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Interview: Russel BabaSeptember 8, 2005
1. How long have you been a resident in Siskiyou County and what brought you here?
I moved to Mt. Shasta from San Francisco with Jeanne Mercer and our 5 year old son, Masato, in 1983. So I’ve been in Siskiyou County for 22 years! We had friends living in Mt. Shasta - Art Kameda, Laura Masunaga, and Mark Miyoshi, often coming here to camp and visit them. I always loved nature. Jeanne was raised in Alaska and loves nature also. We wanted to raise our son closer to nature.
2. Can you give a short explanation of your specialty or your artistic medium?
I am self-taught on saxophones and flutes. My main personal focus has been on creativity, originality, improvisation, and refining an intuitive natural style. This direction led to performing and touring with recognized jazz artists – pianist Andrew Hill, violinist Michael White, and drummer Eddie Moore. I also have been trained in taiko (Japanese drum) starting with Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1972. Jeanne and I started Shasta Taiko in 1985 and expanded the taiko program in Mt. Shasta with numerous California Arts Council awards.
3. How long have you been making art (professionally and unprofessionally)?I have 39 years experience performing on saxophones and flutes, and 33 years of taiko experience.
4.Is art your full time career?
Yes.I teach taiko. This experience has given me the opportunity to use my creativity teaching and experiencing community art. Recently with the annual Shasta Taiko In Concerts series and now ShastaYama, Jeanne and I are now seeing ourselves not only as artists, but as presenters. We want to present more artists (taiko and other) to the area by supporting and presenting these artists.
5. How have you learned your art? Have you had any formal art education? If so, where, when and for how long?
I’m basically self-taught. The formula is spending time and energy on a passion. I always had a natural ability but did not recognize or value or pursue it until I was a late teen. As a young adult, I was then fortunate enough to attract experienced and sometimes recognized jazz artists working and touring with them. I learned on the bandstand and by the human relationships with these great artists. I learned by listening, observing, and participating. I also had formal training in taiko (Japanese drum) with Seiichi Tanaka and 5 years of gagaku (ancient Japanese court music) with Suenobu Togi.
6. Have you had any special mentors that have influenced you and your style?
The jazz artists that I’ve had the most extensive experience performing and touring with are drummer Eddie Moore, violinist Michael White, and pianist Andrew Hill.
Seiichi Tanaka is recognized as fostering the modern taiko movement in America. In 2001, he was recognized by the NEA with a National Heritage Fellowship. His San Francisco Taiko Dojo is the first taiko group to be established in America and Jeanne and I were a part of his earlier groups. I’m also inspired by former taiko students, Masato Baba (our son) and Shoji Kameda (our “taiko” son) and the many young performers and artists who are taking taiko to higher levels. AND of course Jeanne…
Suenobu Togi was my gagaku teacher. His family is part of the Imperial Gagaku Orchestra of Japan. He is also a music professor at UCLA.
7. 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)
I knew moving to Mt. Shasta was career suicide for me. I was at a crossroads in my life about career and family. I chose to raise my son and live with Jeanne in a natural surrounding. Besides, my approach to music was more “natural” and I thought living closer to nature would inspire me more in this way. I felt confident in my abilities enough inside me that I did not need to showcase so much for the outside. I do miss the stimulation from more artists and musicians and the general energy from larger populations.
Since I moved here, I’ve been mainly focusing on taiko and introducing and developing improvisational and creative skills to taiko students. It is really a miracle – a miracle of hard work, persistence, belief, and faith – that we have introduced and expanded a taiko program in Siskiyou County. When I first started to teach here, I realized that this type of participatory art experience such as drumming was sorely needed. This type of drumming develops group and community consciousness. I think people are attracted to drums because it connects people to each other and the drum being an ancient instrument connects people to the past and the earth, and those connections are missing in the modern lifestyles. It is difficult to maintain and expand a performing group in any situation and is even more difficult with a small population with very little diversity. Taiko is basically Japanese and a very unique art form. Mt. Shasta is basically a white rural alpine community, and it has taken state funding to help establish taiko and over 20 years for the community to support taiko.
People are generally conservative and things move slowly. It is truer in this area. It has only been recently that the local community sees the value in the arts such as what taiko has to offer. Taiko does give experience in a performing art, insights and understanding of Japanese and Japanese American culture, in individual and group drumming, form, improvisation, creativity, discipline, freedom, community awareness and participation in a new American art form. It also builds confidence, self-esteem, body awareness, and ties mind, body, spirit, rhythm, and music together. Now we and the local business community see our potential impact economically as a “cultural tourism” event with our successful past annual concerts and the establishment of the outdoor music festival, ShastaYama.
As a performing artist, the isolation and small population of Siskiyou County brings some unique difficulties – airport access is far (Redding or Medford), having to drive or ship equipment, few local venues to perform, a small population to draw students from, losing students to high school graduation or age or because of a “searching” transient population, few committed performing members, lack of quality events to perform and lack of quality presentations (structure/venue), and very small population of creative artists for inspiration. On the other hand, the outstanding natural beauty combined with a quality arts or cultural event has the potential to draw people to the area with economical impact and short-term low environmental impact.
