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(Click to hear) "Sunshine"
"Tenkoo" is a Japanese
Buddhist word meaning "Seventh Heaven" "Tenkoo" is an apt name for this
band! They move through hauntingly beautiful sounds and resonances to
innovative beats and rhythms, creating their tribal rock music. Hiroki
Okano - founder member of Tenkoo Orchestra - is a multi- instrumentalist,
playing - among others - synth, bouzouki, flute, syamisen and percussion,
as well as being an impressive vocalist and accomplished composer. With
Tenkoo he combines traditional instruments with contemporary electronic
sounds to make a unique "east meets west". Through their music Tenkoo
Orchestra express and share their belief that all beings, together with
the earth, are resonating and harmonising. Hiroki is significant on the
Japanese New Age and ethno-ambient-techno scene, where he also produces
and works as a musical director. His experience is wide and varied. He has
composed, recorded and played live as a solo artist, with The Wind
Travelin' Band, Leela and many others, as well as composing for theatre,
film, dance, radio, TV and environmental projects. He has toured
extensively in Japan, the US and UK, where he has appeared with his bands
on Glastonbury Festival's Jazz World and Avalon stages and in the Green
Futures Field, in clubs on the London ambient dance scene, the Barbican and a whole variety of other venues around the country. Since 1991
Hiroki has created fifteen sound installations, hanging over 1000 wind
bells in diverse, natural surroundings, to make a new 'sound-space' -
evolving a music which is created by and in harmony with nature. Together
with his wife, the graceful and entrancing dancer and singer, Hiroko Kawanishi, who also performs with Tenkoo Orchestra - Hiroki holds
workshops of impressive vitality, based on music and dance as therapy.
Tenkoo Orchestra includes Yasuhiro Minamizawa (sitar, surbahar and harp) -
Masahiro Bessho (tabla, percussion, didgeridoo) - Masazane Nobuto (vocal,
djembe, percussion) - Akira Hino (bass) - Koichi Nakajima (keyboards) -
Tomo Yamaguchi (violin). They have a wealth of diverse experience playing
live in concert internationally and recording, as solo artists and in many
different bands. They compose, collaborate and play with artists from all
over the world - including working in experimental theatre, dance, prose
and poetry recitals and meditation workshops.
(Click to hear LEELA
track) "Leela#4"
Hiroki Okano with
Tenkoo Orchestra - Peace Flame Tour 2000
When Hiroki and Tenkoo came on tour to the UK in 2000,
they brought with them the Peace Flame, which had been lit from the fires
of Hiroshima and preserved in a lamp since that time in memory of those
who had died, and as a symbol of peace. They took the flame to Glastonbury
Festival and many people visited it. The Peace Flame continues to burn in
England, courtesy of the Tibet Foundation who agreed to look after it.
Japan 2001
In 2001 Hiroki, Hiroko Kawanishi and Koichi Nakajima, together with Dave
Goodman and Kathy Manuell, took part in a festival in the UK, sponsored by
the Japan Foundation, celebrating Japanese culture. They went on tour for
a month playing both traditional and modern Japanese music and giving
workshops, in schools, museums, parks and at festivals. They demonstrated
many traditional Japanese instruments and Hiroko performed ancient dances,
some of which were Shinto prayers, as well as improvising modern dance.
She also taught a group traditional dance at the schools and workshops. It
was a fascinating tour and brought many previously unknown aspects of
Japanese culture to a British audience.
 
(Click to hear) "Maholoba"
Later that year Hiroki travelled to Pearl Harbour, Hawaii to take part in
the first of several Global Peace Ceremonies he has attended there.
In 2002 he joined "The Long Walk for Big Mountain" - along with fellow
Japanese colleagues and the Native American Indians who live there in
Arizona, in a bid to save the mountain from companies who wish to take
over the Indian lands. Hiroki and Tenkoo Orchestra produced a CD called
"Gift" in honour of The Long Walk. This was followed by another
recording entitled "Rise".
In addition to the above Hiroki released a solo album called "Shoukou"
that year.
In 2003, as well as recording and performing with Tenkoo Orchestra, he
attended peace ceremonies and festivals in Japan and Hawaii and made
another visit to Big Mountain.
2004 found Hiroki returning to Glastonbury Festival in the UK, this time
with Nigel Shaw and Guillermo Martinez as "Bamboo, Cedar, Oak" playing
traditional flutes and drums.
click here for more information:
www.tenkoo.com
AVAILABLE ON CD: Tenkoo
Orchestra: Rainbow Tribe (LP) and Dragon Dance (EP).
Leela: Leela (LP) Hiroki
Okano: Maholoba (EP)
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