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FEATURING:
Haruko Nara, piano & djembe
Gino Sitson, vocal & percussion
Yoshiaki Masuo, guitar
Laurent Camara, djembe |
Haruko Nara is a native of Japan. She has performed with eminent musicians such as Frank Wess, Kenny Garrett, Billy Higgins, Billy Hart, Ben Riley, Nana Vasconselos, Wallace Roney, Eddie Henderson, Carl Allen, Marion Cowings, Michael Max Fleming, Kiyoto Fujiwara, Chin Suzuki, Shoko Amano, Dennis Irwin, Michael Formanek, Tommy Campbell, Gino Sitson, and Yoshiaki Masuo.
Haruko has performed at various venues and concerts throughout the world such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Whitney Museum, Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Bradley’s, Birdland, The Knitting Factory, and Musica Oggi (Milan). Haruko has toured Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Not long ago, The Japan Foundation, in consort with various Japanese embassies, invited Haruko Nara to serve as a cultural ambassador. During the past three years, she has given concerts and lectures at universities, conservatories, and national theaters throughout Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras, and Costa Rica.
Haruko's first album My Favorite Things (Pony Canyon) debuted in 1990 and featured Kenny Garrett. Haruko’s latest album The Drum Tree will be released in early 2010; it contains nine original compositions, and features such notables as Frank Wess, Gino Sitson, Djoniba Mouflet, Moussa Traore, Paul Beaudry, Quincy Davis, and Lonnie Plaxico.
Haruko majored in piano at the Manhattan School of Music. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree, she studied classical composition at The Juilliard School. Later, she received her doctorate in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. In 1999, Haruko was appointed as an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University where she continues teaching piano.
Since 2005, Haruko has spent three summers in Bamako, Mali studying African drumming and researching West African music. Before then, her compositions generally incorporated various traditional African rhythms; her current works, however, reflect an even stronger African presence—utilizing African percussions in performance and composition. Currently, Haruko plays both piano and djembe in concerts. |
