Born in Chiba Prefecture, Masaki Otawa’s music training started at the age of 3 with his mother, a classical piano teacher. He was then later introduced to kendo and drums in school, which contributed to his decision to become a taiko drummer. From Japanese folk, Jazz, Latin, African, Pop, to Classical, Masaki’s vast range of music style has allowed him to work on interesting collaborations with different types of artists in dance, theatre, visual art, and even Japanese flower arrangement.
As a Japanese taiko player, Masaki has performed all across the world, including New York, Rome, Paris, Romania, Moscow, Taiwan, London and Belgium. Some of his career highlights include winning the “Ō-Daiko Solo Contest” at Mount Fuji Taiko Festival in 1999, being awarded Chiba City Arts and Culture’s Best Emerging Artist Award in 2005, performing on NHK World’s programme “Blends” in 2015 & 2016, collaborating with pipe organist Mari Ohki in 2018, and being featured in TV Tokyo’s programme “Tokyo Intersection” in 2019.
Often a big spectacle at traditional events and festivals, Japanese taiko is usually performed in large groups. To challenge this norm, Masaki along with three other innovative taiko drummers founded the group, One Vision. In this group lead by Masaki, they incorporate different techniques and music styles, creating unprecedented taiko concerts. Renowned for his unique solo performance style, Masaki is considered a pioneer in the field and continues to find ways to bring the new sounds of Japanese taiko to the world.
Percussionist Born in Tokyo. at the age of 19, he began his career as a Japanese drum player. In search of a more personal style of music, he traveled to Africa and studied various instruments with traditional music legends. Since then, he has participated in countless projects and has been deeply involved in rock, jazz, electro, theater and dance music as well as African music. In particular, he continuously supported Disney’s musical “Lion King” for 14 years, breaking the long-run record of musicals in Japan. He was the first Japanese to participate in a large-scale festival of traditional music held in Senegal over several days, including a performance at the National Theater of Kenya for the Africa Triumphal Performance, and his performances were highly acclaimed by the local media. Since moving to France in 2012, he has performed in a wide range of venues, from cafes to festivals with tens of thousands of performers. While expanding his activities over a wide area of Europe, he moved to London in 2016, where he was active mainly in the world music and jazz scenes of London. Currently, he focuses on the sound world of Asia, his ethnic roots, and focuses on his original solo work with the theme of “Imaginary landscape of sounds”.
1967 Born in Kyoto Prefecture, originally from Kagoshima Prefecture. lives in Tokyo.
1988: Entered the avant-garde work of HIROSHI TESHIGAHARA “Ikebana” and started to study flower arrangement. In addition to presenting his work at domestic exhibitions, he also works on creative activities in the field such as Bali Island and the site of a fire, and works on art for events.2005 ~ flower arrangement live performance starts at gallery Maki (Tokyo). They continue to build their own world of “flower arrangement” by reading the vein of the land and selecting flowers and arranging them.
Its unpredictable evolution of creation and destruction has won enthusiastic support from all fields.
There are also many collaborations with poets, photographers, musicians and craftsmen.
