[Title] Sumie Kaneko + Haruna Fukazawa for Spiral Music [01/25]
[Artists] Sumie Kaneko (shamisen, koto), Haruna Fukazawa (flute)
[Date] Wednesday, January 25, 2017
[Show] 6:00pm-9:00pm
[Venue] Rubin Museum of Art
[Address] 150 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011
[Admission] Free
[Bio: Sumie Kaneko]
Japanese Koto & Shamisen Player, Singer Songwriter Sumie (Sumi-é) Kaneko has been recognized as a pioneer by her uniquely chromatic use of the instruments. Her project that is blending Japanese traditional elements into jazz improvisation is well received over the world.
She started playing Koto when she was at five, next year she was broadcasted by NHK. In 1995, Sumie won in Takasaki International Competition in Koto performance. She studied Japanese traditional music at Tokyo University of The Arts then studied Jazz vocal at Berklee College of Music in 2006. Performance highlights includes: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, TED talk, Getty Center, Boston Ballet, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, etc.. She has also gave workshops at academic scenes such as Harvard Univ., Princeton Univ., Wellesley College, Berklee College of Music and many more. In 2014, her group was invited to the Washington DC Jazz Festival that is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Japan, soon after they made sold-out debut at Blue Note NY that is the most well known jazz club in the world. In addition, she was the first Shamisen player of a winner of Pulitzer Prize Paula Vogel’s “The Long Christmas Ride Home”, and has collaborated with many of world instrumentalists such as Kenny Endo, Kaoru Watanabe, On Ensemble, Yumiko Tanaka etc., and also painters, dancers and calligraphers. Her international tours had been covered: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Jamaica (by Japan Foundation NY), Bangladesh, Pakistan and many of domestic tours including Puerto Rico. In August 2016, she is again invited to Islamabad, Karachi and Lahor by the Embassy of Japan in Pakistan. The second album “Dead of the Night” has been released in June 2016.
[Bio: Haruna Fukazawa]
Since finishing her music university in 2001, Haruna Fukazawa has been an active member of the New York and Tokyo musical scene as a performer, composer, and a recording artist. Her playing style is straightforward, sweet, and powerful, which makes Haruna a smart choice for musicians looking for a dominant and sophisticated flute-sound in their music.
Haruna was born in Tokyo in April 1977 and began playing the piano at the age of four. At twelve years old she began playing the flute.
Haruna graduated from Mushashino Academia Musicae in March 2001 as a classical player. She played classical music for the next three years. In 2004 she attended a Oscar Peterson’s show. She not only discovered jazz but also decided to focus her career on it. That year, she took jazz lessons from Hiroshi Ishida until 2009. She also began lessons in jazz improvisation and arranging from Shinpei Inoue in 2007. In September 2009, she went to New York and took private lessons from the jazz legend Frank Wess. She has been taking lesson from him every time she returns to United States. Mr. Wess became one of her main influences.
Haruna made her debut in april 2004 in a flute-duo recital playing classical music. On the following year she joined Tuk Tuk Skip, an Irish-pop band. In 2006 she made her first appearances as a leader with a jazz- quartet around Tokyo. In that year, she also joined two musical projects as a permanent member, Cichla Temensis; A Progressive-Rock band, and Bellfast; A Folk Metal band. In October 2009 she was part of “4°C”: a female jazz band who made an appearance in CS Channel Terebi Asahi, on the show Genryu Jazz. In 2010, she was the guest performer at a live show with two famous jazz musicians: the bassist Kiyoto Fujiwara and the american pianist Peter Madsen.
In August of that year, Cichla Temensis played in Trieste summer Rock Festival, Trieste, Italy. It was the first time for a japanese band to perform at this festival. They shared the line up of the festival with great names such as Focus and former Genesis’ guitarist Steve Hackett.
In January 2006 Haruna recorded music for a big scale Automaton clock designed by Hayao Miyazaki which was installed in Nihon Terebi TV Station, telling the time to this day. In January 2008,Cichla Temensis released their first CD Another Triangle. In February 2009, they released their second Cd Affine Space. In the same year, she went into a studio to lay down flute parts for the song “Bonita”: a tune recorded by the famous J-Pop band Dragon Ash in their album Freedom. In March 2010 she released her First Album as a band leader: Spring Up, released by Urban Jazz-Ichigo Ichie. During October 2010 heavy metal band Bellfast released their first CD, Insula Sacra on King Records Label.
In her career, Haruna has obtained awards as a member of the Irish band Tukutukuskip: In 2006 they attained a Grand Prix award in the 5th Kichiyooji Music Festival. It was the first time for an instrumental band to earn such recognition. In 2007 they also passed an audition from Heaven Artist music Department; becoming a City of Tokyo-Recognized Act for the Promotion of Music. Since this, they are allowed to perform in any public space throughout Tokyo.
Since 2007 Haruna Fukazawa has been very active in the jazz and pop music circuit of Japan, at an average of one hundred shows a year.
In September of 2012, Haruna moved to New York.
As a side musician, Haruna performs regulary in group as six time winner of the Downbeat Critics Poll Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra, Patrick Brennan’s transparency kestra and Jazz Triangle 65-77 since 2014. They have performed around New York city’s venues, including The Stone, Shapeshifter Lab and El Taller.
She had a tour in Italy 2015, and in Japan 2016.
Jazz Triangle 65-77 recorded in Japan and the CD will be coming up in 2017.
[Websites]
– Sumie Kaneko: http://www.sumiekanekomusic.com
– Haruna Fukazawa: http://www.harunaflute.net
– Rubin Museum of Art: http://rubinmuseum.org
