On this show we take a visit to the Appalachian mountain areas of the United States with fiddler Leona Tokutake. Leona is a classically trained violinist from Tokyo who moved to America to pursue her dream of playing bluegrass music.
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of Appalachia. It has mixed roots in Scottish, Irish and English traditional music, and also it was influenced by the music of African-Americans through incorporation of jazz elements.
Leona is currently touring Japan to promote her latest CD, ‘A New Peace Within’ and joins us to talk about her journey from the big city of Tokyo to the mountains of Tennessee.
Anthony also talks about a recent blog entry by Hikosaemon in his Falling with Style series in which Hiko explores his early days in Japan. In this post titled Panda Ambush, Hiko writes about the early celebrity status he enjoyed as the only caucausian in his Japanese company and the harsh reality when the celebrity spotlight was turned off.
