Taku Hirano

BAND: Taku Hirano

Versatility is a word that comes to mind when speaking of the career of Taku Hirano. Born in Osaka, Japan, and raised in California and Hong Kong, Taku started playing at the age of 9 on classical percussion and drumset, and spent years studying with the principal timpanist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

He later turned his studies onto Brazilian and Afro-Cuban percussion in his teens and attended Berklee College of Music, studying for four years under the tutelage of conga master Giovanni Hidalgo, with South Indian percussion and Middle Eastern frame drum specialist Jamey Haddad, and jazz drumming legend Alan Dawson. Other studies include graduate studies in world music at California Institute of the Arts, West African percussion (including Ewe ensemble drumming with masters Kobla and Alfred Ladzekpo, and Dagomba talking drum with drum chief Dolsi-naa Abubakari Lunna), North Indian tabla with master Swapan Chaudhuri, Japanese taiko drumming in Tokyo through the Nippon Taiko Federation, ethnomusicology studies with author David Locke, Ph.D. (Tufts University), Brazilian percussion with UBB Escola de Samba, as well as a pilgrimage to Cuba to study at the Escuela Nacional de Artes in Havana and privately with percussion masters Roberto Vizcaino and Jose Luis “Changuito” Quintana.

Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles after college, Taku quickly began amassing a body of work performing and recording with artists in just about every genre of music. He has toured the world with Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, Isaac Hayes, Utada, and Lindsey Buckingham.

He has also performed with Stevie Wonder, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Mary J. Blige, Patti Labelle, Barry Manilow, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny Loggins, Chaka Khan, The Backstreet Boys, Brandy, Wyclef Jean, Don Henley, The Neville Brothers, Sheila E., Travis Tritt, Teena Marie, Lisa Loeb, Angie Stone, Faith Evans, Lil' Kim, The Boys Choir of Harlem, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Company; with notable jazz, jazz-fusion, and contemporary-jazz artists such as Gary Burton, Joe Zawinul, Jonathan Butler, Tom Scott, and Bennie Maupin; with gospel artists, Yolanda Adams, Bebe Winans, and Cece Winans; and with international artists such as two-time Academy Award-winning composer A.R. Rahman ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Italian vocal icon Giorgia, Japanese pop superstar Utada Hikaru, Korean popstar U-Know Yunho, Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal, Swedish theatrical drum troupe ConRytmo, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and classical music darlings The Ahn Trio from Korea.

Taku has recorded with artists as diverse as Dr. Dre, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, The Temptations, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, Jason Mraz, Snoop Dogg, and Nelly Furtado, performed on live concert CD's and DVD's with Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler, Lionel Richie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Utada Hikaru, and has worked on numerous major motion picture and television scores and soundtracks. Several of these recordings have won Grammy, Emmy, and American Music awards.

On the production front, Taku is currently producing tracks and remixes for various record labels and artists with his production team, Tao of Sound (including remixes for Kanye West, Kitaro, and The Ahn Trio). In spring 2010, he also launched Queensberry Multimedia with composer and multimedia/web marketing guru Eric Rigaud. Tao of Sound recently signed to DOMO Records and their album METRO was released in summer 2010. They also recently released a sample library, Rare Grooves, in conjunction with Big Fish Audio.

As a consultant, Taku helped Nine Inch Nails on their Lights In The Sky 2008-2009 world tour, working closely with Trent Reznor on instrument selection for the show's percussion interlude (in which every musician onstage played percussion ranging from a 5-octave marimba and timpani to "junkyard" percussion).

Taku recently finished a successful 2-year run with Bette Midler on her Las Vegas-based show, The Showgirl Must Go On, as well as a promotional tour in the U.S. and U.K. for Utada Hikaru (the largest-selling artist in Japanese history) for her recently released English album, This Is The One on Island Records. Other recent performances include a private show with Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics), a performance with A.R. Rahman at the White House for the Obama administration's first State Dinner (hosting Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India), sitting in with the John Mayer Trio at The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel) in Las Vegas, and performing promo dates with Shakira.

Taku continues doing recording sessions and jingles in Los Angeles and New York. He also does monthly hand percussion lessons as a contributing writer to DRUM! Magazine, conducts percussion clinics and workshops around the United States, and is working on instrument designs for MEINL Percussion and stick designs for Regal Tip Drumsticks. His conga, bongo, timbale, and percussion table designs for MEINL Percussion debuted at NAMM Show 2010 in Anaheim, CA. He has also recently been commissioned to compose a piece for Timothy Adams, Principal Timpanist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Taku is currently on tour with A.R. Rahman on the Jai Ho: Journey Home World Tour.