Hands on Tsuzumi - with special guest artist, Umeya Takane

Wednesday, September 18th

7-8PM

Kamehachi 1531 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL 60610

$15

The Japanese Arts Foundation, in partnership with Asian Improv Arts Midwest, welcomes you to a one of a kind program featuring guest artist Umeya Takane from Tokyo, international tsuzumi / hand drum performer.

In addition to an artist talk led by Takane, the evening includes a demonstration of this unique instrument, and even the opportunity to try it yourself with the guidance of an expert in the field.

About the artist:

Umeya Takane is a certified performer from the traditional Umeya clans (Tsuzumi & Narimono) respectively. She has been active in Nagauta, a form of Japanese Classical music used in Kabuki, the theater genre with origins in the dramatic dance of the early seventeenth-century Tokugawa shogunate. Performed first by all-female ensembles, Kabuki gained popularity for its eroticism among the lower-class population before being banned and changed to all-male ensembles. Kabuki re-emerged in the early Meiji period and today is per-formed frequently in theaters and on television. Nagauta was incorporated into Kabuki theater in the eighteenth century and is still performed by an ensemble utilizing traditional Japanese instrumentation, with shamisen as the main instrument accompanied by taiko drum, tsuzumi hip drum, kotsuzumi shoulder drum, and n kan flute. Takane Umeya is among only a handful of certified classical players in Japan today and in high demand as house musicians for Kabuki and Nagauta Music. She performs frequently in classical and festival music concerts, and collaborations with contemporary music and media arts.

Traditional Japanese food, drinks, and atmosphere provided throughout the event by Kamehachi.