Tatsuya Nakatani » Theatre Intangible

Friday at 12 South Portland Brew: FMRL Presents Tatsuya Nakatani and Special Guests

Sep 152015

Tatsuya Nakatani. Image by hearhums.blogspot.com

It seems like every time Tatsuya Nakatani comes to Nashville, I’m out of town. On Friday, September 18th at 9 p.m., he’ll be performing with special guests at the 12th South Portland Brew. I’ll be in St. Louis getting married. At least it’s a good excuse.

However, if you’re IN town and NOT getting married, check out Nakatani, performing a solo set and an improvisation with special guests Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band), Celine Thackston (Chatterbird), Matt Wigton, and Brady Sharp.

Here’s what I wrote about Nakatani in the show notes to the Theatre Intangible podcast he appeared on:

Japanese-born experimental percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani connects with his instruments in a way like I’ve never before seen. He extracts every ounce of musicality out of his gongs, singing bowls, bells, cymbals, drums, handmade bows, and other devices. His performances are an extremely visceral affair. You really get the sense that his instruments are extensions of him. Seeing him live is a cathartic and almost spiritual experience.

This is a special show. Don’t miss it.

Saturday at Track One: Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra 09-04-2014

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Oct 022014

Tatsuya Nakatani. Image by hearhums.blogspot.com

Phenomenal percussion/sound artist Tatsuya Nakatani will returning to Nashville on Saturday, October 4th, and this time he’s enlisting eight Nashville artists for a gong orchestra. This is organized by local prepared guitarist Brady Sharp who has been helping Nakatani book shows in Nashville for years. This is the first time (that I know of) that Nakatani will be performing with a gong orchestra in Nashville.

Seeing and hearing Nakatani is a near transcendent experience. I can only imagine what that experience will be like augmented with eight gong players in the HUGE space where this went down.

Brady Sharp’s blog VKMusic has the details:

Percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (from Kobe, Japan via Easton, PA) will be performing solo and then with the Nakatani Gong Orchestra. The Nakatani Gong Orchestra will be made up of 8 local Nashville musicians and local visual artists that will be well-schooled in Tatsuya’s intricate and unique conduction methods. Gongs are very complex resonating objects, and the clouds of harmonic textures produced by the subtle bowing, striking, and tapping of multiple gongs produces a very soothing, sonorous tide of harmonic waves that gives the audience a truly unique experience. No earplugs will be needed!

Mr. Nakatani has performed as a percussion soloist all over the world. His Gong Orchestra conductions have been performed at diverse venues all across the U.S. including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

The show will be during the Wedgewood/Houston First Saturday Art Crawl, and will begin around 9pm after the art openings and events start beginning to wind down.

More info at VKMusic.org and NYCNash.

Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra
Saturday, Oct 4th, 9 p.m., $10 admission
@ Track One (1209 4th Ave. South – Corner of 4th and Chestnut)

Tuesday at Chestnut Studios: Tatsuya Nakatani and Michel Doneda w/ Brady Sharp 05-07-2013

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May 042013

Experimental percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani blew minds at his performance at the Downtown Presbyterian Church last year. I’m incredibly excited to hear about his upcoming show in the Chestnut Studios building. Tatsuya will be performing in a duo with the esteemed free improv reeds player Michel Doneda from Brive, France.

Many thanks to Brady Sharp and Sabine Schlunk for putting this together. Brady will open the show with prepared guitar.

This event will happen in the long hallway outside Seed Space art galley inside the Chestnut Square building. I can’t wait to hear how the performers will respond to the long concrete hallway’s natural reverb!

Tatsuya appeared on Theatre Intangible episode 43: Pulse, recorded at Zeitgeist Gallery. Check out the below video to see Tatsuya and Michel in action.

More info on the Facebook event page.

Tatsuya Nakatani (Percussion)
Michel Doneda (Soprano Sax/Sopranino)
Brady Sharp (prepared guitar)

Tuesday, May 7th, Doors at 7:30, show at 8pm, $6-$10 suggested donation
Chestnut Square Building
427 Chestnut St Nashville, TN
(Go in front door, walk straight as far as you can, turn left, walk to the end of hallway.)

Friday at DPC: Solo Percussion by TATSUYA NAKATANI & KIRBY SHELSTAD

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Apr 182012

Experimental percussionist TATSUYA NAKATANI is performing at the Downtown Presbyterian Church this Friday at 8pm. I saw Tatsuya perform at Zeitgeist Gallery last year, and he took my breath away. (Check out my recording of that performance on T.I. podcast 43: Pulse.) A Nakatani concert is a transformative experience, which can only be augmented by the DPR’s amazing acoustics.

This show is part of a series of DPC concerts organized by Brady Sharp, David Maddox, and Chris Davis. Of Nakatani, the Facebook event page says,

He has created his own instrumentation, effectively inventing many instruments and extended techniques. He utilizes drumset, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects, bells, and various sticks and bows to create an intense, organic music that defies category or genre. His music is based in improvised/ experimental music, jazz, free jazz, rock, and noise, yet retains the sense of space and beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music.

Also performing is Nashville’s KIRBY SHELSTAD — percussionist, electronic music pioneer, and studio player who has worked with Leon Russell, Bela Fleck, Charley Rich, and more.

Concert starts at 8pm. There is a $6-$10 suggested donation for the performers. No one wishing to see the performance will be turned away for lack of funds.

This is also a great time to introduce Voight-Kampff Music, Brady Sharp’s new experimental music blog, which features a killer concert calendar. Check out the Voight-Kampff write-up of the Nakatani show here.