Japanese Canadian Community Fundraiser for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

The Manitoba Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association, with the support of the National Association of Japanese Canadians and the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, presents Kibõ, (Our Hope, Our Future), a gala celebration of Japanese Canadian artistry, to raise funds for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Saturday, February 24, 2007
8:00 p.m.
Pantages Playhouse Theatre
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
180 Market East

Featuring:
Hinode Taiko of Winnipeg
Aurora Dancers of Winnipeg
Chieko Kojima KODO of Japan
Kaoru Watanabe KODO of Japan
Shoji Kameda On Ensemble of Los Angeles
AND MANY OTHERS

Tickets:
$35 & $50 plus GST & agency fees
available at:
Ticketmaster 204 780-3333
www.ticketmaster.ca

HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM GETS BOOST FROM JAPANESE CANADIANS

MEDIA RELEASE
February 12, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM GETS BOOST FROM JAPANESE CANADIANS
Fundraising concert showcases culture from resilient community

Winnipeg, MB – The proposed Canadian Museum for Human Rights is getting a fundraising boost from a community that knows first-hand the fragility of freedoms and democracy. “kibõ: Our Hope, Our Future,” a concert featuring artists from Canada, the U.S. and Japan, takes place at Winnipeg’s Pantages Playhouse Theatre, Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 8:00pm.

kibõ is a celebration of Nikkei (Japanese-Canadian) arts and culture, and a snapshot of a community that overcame enormous hardships to win dignity, prosperity and recognition for its rightful place in Canadian society.

The concert is headlined by Canada’s best known taiko group Hinode Taiko, the Aurora Odori dance ensemble, pianist Michael Oike, and vocalists Shayna Paulicelli and Brent Hirose. They will be joined by guest artists Chieko Kojima (principal dancer of Japan’s world-renowned taiko group Kodo), Kaoru Watanabe (Kodo drummer and flute player) and Shoji Kameda (composer-performer from On Ensemble, Los Angeles). The performance also features world premieres of both solo repertoire and unique collaborative works. All proceeds from the event will go to support the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“Japanese-Canadians across the country realize the significance of human rights from our own history, which is why we believe supporting this museum is so important,” says Geoff Miki, president of the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Citizens’ Association (MJCCA), which is sponsoring the kibõ concert with the support of the National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) and the Manitoba Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (MJCCC). “People need to know that even in Canada, you can’t take human rights for granted.”

The spread of cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of Nikkei culture that is at the heart of kibõ goes beyond the performers onstage. Six Winnipeg schools are adding their support to kibõ through a unique origami project. Students at Miles Macdonell Collegiate, Sisler High School, Dr. D.W. Hamilton Elementary, Oakbank Elementary, Harold Hatcher Elementary and Laidlaw Elementary will participate in creating thousands of folded paper cranes, a symbol of peace and reconciliation. Students will sign each crane that they fold, and the cranes will be hung at the concert in two 1,000 crane "mobiles". After the concert, the cranes will be sent to Hiroshima, where they will be placed in the Peace Park.

“A museum dedicated to human rights is an idea whose time has come,” according to Pamela Okano, chair of the kibõ organizing committee. “We’re presenting an evening of incredible performances, not just to give people something to enjoy in the moment, but to help make that idea of a museum into a fact – something that will benefit future generations of Canadians, whatever their ethnic background.”

Ninety-nine percent of the Japanese-Canadian community in Manitoba is here as a direct result of the Canadian government’s policy of forced relocation from the West Coast during World War II. Canadians of Japanese ancestry, whose property had been seized by the government during the war, were still prevented from moving freely and banned from voting or political organizing until the War Measures Act was repealed in 1949.

Despite this unhappy start, Japanese-Canadians who came to Manitoba created a close-knit community that took root and prospered. The MJCCA, formed illegally in 1942, was committed to ensuring fair treatment for Japanese-Canadians and encouraging the development of cultural activities and social events to preserve Japanese heritage. That kibõ can present Manitoba-based ensembles of international stature today is due to an emphasis on culture instilled by past generations of Japanese-Canadians who arrived on the bleak prairies with little beyond the clothing they carried.

Tickets for kibõ cost $35 and $50 (plus GST and agency fees) and are now available at TicketMaster (204-780-3333; www.ticketmaster.ca). Further information about kibõ is available at the website: www.kiboconcert.com. Further information about the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is available at the website: www.canadianmuseumforhumanrights.com.


