Taiko Saito, geboren in Sapporo, Japan, zä hlt zu den herausragenden Marimba- und Vibraphonistinnen. Nach dem Studium bei Keiko Abe in Japan und einem Abschluss in klassischer Marimba in Berlin vertiefte sie sich in Vibraphon und Komposition bei David Friedman. 2003 grü ndete sie das Duo Koko und die Berlin Mallet Group. Als Mitbegründerin von Futari und im Trio San mit Satoko Fujii und Yuko Oshima ü berwindet sie gekonnt Genre Grenzen. Ihre kreative Reise spiegelt sich in Alben wie KOKO, Futari und Berlin Mallet Group wider. Weltweite Tourneen und Auftritte auf renommierten Festivals zeugen von ihrer globalen Anerkennung. Solistisch beeindruckte sie mit dem Sapporo Symphony Orchestra und dem Orchestra d’Auvergne. Ihr Debü talbum “WALD” mit Michael Griener und Jan Roder sowie “Hibiki” vom Trio San wurden 2023 verö ffentlicht. Mitglied des Trickster Orchestra, des Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra und Potsa Lotsa XL Taiko erhielte den Jazzpreis Berlin 2023.

Yuko Oshima:
Japanese drummer and composer, living in France since 2000. Yuko develops her musical language on drums through improvisation and composition with musicians, dancers, and actors. Her musical research leads her to broaden the sound possibilities, expand her musical universe and also her drumming technique while keeping her passion for sound, rhythm and groove. Her accessories, notably Japanese bowls in her intrumentarium, and the appearance of her voice, offer her possibilities to make her sound universe unique and original. In 2022, Yuko is laureate of the Kujoyama villa where she deepens her musical knowledge on Nagauta, a Japanese traditional music, especially through singing. This residency allows her to enrich and deepen her journey in search of her musical identity.

Rieko Okuda:
Rieko Okuda is a pianist and a composer from Japan. She began to play Classical music at the age of 3. After she graduated from the college, she moved to USA to study Jazz music. She fell right into the Jazz scene in USA, performing with some of the great American Jazz musicians. A couple of years later, she got interested in Free Jazz and Improvised music while she was in Phliladelphia. She performed with the great improvisers such as Marshall Allen (from San Ra Orchestra). Her interests in Improvised music led her to move to Berlin. Also, she satrted to collaborate with contemporary. In 2017 and 2018, she got the residency in Elektronik Music Studio (EMS) in Stockholm, Sweden. This residency experiences inspired her to Electro-
Acoustic field, and she started to invite the electronics to her piano solo pieces. Her first Electro-Acoustic solo album “Paranorm” was integrated chains of microphones and speakers to create feedback ringing overtones. These overtones are also amplified and make waving melodies or almost dancable rythmic patterns over cloud of sounds. In 2020, she has gotten the residency in Visby International Centere for Composers (VICC) to extend her experience, and find more possibilities to create various sounds and composition techniques.