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Interview: Jeanne Mercer September 8, 2005
1. How long have you been a resident in Siskiyou County and what brought you here?
I have lived in Mt. Shasta since the fall of 1983. While living in San Francisco, we (Russel Baba & I) made a couple of trips a year to Mt. Shasta to visit friends and go camping, and we fell in love with the area. Our son Masato made the trips with us since he was an infant, and when he was 5, our friends in Mt. Shasta called us in San Francisco one day to inform us that there was a nice place to rent --- we said to save it for us, and we pulled up roots in San Francisco and moved here. We both love nature and the country (I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska when it was a small town), and we wanted to raise Masato in a safe and natural environment.
2. Can you give a short explanation of your specialty or your artistic medium?
Taiko --- Japanese drumming --- is an orchestra of drums of various sizes and pitches performed with athletic, dancelike movements and accompanied with flutes and other melodic instruments and percussion. Russel & I teach and perform our own compositions, and mine are mostly based on traditional taiko rhythms with my own original ideas.
3. How long have you been making art (professionally and unprofessionally)?I began the study of taiko in 1972 with Seiichi Tanaka of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Tanaka is credited as the founder of taiko in America. I studied and performed professionally with the Taiko Dojo for 10 years, performing in North America, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. In 1983 I moved to Mt. Shasta, began teaching taiko in 1984, and have been doing so ever since. I began composing music for taiko in Mt. Shasta and also got into performing jazz and original music on taiko and western trap drums with Russel. We perform professionally with our taiko performing group, our ensemble “Kokoro,” our jazz ensemble, and collaborate with other professional taiko artists and musicians.
4.Is art your full time career?
Taiko --- performing and teaching and composing, and now organizing and presenting taiko events, is pretty much full time.
5. What else do you do as a profession?
I work part time at Berryvale Grocery, but I wouldn’t call it a profession --- it’s just to make ends meet.
6. How have you learned your art? Have you had any formal art education? If so, where, when and for how long?
The taiko aspect is answered in question #3, and I am constantly growing and challenged in my art. I was a serious student of the piano for 12 years in my youth, which has definitely helped me in taiko --- with the technical proficiency and coordination and with the music itself. I also have a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where I studied painting, sculpture, photography --- all of which has influenced the way I view the world aesthetically, and that includes music and taiko.
7. Have you had any special mentors that have influenced you and your style?
My taiko teacher Seiichi Tanaka, of course --- he was a strict disciplinarian and an outstanding musician. Many of his compositions included soloing, which developed improvisational skills --- something which I value and teach to my current students. The outstanding element of Tanaka’s taiko philosophy is Spirit and to communicate that to the audience through the drum. Russel has challenged me to be a better and more creative musician and has reinforced my appreciation of the jazz medium, which I would love to pursue further. Our two top taiko students --- our son Masato and Shoji Kameda --- have gone on to become the leading taiko artists of their generation, and they are incorporating other creative elements in their compositions. Their skill and creativity inspire us and we continue to work together and influence each other. There are several other outstanding young taiko artists/musicians with whom we have developed relationships, and it is turning out to be a fruitful exchange.
8. Can you talk a little about your experience as an artist in Siskiyou County? (In other words, what is unique about being an artist in this area?) (Pros and Cons) (economic, cultural, physical/geographic)
Being an artist in Siskiyou County has been both difficult and wonderful. First of all, we are blessed to live in such a beautiful and inspiring environment, but teaching and performing taiko here has been challenging because of the small population to draw from, especially an Asian and specifically a Japanese American population. However, we have managed to pull off a near “miracle” in establishing Shasta Taiko in Mt. Shasta and Siskiyou County. In the process, we have become a “cultural tradition” in a community which has limited cultural exposure. Taiko in general has become open and welcoming to all, so it is not so unusual to see many non-Asians in taiko groups. Mt. Shasta is so isolated from the rest of the taiko world that for a long time we were not well connected with what was happening elsewhere; to be honest, we kind of enjoyed being in our own little world. That was about to change. As Artists in Residence under a California Arts Council grant for many years, we presented world class artists in performances and workshops here in Mt. Shasta. Taiko was growing tremendously --- there are presently about 200 taiko groups in the U.S. --- and because of our longevity in taiko, Russel & I became sought after as workshop leaders for taiko conferences and for performances in important venues. As a result, we are more connected with the taiko world and regarded as pioneers. The local community has come to value us as a cultural asset and has come forward with significant support, enabling us to present first-class concerts, most recently our first outdoor festival --- “ShastaYama” --- which was very successful and which we hope to present as a yearly event.
