Merkle Kulturkonzepte

Walter Lang und Takuya Taniguchi

European piano tradition meets the art of drumming of “the land of the rising sun”

The project:
For years the two artists have been friends and were playing together, as if they were born in the same hemisphere. Of course, the reverse is true.
Walter Lang grew up in a small swabian town and Takuya Taniguchi was born and raised in the japanese Fukui prefecture.
Opposites that attract each other on stage.
Mighty sounds and ultralarge soundscapes of the Taiko drums hit on subtle and lyrical piano improvisations.
Japanese Folksongs affiliate with western jazz styles.
Archaic japanese rhythms are being added to Lang’s original compostions.

Walter Lang:

„the poet“, „the lyricist“, „the romantic“ – For years, pianist and composer Walter Lang has been an important member of the european jazzscene.
Countless concerts and tours with his own bands and jazz stars like Lee Konitz, Don Menza, Chico Freeman, Dusko Goykovich and many others show his great musical diversity and creativity.
He cofounded the Rick Hollander Quartet and Trio ELF, two bands with a wide international recognition. His jazz adaptations of baroque compostions and works from the romantic era are “legendary”.
He is also a brilliant composer. The renowned magazine “Fono Forum” says:
Lang´s lovable compositions share the same quality, that great music has. “They entertain you from the very first time and show their deeper meaning, the more you listen to them”
Not everyone in Europe knows, that for many years Lang has been a celebrated jazz artist in Japan. He recorded five CD´s under his own name for the superb M&I Label in Tokyo and has been touring Japan once a year since 1991.

Takuya Taniguchi
Since 1999 he is leading and composing for his taiko group “Tenryu Daiko”.
In July 2002 he won the special grand prize from the City of Vienna at the Viennese World Youth Music Festival.
In 2003 he has been selected as a member of the “Fu-un no Kai”, presided by Mr.Eitetsu Hayashi, who is a leading Wadaiko player. In the same year he performed at the „International Taiko Festival Ecstasia 2003“. He has also performed in other concerts, such as the Count Down Concert at Osaka Festival Hall, “Tokyo Summer Music Festival
2004”, and Shimanami Music Festival.
His first joint appearance with Walter Lang took place at Kaze no Mori Hall in Fukui in September of 2005. In September of 2006 he performed in “Ku-kai Sen-kyo” at the National Theater in Tokyo as a member of Eitetsu Hayashi’s Fu-un no Kai.

Press Photos

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