Enjoy an entertaining and educational concert with shamisen virtuoso Sato Michiyoshi on his first US tour! Sato is an award-winning performer of Tsugaru-jamisen, a dynamic style of music played with a three-stringed Japanese banjo called a shamisen. The style has been adapted for contemporary audiences, and Sato himself glides between traditional, jazz, rock, and neo-folk modes, performing solo, with his father, and with his genre-crossing Kotobuki BAND. In this one-hour performance, Sato will focus on demonstrating the range and flexibility of the instrument. The event begins with introductory remarks by Joshua Solomon, a PhD candidate in the University of Chicago’s East Asian Languages and Civilizations program.

Sponsored by the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the United States Department of Education.