9. Do you feel like living in Siskiyou County has influenced your art? What aspects have you drawn inspiration from?
The biggest influence that living here has on my art is, or course, the forces and beauty of Nature. Several of my compositions describe the mountain, the river, the connections we have to all aspects of the Earth and to each other.
10. Do you feel like art in Siskiyou County has any prominent trends or patterns? If so, how do you see your own art in relation to these?
The arts in Siskiyou County appear to be growing despite budgetary setbacks, especially the near elimination of the California Arts Council budget. There are more venues for live performances, the Mt. Shasta International Film Festival, the new Mt. Shasta Repertory Theater, a new dance studio, among others. We have expanded our taiko concerts at the College of the Siskiyous to a spectacular outdoor venue and hope to build it into a major event for Mt. Shasta. However, even with the wonderful support we receive from the community, we are always struggling to maintain and elevate our vision of world class art in this community.
11. If you had to describe your style in a few words how would you do this? First 5 words that come to mind?…For my own style of performing taiko, I would say --- technically proficient, graceful, and spirited. For my compositions, I would say --- dynamic, interesting, colorful, intense, spirited.
12. What is it about making art and the creative process that you find most interesting or are most passionate about?
I find composing very challenging and exciting to see if my vision of a composition becomes a reality. I love the choreographic aspects of taiko --- to create movements that correspond with the music. When I perform taiko, my goal is to communicate with the audience, to convey and share the spirit of taiko with the audience. I always hope that the audience feels joy and inspiration. On quite a few occasions after a performance, an audience member would relate to me that he/she had a healing experience, a tremendous release --- attesting to the power of taiko.
13. Do you teach art in anyway or are you interested in being a teacher?
As I said before, I have been teaching taiko since 1984.
14. Do you have one particularly interesting story about your adventures as an artist? The most unusual work you've done, the hardest work, the most interesting commission, celebrities you’ve worked with, your biggest success story or biggest failure, or your earliest memory of making art.
There are too many to single out only one, but I will relate two of them: performing as a family with Russel and our son Masato is something special and fulfilling, especially since Masato has grown to become one of the top young taiko artists in the country. I also include Shoji Kameda as one of our taiko family, since we taught him from the age of 8 through high school, and he, too, is a top taiko artist, composer, and musician. Another memorable experience is our adventures in Bethel, Alaska for the Camai Yupik Eskimo Dance Festival, where we entered another culture, another world. The festival was amazing in its scope --- three days of music from Eskimo groups from the Yukon-Kuskokwim area and beyond, plus groups from the “outside,” among them Capoiera from Brazil, Hopi from Arizona, Basque from Idaho; native arts and crafts; and a feast of native foods which fed everyone at the festival (3,000?), first serving the elders, then the performers, and the festival-goers. It was an amazing act of sharing, considering the people don’t have that much to begin with. The dancing, singing, and drumming were powerful, humorous, touching, especially considering that, like many indigenous cultures, their ceremonies and rituals were virtually wiped out with the arrival of missionaries and western influence. Their music has come back relatively recently, with the elders committed to passing on the traditions of their people. The most memorable group was from a village of about 100 in the Aleutian Islands --- all youth under the direction of a dedicated teacher. These “kids” were simply amazing in a complete performance, from authentic regalia to stunning compositions, relating aspects of their everyday life, ceremonial life and culture. Another group we made a connection with was Pamyua, who performed traditional music and also their own a-capella singing. We invited them to perform at College of the Siskiyous in 1999, and they were a huge “hit.” The one thing that really struck us is that the Eskimos of that region still practice subsistence living --- they rely to a great degree on hunting and fishing for survival, an experience which they incorporate into their music and storytelling. We conducted several workshops in villages, which were accessible only by bush plane or the “ice highway” – a frozen, vast river. When we were preparing to board the plane, we were asked if we wanted to borrow some parkas --- we at first refused, thinking our Mt. Shasta winter gear would suffice --- they said we should use their parkas for “survival” – we quickly accepted. After flying over desolate, uninhabited terrain, we arrived at a village and were met by 2 snowmobiles pulling sleds, which transported us the rest of the way to the school. Our taiko demonstrations were received with curiosity and enthusiasm, and we will forever cherish the experience.
