Event
RAW JAZZ: Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra
Real Art Ways presents RAW JAZZ – A series of four free concerts in June, July and September.
Major support for RAW JAZZ comes from the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.
“The fluid body of sound grew and waned and then grew again as some players switched from handmade bows to mallets and back again. The music was meditative, the gong vibrations washing over the audience.” – Cisco Bradley, Jazz Right Now
Nakatani Gong Orchestra (NGO), is a contemporary live Sound Art project that tours throughout North and Central America.
NGO is a continuous, growing community engagement project; and the only bowing Gong orchestra in existence in the world today. The rich harmonies produced from multiple layers of bowed gongs are transformative, engaging and inspiring for both players and audiences.
The gong bows and surrounding instrumentation equipment are handmade by Nakatani Kobo.
In addition to Mr. Nakatani, this performance features 14 players from the greater Hartford community.
Nakatani gives a specialized training workshop to gong players in preparation for the performance. Players will also experience Nakatani’s own unique point of view regarding Gong techniques, and will experience undiscovered dimensions while immersed in the vibrations and sounds during a training workshop. Nakatani is the composer and conductor for the evening of the performance.
Nakatani began germinating ideas for NGO in early 2002, and finally took the project on the road in April 2011. Since then he has performed over 100 concerts with NGO internationally. Notable venues include John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., MOCA Cleveland, OH, Tigertail Productions presented at Miami Dade County Auditorium in FL, Bemis Contemporary Art Center in Omaha NE, Columbia Museum of Art in SC, The Issue Project Room in New York City, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas.
NGO has been a visiting artist conducting workshops at a number of universities; including the University of Illinois, Smith College, Ohio State University and Wesleyan.
Taiga Records (Minneapolis, MN) released an LP entitled “Nakatani Gong Orchestra” in 2012.
Audience members have described a NGO performance as entirely unlike anything they have ever experienced before, often relating feelings of cleansing or a sort of purification after the event.