8. Do you feel like living in Siskiyou County has influenced your art? What aspects have you drawn inspiration from?
As I mention previously, this move to Siskiyou was more a career suicide for me. However, my personal direction has been to refine an intuitive natural style, and I see that reflected everywhere in nature. The trees have form - not straight lines or square or in boxes – and each, even the same species, has individual forms. There are some trunks, branches, leaves, and roots that curve and twist, giving uniqueness to each. Water flows naturally down, carving streams, rivers, and the land. I surrender to gravity. I hope my music reflects a natural flow carving a natural sound. I suppose being surrounded by nature and personally maturing has also helped me to focus on centering, calmness, grounding, and slowing down.
9. 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?
With the success of the annual Shasta Taiko In Concert series at COS and now the establishment of the outdoor music festival, ShastaYama, we are trying to combine the awesome natural beauty of the area with a unique high quality major performing arts event. We hope that a major quality event will make Siskiyou County a destination for people to experience world class art, impacting the local area culturally, artistically, economically, educationally, spiritually, and improve the quality of life overall.
Personally, I’d also like to perform my own music on saxophones and flutes more. There are some small local venues that are now established and can be a space to perform smaller presentations. It is difficult to find and work with local musicians. Many have their own directions. Others are incomplete or limited in skill, experience, and creativity. I have worked with several locals, but rehearsals were more like classes having to train in a more open and sometimes “terrifying” free creative direction. Even our taiko “sons” Masato and Shoji as youngsters did not understand this direction and felt more comfortable with form than freedom. It has been just recently as they gain confidence and experience that they are embracing and more comfortable with this more open direction and improvisation. So perhaps it is this local area, but probably that people in general need patience to develop, patience in effort, and an openness to try other directions and experiences. Another option is to set up more tours away from the area.
10. If you had to describe your style in a few words how would you do this? First 5 words that come to mind?…
Love, open, creative, caring, centered
11. What is it about making art and the creative process that you find most interesting or are most passionate about?
Creativity is life. Finding and doing something you are passionate about is a blessing and a key to life. The creative process inside oneself is more important than the so-called end product such as a work of art or performing at a concert. Developing yourself inside (creativity, confidence, self esteem) is more important than creating an outside work although that work will help one to develop inside.
Creativity is a trial and error process and a very natural way of learning – by doing. The arts, music, writing,
and especially improvisation should and can provide a space theoretically to make mistakes and experiment. I tell
my students to be bold, make big loud mistakes and learn from them. You never learn by being timid or by hiding.
You have to hear the so-called mistake. Even so-called mistakes can be an inspiration or a new direction or idea.
A situation such as music, allows for mistakes without any real consequences. It is not like a life and death
situation even though some artists “play” that it is. I also believe in being open to all kinds of music and experiences. Participating in art provides a rich cultural life and an awareness and appreciation of the creative process, performances, other cultures, art, music, etc. The experience you gain as an artist provides insights into the total experience of life.
12. Do you teach art in anyway or are you interested in being a teacher?
I’ve been teaching taiko and jazz or improvisation for over 30 years. I teach who I am and cover many approaches from traditional to creative art.
13. 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.
I’ve had wonderful experiences as a musician. Bringing taiko down the Grand Canyon to play for the Havasupai on their land, playing taiko in Hopi, participating in Mexican Indigenous ceremonies, participating in Alaskan Native Yup’ik Eskimo dance festivals, participating in local Karok Sweat Ceremonies with singing, playing in major American taiko festivals with hundreds of drummers, performing in Japan which included family and friends, and touring North America and Europe with recognized jazz artists are some of the many life nurturing experiences. Most of the time, it was not the music I played so much, but the people, culture, and music I experienced that I treasure the most.
Here is a story I call Bird Tree:
BIRD TREE I found an isolated place on a hill that overlooked a pretty valley. A large bare tree stood near me. I started playing the saxophone. Down from the valley a large flock of birds’ flies toward me, circles over, and lands in the bare tree. I continue to play. They sing. Soon from a different direction, another flock comes, circles me, and lands in the same tree joining the others. I keep playing. They keep singing. A third group appears, circles, lands, and joins the concert. We play. The sun sets. The three flocks return in the direction from where they came. I pack up and leave. Dinner was wonderful that evening.
14. Is there any way you would like to see your county arts organization better assist you?
In an ideal situation, it would help that an arts organization could create venue to present or showcase art and performing arts. It doesn’t necessarily mean a permanent structure or building, but to organize a show – an outdoor venue or say at COS. Right now, with our own festivals, we are responsible for just about everything. We manage to pull it off, but since we are spread so thin, the art itself suffers the most due to not enough time or energy. We could use some serious responsible preferably experienced volunteers OR perhaps SAC can officially help us as a project.
15. Because of current trends in funding for art programs, all SAC involvement is done through volunteers. Is there anything that the SAC is doing that interests you and that you would like to help us with in the future? Some options: art walk volunteer, teaching program, becoming a member…
Perhaps the organization can work with artists on their projects – suggesting or working on grants proposals, raise funding, community outreach and local fund raising, support with resources, community and art world networking, consultations, marketing, business, etc.
