Talk: "Kenny Endo Ensemble: Celebrating 40 Years of Taiko and Cross-Cultural Asian American Arts" by Kenny Endo

• Event Date: Thursday, April 7, 2016
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Part of the CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series

Kenny Endo is a leading artist in contemporary percussion and rhythm, who at the vanguard of the taiko genre, continues to pave new paths in this Japanese style drumming even after forty years as a career taiko player. A performer, composer, and teacher of taiko with numerous awards and accolades, Endo is a consummate artist, leading an ensemble blending Japanese taiko with rhythms influenced from around the world into original melodies and improvisation.

The Kenny Endo Ensemble members are Kenny Endo (taiko), Abe Lagrimas (vibraphone, drums, ukulele) and Sumie Kaneko (Japanese koto, shamisen).

Presented as part of Boneyard Arts Festival and International Week.

The CAS/MillerComm public events series brings to campus people who offer unique cross-disciplinary contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the university.

This Center for Advanced Study event is hosted by Global Arts Performance Initiatives and Robert E. Brown Center for World Music in conjunction with the Asian American Cultural Center, Asian American Studies, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Department of Dance, Division of Musicology, Percussion Division, Japan House, and the Spurlock Museum with additional support from Bruno and Wanda Nettl.