Shigeri Kitsu

Shigeri Kitsu

Minyo folk song singer and taiko drummer. Born in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Pref. as the eldest daughter of the minyo shakuhachi flute artist Takemine Kitsu. She learned minyo singing from her father, shamisen from Hidetaro Honjo, taiko drum from Tsurukimi Yamada. She performed on radio and television minyo programs from childhood and on the stage. After graduating from high school, she participated in collaboration performances with artists from a variety of music genre including pops, jazz and world music. In 1997 she began activities as a solo artist after participating in the 1st World Folk Music Festival on Uzbekistan with her own unique style of playing the drums as she sang. In 2002 she formed the performance duo Tsuru to Kame with the renowned Tsugaru shamisen master Katsuaki Sawada. With the aim of reviving the original easygoing, energetic nature of minyo music, she has concentrated efforts on performance that focuses primarily on the songs themselves. She has actively performed overseas, including tours to Los Angeles in 2002, Indonesia and Singapore in 2003, New York in 2004, Italy and Germany in 2008, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan in 2009 and Shanghai in 2010. She also performs minyo music in a duo with her sister Kaori Kitsu.