(C) Mori Kouichi
Don't miss this rare opportunity to experience the wonderful world created by a musician storyteller from Japan.
Kunimoto Takeharu is now in Johnson City, Tennessee to spend a year with the Bluegrass and Country Music Program at East Tennessee State University in a cultural exchange program made possible by the grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan. He has chosen to spend his year in the heart of bluegrass country, his first love in music, to learn the music and the storytelling of the region. He will in turn offer workshops on shamisen and storytelling from Japan.
If you come across him or his music, please report sightings or send in your comments to Evi (site manager). Those of us in Japan will be absolutely thrilled to hear of any news, however silly or minor. Tell me also what you wish to know about him. There is a lot of information in his official HP that I can pass on to you.
Spring 2003
His recent acclaim includes the narration and shamisen in Mt. Head, a short animated film created by Yamamura Koji and nominated for the Academy Awards.
July and September 2002
Kunimoto Takeharu played the role of reciter/shogun/emperor in the Japanese adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures presented at Lincoln Center in July and Kennedy Center in September.