What is the sound of our personal histories? What happens when our family stories become melody and rhythm, and when that music fills the air in a room of listeners? Join Kaoru Watanabe and a dynamic ensemble of artists at National Sawdust for Bloodlines Interwoven—an evocative evening of original music and storytelling that honors the beauty of cultural inheritance and collective memory.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Featuring Shahzad Ismaily, Fay Victor, Marika Hughes, Mafer Bandola, Seamus Egan, Sunny Jain, Cyro Baptista, yuniya edi kwon, and Kweku Sumbry.
Bloodlines Interwoven is a multi-year, multi-venue performance project that brings together artists from a wide range of backgrounds to share their family
histories and create new music inspired by those personal narratives. Conceived by artistic director Kaoru Watanabe, the project uses an intensive, collaborative music-making process to explore the richness of our diverse experiences–and uncover the deep connections that bind us together.
The project is supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and produced by THE OFFICE performing arts + film.
Instagram
Website
Composer and instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe's work is rooted in traditional Japanese performing arts and infused with experimental and improvisational elements. His signature skill of merging the music, literature, and aesthetic philosophies of Japan with disparate styles and
mediums has made him a highly sought-after collaborator, working with such iconic artists as André 3000, Yo-Yo Ma, Wes Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, and Japanese National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo. The son of two St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians, Watanabe studied jazz at the Manhattan School of Music before moving to Japan to study noh-kan flute with Matsuda Hiroyuki and Edo Matsuri Bayashi with Suzuki Kyosuke in Tokyo. He then moved to Sado, a remote island in the Sea of Japan. He undertook a rigorous two-year apprenticeship with the groundbreaking Japanese taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo, where he trained in traditional Japanese folk dancing, singing, drumming, woodworking, tea ceremony, rice farming, Noh, and Kyogen. Watanabe then became the first American to join the ensemble as a performing member, serving as an ambassador of Japanese music on the world's greatest stages and as artistic director of their annual music festival, leading collaborations with luminaries such as Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Tamangoh. After a decade in Japan, Watanabe returned to New York to pursue a solo career, working with top artists of their respective genres, such as flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena, Mongolian Official State Morin Khuur player Tserendorj, multiple Grammy Award-winning rapper Residente, visual artist Simone Leigh, Rhiannon Giddens and the Silkroad Ensemble, and many others, all while championing the essence of Japanese flutes and percussion. In 2024, Watanabe launched Bloodlines Interwoven, a multifaceted commissioning project, festival, and ensemble celebrating heritage, immigration, and diaspora through music, cuisine, and storytelling.