http://www.watanabekaoru.com/e/

KAORU WATANABE, a former member of  the Japanese taiko ensemble Kodo, is a practitioner of various Japanese traverse bamboo flutes, the taiko drum as well as Western flute.  His music can be best described as an ever shifting blend of the folk and classical traditions of Japan with contemporary improvisational and experimental music.

Kaoru was born in St. Louis, MO to symphony musician parents.  In 1997, after graduating from the Manhattan School of Music with a BFA in jazz flute and saxophone performance and performing with New York’s Soh Daiko, Kaoru moved to Japan and joined the internationally renowned taiko drum ensemble Kodo.  Based in Sado Island in the Niigata prefecture, Kaoru toured across the globe with Kodo, performing the taiko, traditional Japanese folk dance and song, and especially the various fue (bamboo flute) such as the noh kan, ryuteki and shinobue.

In late 2006 Kaoru left Kodo and returned to NY to teach and continue performing fue, western flute and taiko in a variety of musical and artistic settings.  Recent projects have taken him across the US, Canada, Japan, Mongolia, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Honduras.