Kaoru Watanabe’s Bloodlines Interwoven (Concert I)

Bloodlines Interwoven begins with a conversation. With each new iteration of the project that Kaoru Watanabe launched in 2024, the 10 musicians he gathered tell stories about their ancestry and upbringing, unpacking the tales that shaped who they have become for one another. They listen and then improvise, letting those shared narratives inform what they’re playing and what they’re hearing. These early impulses guide the development of a concert-length program that explores the traumas, tragedies, and triumphs that shape all of us. Born in St. Louis to Japanese parents playing in an orchestra, Watanabe studied jazz before committing to extensive study of flutes and taiko drums in Japan. He then became the first American performing member of the Silkroad Ensemble. Lineage has long been key to Watanabe’s work, and Bloodlines Interwoven is the result of a lifetime of considering it in the context of music.

At Big Ears 2026, Watanabe will present Bloodlines Interwoven three times over three days. This group of specially selected players is as diverse as it is esteemed. yuniya edi kwon is a radical violin player who draws on Korean and queer traditions. Born to Pakistani parents in Pennsylvania, Shahzad Ismaily overcame childhood bullying to become one of music’s most prolific multi-instrumentalists. Percussionist Cyro Baptista escaped persecution in Brazil to become a linchpin of the downtown New York music scene, while Fay Victor is a borderless New York singer. Washington’s Kweku Sumbry is committed to the drums as a healing force, while Indian-American drummer and Red Baraat founder Sunny Jain works multiple international intersections of improvisation. gamin is a master of traditional Korean wind instruments, and Mafer Bandola plays that instrument of the South American plains, the bandola. The founder of Irish powerhouse Solas, Seamus Egan adds Irish flute and guitar, while New York’s Marika Hughes comes from a long line of dazzling cellists. They share their stories and their sounds in Knoxville.

Bloodlines Interwoven is supported in part by Loghaven Artist Residency and the Aslan Foundation. Bloodlines Interwoven is made possible with generous support from the Mellon Foundation.