Wynn Yamami

taiko, percussion

Wynn Yamami began his taiko studies with the San Jose Junior Taiko Group and later trained with Soh Daiko, Kiyonari Tosha of the Nihon Taiko Dojo, Takada Yosuke of the Tokyo Chindon Club, the Tachibana School of Nihon Buyou, and ethnomusicologist Terada Yoshitaka. Now based in New York City, he has performed with a wide variety of musicians including Arturo O'Farrill and the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Badal Roy, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Korn at such venues as Galapagos, Birdland, Merkin Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He has performed taiko and percussion for theater and dance productions at the NYC Fringe Festival and the United Nations and has appeared in television commercials and programs for the US Open, Anime Network, Iron Chef, and MTV Unplugged. When he is not performing with KIOKU, Wynn straps on the portable Japanese drum unit (chindon) with HAPPYFUNSMILE, a group devoted to Japanese street music, enka, bon-odori tunes, and Okinawan rock.

kioku

Wynn Yamami (taiko, percussion)
Ali Sakkal (saxophones, percussion)
Christopher Ariza (live electronics)