Gary Tsujimoto is an American performing taiko artist, taiko community advocate, and one of the founding members of San Jose Taiko.
Gary Tsujimoto | |
|---|---|
| Genres | taiko |
| Occupation(s) | musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | taiko |
| Years active | 1973-present |
| Website | www |
Gary Tsujimoto served as one of the founding members of San Jose Taiko in 1973,[1] where he then played with the Kumi-daiko, or ensemble taiko group, for 16 years until leaving the group shortly after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
The following year, Gary and his wife, Nancy Ozaka, started performing taiko as a duo and founded their own performance group, One World Taiko.[2] With the help of Seiichi Tanaka who helped send bookings their way, Gary and Nancy began to perform in front of larger audiences with One World Taiko.
In 1992, after catching the eye of an associate of Epcot entertainment at one of their performances, he was invited to audition to perform at Epcot as a new show at the Japan Pavilion, and in 1993, he quit his job as a software engineer to pursue performing taiko full-time at Epcot.
In 2010, Gary performed with One World Taiko at Global Village Dubai with an ensemble of five drummers, and participated in the multi-cultural festival representing taiko.[3]
References
edit- ^ "San Jose Taiko". San Jose Taiko. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
- ^ "oneworldtaiko.com - About". www.oneworldtaiko.com. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
- ^ Gary Tsujimoto and Nancy Ozaki, Interview, May 8, 2024