Harp & Percussion Duo Concert by Motoshi Kosako & Chris Garcia

Harp & Percussion Duo Concert

About the Duo musicians:

Motoshi Kosako (harp) :

Born in Matsuyama City, Japan. He started his musical training on the piano and also the guitar. In Tokyo, he played the acoustic and electric guitar in professional Jazz bands and the Swing Journal magazine described him as “one of the most remarkable young Jazz musicians.”

In 1997, Mr. Kosako moved to the United States, and soon after he started playing the harp. He is primarily self-taught with a few lessons to learn fundamental harp technique. He was the principal harpist of the Stockton Symphony Orchestra in California between 2005-2010 and the featuring soloist for the 2009-2010 season.

His latest music innovation is improvisation and composition for the harp. In 2007 he won second place in the Lyon & Healy International Jazz & Pop Harp Competition and received the “Best of Sacramento” award from Sacramento Magazine as “Best Jazz Hound in Tie and Tail”. Sacramento Magazine says, “Kosako plays with fluid, modern style that evokes Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.” His groundbreaking style is also noted in Harp Column as “Motoshi Kosako, a Japanese native whose introspective soloing was reminiscent of Keith Jarrett.” He plays numerous original compositions and standards as solo or in trio and quartet. Since 2008 he started touring internationally to give performances and various workshops and he is considered one of the most influential Jazz harpists in the world. He tours internationally to give concerts, lectures, and workshops. The numerous international music festivals he was invited to include “The Future of the Harp in Yokohama” in Japan, “VIII Rio Harp Festival” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, “American Harp Society National Conference 2014” in New Orleans, and “World Harp Congress, Sydney 2014” in Australia.

He performs improvisation and original compositions as solo or in ensembles with top jazz musicians including Grammy award-winning reeds player, Paul McCandless, master acoustic bassist, Bill Douglass, and innovative electric fret-less bassist, Michael Manring. He released 2 classical solo albums in 2002 and 2003, and 10 jazz albums between 2008 and 2017.

In 2008, he joined the NPO holistic health research group in Japan (Total Health Research Group) and began conducting research projects involving sound healing and the practical application of music to occupational fields for the promotion of health. In 2012 the public medicine professional journal, “Science of Public Health” in Japan published his research article “Total Health and Music”. He holds a B.S. in health science and nursing and is a registered nurse and public health nurse along with a 2nd-degree black belt in Judo.

Chris Garcia (tabla, percussion):

A native of (EAST)Los Angeles, Christopher is a critically acclaimed performer, improviser, composer, and educator who has made a career with over 1200 performances in 28 countries on 5 continents, either on Western drumset, percussion of North and South India, percussion of indigenous Mexico, Meso America or his unique percussion configuration called EL MONSTRO which contains instruments from all of the above all within arms reach.

His fascination with rhythm and the color of sound allows him the opportunity to be a group member and frequent collaborator/composer with various critically acclaimed classical, jazz, rock, and world music ensembles with whom he continues to concertize within the US and abroad.

His website on indigenous instruments of Mexico and various YOUTUBE demonstrations of the instruments in solo and ensemble settings continue to be acknowledged as an excellent educational overview of these instruments, their histories, and performance practices with an average of 3,000 visits per month.

As a composer, he continues to garner critical and popular acclaim and commissions for indigenous instruments of Mexico/Mesoamerica and India and classical guitar, marimba, piano, string quartet, western harp, and woodwind quintet.