigates the construction of information made up with memory, and truth through performative lectures. With Logan Griffin Beck. dragonchild (installation) February 10, 2024 Listening to 8-channel installation of "dragonchild," a project by DA Makonnen and produced by FPE Records. Part of event "We are sitting in a cave: FPE Records Live" to celebrate two new release projects by FPE Records. Featuring performances and installations by Kioto Aoki & Takashi Shallow and DA Makonnen. Lauren Deutsch – TANGIBLE SOUND May 9-10, 2024 Two-day multi-projection installation by Lauren Deutsch. "Paper, not plastic" Album Release Live September 9, 2023 Album release show for Kioto Aoki's second solo taiko album, "Paper, not plastic" released by FPE Records. We are sitting in a cave: FPE Records – Live February 10, 2024 Release show of Kioto Aoki & Takashi Shallow's vinyl collaboration: Paper, not Plastic Dubs out from FPE Records. Kioto and Takashi performing a live iteration of expanded concepts from the Dubs release, where Shallow used three tracks from Aoki’s 2023 FPE Records release, Paper, not plastic, allowing Shallow to explore process and medium, treating the sounds to a variety of analog production techniques. A Conversation and listening party with Tatsu Aoki February 16, 2024 Interview between Tatsu Aoki & Haruhi Kobayashi for listening party and talk from Aoki sharing his stories about and experiences with Fred Anderson. Co-presented by Experimental Sound Studio and AIRMW. HAPPENING AT AIRMW Events by community artists happening at the AIRMW space Seajun Kwon 4tet December 2, 2023 Seajun Kwon leading quartet for Chicago debut. Featuring Beth McDonald on tuba, Erez Dessel on keyboard, and Tyler Damon on drums. Tomomi Adachi & Lou Mallozzi November 1, 2023 Experimental Sound Studio and Asian Improv Arts Midwest presents Japanese performer, composer, and sound poet Tomomi Adachi with Chicago artist Lou Mallozzi. Women Center Stage: Japanese Performing Artists in Conversation September 13, 2024 Presentation and discussion featuring Takane Umeya from Tokyo, Kioto Aoki, and Rika Lin moderated by Saira Chambers about female performing artists working within traditional and contemporary contexts. Presented by Japanese Culture Center & Japanese Arts Foundation. SAIC WAVEFORMS April 13, 2024 Graduate students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Art and Technology / Sound Practices put on their spring WAVEFORMS program. SAIC WAVEFORMS April 13, 2024 Graduate students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Department of Art and Technology / Sound Practices put on their spring WAVEFORMS program. Acoustic Infrared – Daniel (Po Chun) Tseng May 2024 Acoustic Infrared (2024) by Daniel (Po Chun) Tseng as part of WAVEFORMS Sound installation with infrared sensor, field-recorded soundscape compositions. "The collages of field recordings, which capture the sonic environments inhabited by Southeast Asian immigrants in Taiwan, aim to reimagine Taiwanese cultural sovereignty by scrutinizing the predominant binary paradigm of indigenous groups and the so-called Han settlers." UnStumm meets Lou Mallozzi September 18, 2023 Unstumm (Nicola L. Hein & Claudia Schmitz) featuring Chicago-based Lou Mallozzi and Kim Alpert convene an evening of conversation of moving image and sound. Sandra Binion: Duras Piece & Suite for Bass and Ironing Bored Variation April 28, 2024 [pictured: Suite for Bass and Ironing Bored Variatio] Chicago artist Sandra Binion presents two performances: Duras Piece & Suite for Bass and Ironing Bored Variation as part of her retrospective, "Sandra Binion: Autobiography of Looking"

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

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.