On music

The origin of name Kishi Bashi His Shin-Issei parents On being Japanese and American On his songfilm Omoiyari The reason for creating the songflim Omoiyari On music

Transcripts available in the following languages:

[Playing violin]

I’ve been playing violin since I was seven maybe? But I never…I never thought it could be a profession.

I was pretty heavy into classical music in high school, as well as metal, which is what everybody my age was into. After that I went to jazz improvisation and so I really got heavy into improvisation which is a very social art form.

My parents encouraged, I went to engineering school first and I flunked out, but they knew how much I loved music, so they let me go…

I think I use it as a shield to hide behind. Because if I didn’t have my music I feel like I’d be kind of worthless. That might be a part of, maybe my minority identity…that’s hiding behind my skillset.

Date: August 21, 2018
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Sharon Yamato
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

identity music musician violin

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