Interviews

1. Realizing Importance of Birthplace

2. Honing Artistic Talent at Camp

3. The Birth of Kinnara

4. Taiko Community

5. Defining "Lifestyle"

6. Playing for Yourself

7. Ocean of Sound: Taiko in the Womb

8. Getting along with "Jichan" and "Bachan"

9. Pushing Taiko to the Limit

10. Influencing Japan

11. Japanese American Taiko

12. Thank You, Shakuhachi

Abe,George

(b. 1944) taiko and flute performer

Honing Artistic Talent at Camp

What stories I had heard about camp growing up were more like nostalgic stories. I think this is true of many Niseis my age, too. There were hard time stories, too, about the sand storms and how cold it was. But my mom wrote poems about this certain kind of natsukashisa—a nostalgia—about the friends that were made in camp.

And my shakuhachi sensei had a very interesting attitude, too. He said camps probably saved the lives of many Isseis because they were working themselves to death, and suddenly they had nothing to do. Having nothing to do, having all this leisure time, actually, for the arts—in terms of shakuhachi, in terms of buyo, in terms of flower arrangement—people have plenty of time. So they got involved in those things. There was a regeneration, a rebirth, of a lot of those arts. They may have died out if it hadn’t been for the camps.

So, always, there are positive and negative. I’m not trying to say the camp experience was a good thing. But people continue with their lives and make the best of whatever they’re involved—situation they’re involved in. I think Japanese did well in terms of surviving that situation.

Date: December 10, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

George Abe (b. 1944), renowned taiko and flute performer, was born at Manzanar concentration camp. He was one year old when his family relocated to Los Angeles, California. His mother was kibei, born in the city of Orange, California, moved to Japan when she was about nine years old, and returned to Los Angeles at about 26 years of age. His father was an Issei.

George grew up among artists and musicians, often attending biwa (lute) recitals with his mother. He played multiple instruments in his school band, including the clarinet, saxophone and oboe. As an adult, George remained fascinated with music, and learned to play the shakuhachi and fue, traditional Japanese flute-like instruments.

George was a founding member of Kinnara Taiko, a taiko group based at Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, and remains associated with them today. Kinnara Taiko was one of the first taiko groups to form in North America, second only to Sensei Seichi Tanaka’s San Francisco Taiko Dojo. George believes in the influential power of art and the energizing effects of taiko. He uses his art to bring cultural, spiritual and community awareness to others. (December 10, 2004)