While
Hiroshima have sold more than three million records in their prolific career, they've done something even more important in the process: they've introduced a variety of traditional
Asian instruments to a global audience, and integrated them seamlessly into a new music and art form. The
Japanese koto, a zither-like, 13-stringed instrument, shakuhachi, a five holed bamboo flute, and the powerful taiko (which literally means "drum") combine with instruments from the
Western Hemisphere to create their unique musical palette.For Hiroshima -- which takes its name from the Japanese city that sustained a nuclear blast during
World War II, yet rose phoenix-like from its own ashes -- the "ride" began in the polyglot metropolis of
Los Angeles. Of all of the members, only June Kuramoto was born in
Japan. She arrived in
Los Angeles when she was six and lived in an
African-American neighborhood. As Dan Kuramoto, her ex-husband recalls, "When she came here from Japan, she couldn't speak a word of
English. As if by providence, the leading koto player of Japan needed a place to teach. This madam Kazue
Kudo taught at June's house in the ghetto. In exchange, June got free koto lessons. As June grew as a classical prodigy, so did the influence of her life in
America. By junior high school she asked her teacher if she could play songs by the
Temptations on the koto. She's always had a soulful feel in her playing." Dan Kuramoto, who sang in a
Baptist church choir during his youth, also grew up with an interest in
African-American music and multi-culturalism. Dan and June formed Hiroshima in
1974. Their self-titled debut on Arista in
1979 spawned the hit single, "Roomful of
Mirrors" and the intense showstopper, "Da Da." They quickly developed a loyal following among cities with African-American audiences -- particularly
Washington, DC;
Chicago and
Atlanta -- and they enjoyed radio airplay on black and contemporary jazz radio stations nationwide.
Their subsequent albums were equally successful. Odori, released in
1980, earned a
Grammy nomination. In
1983, they signed with
Epic and released
Third Generation. Two years later,
Another Place generated the popular single, "
One Wish," and became their first gold record. Go, released in
1987, sat at the top of the
Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart for three months, and the
album won a
Soul Train Award for
Best Jazz Album of 1987.
East, released two years later, contained music from Sansei, Hiroshima's critically acclaimed play that was performed at the
Los Angeles Music Center's
Mark Taper Forum.
Providence (
1992) featured "
Time on the
Nile," a tribute to
Miles Davis (with whom they'd toured before his death in
1991), and an inventive rendition of
Stevie Wonder's "
Ribbon in the Sky."
After their stint with Epic, Hiroshima signed with
Quincy Jones's Qwest label and released LA (
1994), an album that encouraged healing in the aftermath of the
L.A. race riots, and
Urban World Music (
1996), which featured
Quiet Storm sounds with
Average White Band vocalist Hamish
Stewart.
Voted top ten record of the year by
The Network, Between
Black and White followed in
1999 on the
Windham Hill Jazz imprint.
The band joined
Heads Up International, a division of the
Concord Music Group, with the
2003 release of
The Bridge, a recording that extended their unique and universal artistry into the
21st century. They followed with the 2004 release of
Spirit of the Season, a holiday album that celebrates cultural diversity in a way that only a L.A.-based
Asian American band with shades of
Latin percussion and other world music sensibilities can do
. In the spring of
2005, the group released
Obon, their first instrumental record and a tribute to the musicians, places and events that have inspired the band throughout the years. Obon also marked the band's
25th anniversary and the 60th anniversary of the imprisonment of the Japanese during
WWII.
In
2007, Hiroshima released
Little Tokyo. The album title, a reference to the well known Asian neighborhood in southern
California, is the group's nod to the increasing importance in 21st century America of maintaining a positive multicultural world view in the midst of international and intercultural tensions. The band offers an exciting retrospective of their early years with the
August 2009 release of
Legacy. The album features eleven songs from the first ten years of Hiroshima's prolific history -- each re-recorded by the band's current six-member lineup with assistance from four guest artists.
This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.
- published: 19 May 2011
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