Shoji Kameda is a fourth-generation

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

musician and composer, and leading player of North American

taiko are a broad range of Traditional Japanese musical instruments, Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese language, Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various J ...

. He is a founder and member of On Ensemble, a contemporary taiko quartet, and a former member of the jazz fusion group

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

Personal life

Kameda was born on May 1, 1976, in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

. He grew up in Mt. Shasta, California and attended Mt. Shasta High School. He graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1999 with a B.A. in History and currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Emi Yoshimura.

Taiko

Kameda started playing taiko when he was 8 years-old. His first teachers were Russell Baba and Jeanne Mercer, former students of

Seiichi Tanaka is the first Japan-trained teacher of kumidaiko, or taiko, in the United States and is largely regarded as the father of the art form in North America. Early life Tanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1943 and immigrated to the United States in 19 ...

and members of San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Kameda and friend, Masato Baba, were two of the original members of Shasta Taiko, one of North America's earliest children's taiko groups. Both Kameda and Baba were featured in the video documentary, "Shasta Taiko", winner of the 16th annual National Cable ACE Award in cultural affairs. Soon after enrolling at Stanford in the fall of 1994, Kameda joined

Stanford Taiko Stanford Taiko is a collegiate taiko group based at Stanford University. One of the first collegiate taiko groups to form in North America, it was founded in the winter of 1992 by students Ann Ishimaru and Valerie Mih as a way to share taiko with ...

where he was a member from 1994 to 1996 and 1997 to 1999, taking a gap year during the 1996/1997 academic year to study with Kenny Endo in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawai'i and perform with the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble. Once back at Stanford, he served as artistic director and composer for Stanford Taiko. In 1998, Kameda was a driving force behind the group's ability to present their first concert of all original compositions. Following his graduation from Stanford, Kameda played briefly with San Jose Taiko, then moved to Japan in 2000 for two years to study traditional

Japanese music In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern.ref> The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comf ...

. While there he studied ''hogaku hayashi'' with Saburo Mochitsuki, ''edo bayashi'' with Kyosuke Suzuki, and played ''kumidaiko'' with Nihon Taiko Dojo. While in Japan, Kameda, Masato Baba, and Kris Bergstrom performed in Hakodate in August 2001, planting the seed that was to become "on Ensemble", the group currently composed of Kameda, Baba, Bergstrom, and Kelvin Underwood. In 2005, Kameda produced the ensemble's first CD, ''Dust and Sand'' which was met with critical acclaim. In 2009, he produced ''Ume in the Middle'', a recording noted for its "boundless imagination" with "truly interesting and innovative" tracks . Since 2004 Kameda has toured and recorded with the jazz fusion group

. Their latest release, ''Legacy'', was nominated for a 2009

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. Kameda has been active in a number of other projects as well. In 2008, Kameda appeared with

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

at the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform an ...

. In 2009, he worked with Khoomei Taiko Ensemble, appearing at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

and at the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle

Studio Work

Kameda's studio credits include ''Heroes Original Television Score'', produced by

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band the Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

and Lisa Coleman and ''Calling All Dawns'', produced by

Christopher Tin Christopher Chiyan Tin (born May 21, 1976) is an American composer of art music, composing for film, television, and video game soundtracks. His work is primarily orchestral and choral, often with a world music influence. He is a two-time Gramm ...

Film Work

Kameda composed and performed the score for '' Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story'' . In 2010, he partnered with Sam Hale on the film ''Yamasong'', produced by Heather Henson and shown at the Florida Film Festival; the film garnered awards for Best Fantasy Short Film and Best Animated Film at the 2010

Dragon*Con Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. , the convention draws attendance of over 80,000. ...

Independent Film Festival.

Awards and honors

In 2006 Kameda was selected to participate in the Asia Pacific Performance Exchange (APPEX) at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

's Center for Intercultural Performance and appeared in "one of the most perfectly realized group pieces". In 2009 Kameda was again recognized by the Center for Intercultural Performance and chosen to be a U.S. Fellow to Indonesia

Works

* ''God of Love'', Stereo Alchemy, 2012 * ''Yamasong'', Sam Hale. 2010. * ''Ume in the Middle'', On Ensemble. Turtlefield Music, 2009. * ''Calling All Dawns'', Christopher Tin, 2009. * ''Legacy'', Hiroshima. Heads Up, 2009. * ''Heroes Original Television Score''. La-La Land Records, 2009. * ''Little Tokyo'', Hiroshima. Heads Up, 2007. * ''Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story''. Safari Media, 2006. * ''Dust and Sand'', On Ensemble, 2005. * ''Obon'', Hiroshima. Heads Up, 2005.