I’ve been playing violin since I was seven maybe? But I never…I never thought it could be a profession.
I was pretty heavy into classical music in high school, as well as metal, which is what everybody my age was into. After that I went to jazz improvisation and so I really got heavy into improvisation which is a very social art form.
My parents encouraged, I went to engineering school first and I flunked out, but they knew how much I loved music, so they let me go…
I think I use it as a shield to hide behind. Because if I didn’t have my music I feel like I’d be kind of worthless. That might be a part of, maybe my minority identity…that’s hiding behind my skillset.
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Interviewee Bio
Kaoru Ishibashi, who performs as Kishi Bashi, is a Shin-Nisei musician, composer, and songwriter, born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Berklee College of Music and became a renowned violinist.
His film project, Omoiyari (Empathy), led him to places such as Manzanar, Tule Lake, the Japanese American National Museum, and Japan to learn about Japanese American and Japanese World War II history. Omoiyari explores how empathy and the lack of it has played key roles in our modern quest for social equality. (March 2019)