Eien Hunter-Ishikawa Workshop - A Modern Approach to Ji Playing!

Eien Hunter-Ishikawa is a versatile drummer, percussionist, taiko player, and shinobue player with a multifaceted musical background. Born in Japan, his passion for drumming started at an early age through the involvement of a youth taiko ensemble directed by Saburo Mochizuki, a founding member of Tokyo’s pioneering taiko ensemble Sukeroku Daiko. He earned his Bachelor of Music Education at Central Michigan University, where he performed, recorded, and toured as a member of the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble under the direction of the late Robert Hohner, and his Master of Music at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During his time in Honolulu, Eien performed and toured extensively as a member of the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble throughout the United States and Europe and taught classes at the Taiko Center of the Pacific, a school of traditional and contemporary taiko. He continues his studies of the traditional Japanese music forms Edo Bayashi (festival music of old Tokyo) and Edo Kotobuki Jishi (lion dance of old Tokyo) through master musician and dancer Kyosuke Suzuki.! Currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Eien collaborates with shakuhachi artist Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos to present category-defying music with his ensemble Maru. He performs regularly with On Ensemble and has worked with electro- acoustic groups Isshin Denshin Atmospheric Ensemble and Haagen & Ryuzen, TomoeArts dancer/actor/ choreographer Colleen Lanki, Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, tsugaru shamisen artist Hiroshi Yamaguchi, sho artist Naomi Sato, Michael O'Neill's bagpipe ensemble Mearingstone, Vancouverʼs Silk Road Music, Uzume Taiko, African band Kow Kanda, and rock/reggae band Still Creek. ! Eien has performed at the North American Taiko Conference, Vancouver’s Powell Street Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Dancing on the Edge Festival, Hawaii International Taiko Festival, Honolulu International Jazz Festival, and the Detroit Montreux Jazz Festival. A very active instructor of percussion, taiko, and shinobue, he has presented workshops at the North American Taiko Conference, the World Taiko Gathering, and the Pacific Northwest Regional Taiko Gathering, and continues to teach workshops and private lessons to players of all ages and levels.!