Photo by Larry Dufresne

Very happy to be back in Japan! I will be touring with my very good friend, movement artist and dancer Hideo Arai, in February and March. We’ll be performing our multidimensional piece ‘Gravity’ in four different cities in Chiba, Toyama, Shimane, and Hyogo, as well as conducting movement and rhythm workshops along the way. More details on the events page.

I first met Hideo in Toronto while at a festival with fellow percussion and creative music junkie Ganesh Anandan. It has now been over 12 years since that first meeting and it is always remarkable how easy it is to get back in the groove. Hideo is full of great ideas and sees life through a wonderfully quirky lens. It is such a pleasure and an inspiration working with him.

We’ll be showcasing at APAP in New York city in January, with jolly taikoist and flutist extraordinaire, Kaoru Watanabe. APAP is massive and daunting. The guys from On Ensemble have been to APAP several times, so I am happy to let them guide the way.

Following NYC, we head back to very familiar territory in Montreal for a workshop and a mini-concert/ video-shoot at Timpano Percussion headquarters, January 19th. We’ll be shooting a spanking new promotional video, and we’re looking forward to having an enthusiastic crowd at the event (more details soon)!

Finally, Kristopher Bergstrom and I will be teaching at the 2013 East Coast Taiko Conference at Brown University, Rhode Island, February 1-2-3. Kris is a great instructor and I am hoping to be able to sit-in on one of his classes. For my part, I’ll be focusing on chappa and katsugi-daiko again this year at the conference.

Guinness or red wine with Thai curry?

Back to Montréal after a fabulous time in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for the very first ‘Bodhran and Beyond’. Such a lovely time with event master-minds Ken Shorley and Heidi Kalyani- beautiful people, wonderful hosts. Sincere thanks to both of them.
I also had a great time playing with Mark Currie, most excellent bodhran player from Halifax, and a host of workshop participants.
Thanks to Timpano Percussion for providing some top-quality Cooperman drums during the workshops!
Check-out some photos on my Facebook artist page here.

wow.
Too much fun in one weekend at this year’s NAFDA gathering in Grafton, Vermont. Beautiful village, wonderful people, great music-making… and the cheese, oh, the cheese.
Heartfelt thanks to the Cooperman clan, for such warm hospitality and generous support.
Looking forward to the next chance to do this again!

I am also excited to attend the upcoming Eastern Taiko Conference 2012, which is being held at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, March 30th to April 1st. My friends from Los Angeles-based On Ensemble will be there, as well as Kaoru’s group, and also, all the way from Hawaii, Kenny Endo. For more details on how to register for the conference, click here. Looking forward to meeting many fellow taiko enthusiasts in New York and at Wesleyan!

UPDATE: I have recorded some rhythm sketches on chappa and katsugi oke-daiko in advance of the upcoming workshops. Check-out the video clip here.

Photo by John Sellekaers

Originally premiered in 2009 to launch the CD of the same name, ‘Rheō’ is a performance project mixing live music and contemporary dance. Percussionist Patrick Graham is accompanied by the electro-acoustic hurdy gurdy of Ben Grossman (Guelph), the Japanese and western flutes of Kaoru Watanabe (New York), and dancer/ choreographer Tomomi Morimoto (Montréal). ‘Rheō’- from the Greek root of ‘rhythm’, also meaning ‘to flow’- features a seamless blending of original cross-cultural compositions and adventurous improvisation with a focus on pulse and sound.

Click here to view a slideshow from the show.