Kiyoshi Nagata is Canada’s preeminent taiko soloist who has been performing in a career that spans over two decades. His principal studies were with Daihachi Oguchi (as artistic director and performer of the Toronto based Suwa Daiko group from 1982 to 1992) and with Kodo (as an apprentice from 1993 to 1994). With the assistance of a Chalmers Performing Arts Training Grant in 1999, Kiyoshi studied classical percussion with Paul Houle at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Since 1998 Kiyoshi has taught a credit course in taiko at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. He is regularly invited by universities and taiko groups to conduct workshops and present lectures.

In 1994, Kiyoshi founded the cross-cultural percussion ensemble, Humdrum, whose debut Toronto performance was ranked fourth in Now Magazine’s “Top Ten Concerts of 1995”. He has composed and performed taiko music for dance, theatre, film and radio and continues to collaborate with artists from all genres of music including traditional Japanese instrumentalists.

Kiyoshi’s debut solo CD, ‘Tenkai’, has two meanings depending on the Japanese character used. The first means to ‘progress’ or ‘evolve’. The second literally translates to ‘the heavens’.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“…a beautifully spare solo album…”

~ Erin Hawkins, Eye

“This debut CD includes eight Nagata-composed and – arranged pieces he performs on drums, shakers, cymballs, bells, gongs, clappers and flutes. It’s a percussionists delight.”

~ Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star

“What’ll set Tenkai apart from the majority of Japanese drum CDs is it’s creator’s incorporation of unique instruments you can’t find in music stores here or in Japan.”

~ Errol Nazareth, Toronto Sun

“Employing fourteen different types of drums, bells, gongs as well as Shinobue (Japanese Folk Flute) Nagata’s studio album, Tenkai, combines wonderfully spare moments of rhythmic intricacy with the loud forcefulness of deep drumbeats. Because taiko drumming is so unique when played live, the album isn’t attempting to reproduce that sound onto disc. By employing the flute and stressing the subtleties of taiko drumming, Tenkai, produces a sound that will seep into your brain when you think you’re paying attention to something else and produce a relaxing sensation.”

~ Max Ritts, The U of T Varsity

1. Edge of Dusk

2. Chilkurin (Bamboo Grove)

3. Pulse Progressions

4. Tenkai

5. Akikaze

6. I I Voices

7. Furyu

8. Changes