CRS Presents SACO & As It Is: Gratitude to Spring Concert

CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) presents “Gratitude to Spring” with SACO & As It Is and special guest Kevin Nathanial (mbira). Let’s appreciate and embrace the nurturing energy of spring and celebrate it together with singing and dancing!

An eleven-piece, cross-genre music ensemble, SACO & As It Is creates uplifting and soothing sound experiences that unite people spontaneously.

Tickets are $20 and are available via Eventbrite and at the door (cash only). Seating is limited and advanced ticket purchase is highly recommended. Proof of vaccination is not required but you are strongly encouraged to wear a mask.

Saco Myoji: Vocal, Keyboard, Mbira, Kalimba

Sakurako Kataoka: Spoken-word

Michael T.A. Thompson: Percussion

ONE NOTE ONE SPIRIT Choir: Chieko Palenberg, Kashimi Asai, Miyoko Satoh, Motoi Urano, Senko Nishimura, Takemi Kitamura, Tomomi Kawai

Special guest Kevin Nathaniel: Mbira

The multi-instrumentalist, Saco Myoji (aka Saco Yasuma)’s musical experiences are broad; Blues, Funk, Rock, Bossa Nova, Salsa, Jazz, and Free Improvisational music. She blends all together with her native Japan’s melodies and sensibility to express love and gratitude to nature and the Universe and her music uplifts audience’s spirit. Saco appears in clubs, galleries, festivals, and healing/wellness events in Japan and U.S., mostly in the New York City area, including the Celebrating Women Composer Festival, the Vision Festival, the WHAM Festival, and other venues and events. Saco offers various configurations of the ensemble; solo, duo, trio, and often brings the choir, extra percussionists and dancers, depending on the size and occasion of the event. She released the album “AS IT IS is Beautiful” in summer 2018. It features songs in Japanese and English. Saco is a co-founder of One Note One Spirit, the unique sound community for everyone and ATOWA, the piano duo with the celestial sound creator; composer, pianist and crystal singing bowl player, Naoe Moriya who lives in Yokohama, Japan.

Kevin Nathaniel is a visionary musician who, with voice and ancient African instruments, channels sound as a universal healing force. Together, breathing rhythms to the beat of our synchronized hearts, Kevin Nathaniel resonates songs of unity and the “big picture” of love in beautiful ways. A celebrated composer of healing music; a long-time practitioner of the healing arts of mbira, kalimba, circle song, shekere, dance, meditation, and yoga; a world-traveled music healer and performer, sharing the medicine of the ancient, the now, and the beyond, Kevin Nathaniel brings a fresh, deep experience of the beauty of sound.

Kevin Nathaniel’s music is an invitation for us to come together, to share in song, laughter, positivity, movement, and prayer.

Kevin Nathaniel is a Scholar of the House of Yale University. Following Yale, Kevin intuitively devoted himself to the healing music of Africa, especially mbira music. He began constructing instruments, transitioning to vocal music, the playing of various instruments of the African world, dances of Africa, and sacred healing music. His journey has led him to today, where he is an innovative force in the development of a new kind of shamanic music, performing music festivals and ceremonies the world over. His recordings have developed a strong following not only among lovers of uplifting dance grooves, but also among the healing and natural medicine world, while healers have verified that his recordings and performances helped heal trauma, sleep disorders, physical pain, depression and anxiety. Kevin has worked with shamans, channels, doctors, healers, mystics, and medicine people from Africa, Asia, South and North America. He has also worked with Alice Walker, Oprah Winfrey, Jonathan Demme, Madonna, Niles Rodgers, Ephat Mujuru, Dumisani Maraire, Bobby McFerrin, Maestro Manuel, Tito La Rosa, Nana Vasconcelos, Carlos Roberto, Miriam Makeba, Thomas Mapfumo, Dr. Mitch Gaynor, Pedro Cruz Garcia, Titos Sompa, Chief Bey, and Omega Institute (where he serves as musician-in-residence).

kevinnathaniel.com/