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For more information, contact:

Pamela Okano
Chair, kibõ organizing committee
(204) 296-8388
kibo@shaw.ca

Brent Phillips
PR, kibõ organizing committee
(204) 934-0301

Performer: SHOJI KAMEDA

SHOJI KAMEDA is one of North America's most gifted young taiko performers. His musical training began at the age of 8 when he joined Shasta Taiko one of the first children's taiko groups. In his 21 years of experience he has performed and recorded with groups throughout the United States and Japan. Beginning in 2000, Kameda spent two years in Tokyo studying traditional Japanese drumming with masters in edo bayashi, hogaku hayashi and kumidaiko.

In 2002 Kameda co-founded the On Ensemble with fellow taiko artists Kristofer Bergstrom, Michelle Fujii and Masato Baba. That year On Ensemble was awarded the Duane Ebata Memorial Award "in support and recognition of emerging artists of promise who are furthering the development of Asian Pacific American Performing Arts." In 2005 the ensemble's first CD "Dust and Sand" was met with critical acclaim, and spent several months on the New Age Reporter top 10 chart. In 2006 Kameda was selected through a highly competitive process as an Asian Pacific Performance Exchange fellow, spending six weeks at UCLA's Center for Intercultural Performance, collaborating with master arts from the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the USA.

As a freelance musician Kameda performs and records with pioneering Asian American jazz fusion band Hiroshima and is a sought after workshop leader and composer. Most recently he completed an original score for "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story" which won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival.

Performer: KAORU WATANABE

Born in St. Louis, MO in 1975., Kaoru grew up in a musical household- father
a violinist and mother a harpist in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Kaoru began playing flute at 13 and studied with St. Louis Symphony flutist
Jan Smith. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy in northern
Michigan, he moved to New York to study at the Manhattan School of Music as a jazz flute/saxophone major and performed and recorded with, among others, Blue
Note recording artists Stefon Harris and Jason Moran. Kaoru also joined New
York based Japanese drumming (taiko) group Soh Daiko and became heavily
interested in Japanese music.

After graduating, Kaoru moved to Japan and studied Noh Kan and Edo Matsuri Bayashi styles of fue (bamboo flute) in Tokyo. He entered the two year apprenticeship program for the internationally touring taiko group Kodo and became a performing member in 1999. Since then, he has performed and recorded with Kodo in 16 different countries, performing with such luminaries as Zakir Hussein, Aierto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo and Carlos Nunez. He specialized in the various fue, composing and acting as artistic director of Kodo's annual world music festival, Earth Celebration. In 2006 Kaoru left Kodo to pursue a career as a solo artist in New York City.

Performer: CHIEKO KOJIMA, KODO

Born in Iwafune, Tochigi-prefecture, Chieko joined Ondekoza, predecessor to Kodo, in 1976 and thus began her encounter with taiko and folk dancing. Since the formation of Kodo in 1981, Chieko has carved out a niche for herself as one of the few female regularly performing members of Kodo. She is noted for the original style of her dancing in Kodo's taiko-based performance. Since then, she has incorporated elements of Japanese folk dance, such as Tsugaru Te-odori, and Balinese dance into her routine. She now also performs as a member of the three female voice and dance ensemble, 'Hanayui'. Through 'Hanayui' and her solo performance series 'Yukiai,' Chieko enjoys ever expanding her repertoire and meeting new and stimulating people.

Performer: MICHAEL OIKE

MICHAEL OIKE enjoys a diversified musical life in his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He maintains piano teaching studios at the Winnipeg and Steinbach branches of the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts; gives workshops and masterclasses; adjudicates at music festivals in Manitoba and across Canada, and is active in performances of chamber music and as piano accompanist.

Performer: HINODE TAIKO

"Pure raw energy and power tempered by precision and focus" - Winnipeg Free Press

In the rolling thunder and boisterous dance that drew Amaterasu the Sun Goddess from her cave and returned light to the world, Hinode Taiko was formed. The bold antics of Uzume and the laughter of the gods shaped their performance. From humble workshop beginnings in 1982, using broomsticks and old tires as practice equipment, Hinode Taiko (in Japanese "Rising Sun Drums") went on to build concert-quality drums and study with the greatest taiko players of modern time – rooting taiko in the heart of the Canadian Prairies.

Over the past 25 years, Hinode Taiko's original repertoire has won fans on three continents and the group has received accolades from taiko experts around the world. The only Canadian taiko group selected to perform at the inaugural 1997 North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles, Hinode's stature in North American taiko was affirmed in 2003 when they became the only taiko ensemble (out of the continent’s 150-plus groups) chosen for a repeat performance at the NATC. Their debut CD, “Hinode Taiko,” was released independently in spring 2004.

Enjoying a strong base in Winnipeg's Japanese-Canadian community as well as a solid profile in the arts scene, Hinode Taiko continues to push itself to new artistic heights, while sharing the art and appreciation of taiko through workshops and classes in schools and the community.

For more information, please visit Hinode Taiko’s website: www.hinodetaiko.ca