JYOEN

 Japanese Koto & Shamisen player and Jazz singer songwriter Sumie (Sumi-é) Kaneko has been recognized as a pioneer by her uniquely chromatic use of the instruments. Her project J-Trad And More is well received over the world that is fusing her Japanese roots with the colors of jazz and freedoms of avant-garde. Sumie started playing koto when she was only five years old.  She continued studying the instrument and majored in Japanese traditional music at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. She emigrated to the United States to pursue her masters in jazz vocal training at Berklee College of Music. In addition to her performance work, she has given workshops at  Harvard, Princeton, Wellesley College, Berklee College of Music among others.   She has also gave workshops at academic scenes such as Harvard Univ., Princeton Univ., Wellesley College, Berklee College of Music and many more. In 2014, her group was invited to the Washington DC Jazz Festival that is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Japan. In addition, she was the first Shamisen player to win  a Pulitzer Prize for her performance of Paula Vogel's "The Long Christmas Ride Home", and has collaborated with many of world instrumentalists such as Kenny Endo, Kaoru Watanabe, On Ensemble, Yumiko Tanaka. She has also gave workshops at academic scenes such as Harvard Univ., Princeton Univ., Wellesley College, Berklee College of Music and many more.

International tours: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Jamaica (by Japan Foundation NY), Bangladesh and many of domestic tours including Puerto Rico. In June 2015, she was invited to Delhi, Islamabad, Karachi, Dhaka. The second album “Dead of the Night” was released in July, 2015.