Emi Meyer’s Relief Concert

Emi Meyer, the 2007 Seattle-Kobe Sister City Jazz Vocalist winner, held a Great Eastern Japan Earthquake relief concert at a Seattle Japanese sushi restaurant on April 1^st and 2^nd.

In an effort to raise money for the victims of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, many sushi restaurants throughout Seattle have donation boxes or host relief effort events.  At the restaurant where Ms. Meyer held her concert, there were several ways they tried to raise money for Japan.  In addition to her concert, prior to the event, T-shirts were for sale and the proceeds were donated to charities for Japan.  Also, the restaurant pledged to donate 10% of their profits to Japan.

Ms. Meyer held one concert on Friday and two on Saturday.  In addition to the money earned from the concert, she donated a portion of her CD sales to the relief effort.

Ms. Emi Meyer

Full house at the 7th Annual Seattle Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition

The 7^th Annual Seattle Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Auditions on March 21, 2011 had a full house of 300 people at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in downtown Seattle, where ten contestants competed for a chance to perform in Kobe, Japan at the Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Contest. 

7th Annual Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley

The Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Contest was originally created as a means of cheering up the jazz loving citizens of Kobe after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake which struck the city in January 17, 1995. This program has continued on past the originally anticipated 5 year program to its current 12th year. This year’s Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Contest will be held on May 15 at the Kobe Asahi Hall, moving from its previous location on Shinkaichi Street.

The May contest crowns the winning vocalist as Queen to sing in an overseas concert in Kobe's sister city of Seattle. Seattle also began its Sister City Female Jazz Vocalist Audition in 2005 to send two jazz vocalists to Japan to open for the Contest in Kobe and is currently in its seventh year.

From Left to Right: Kelila Gottlieb, high school division winner; Jacqueline Tabor, adult division winner; Margaret Davis, high school division runner up; Leah Natalie, adult division runner up

Monday’s auditions are divided into two categories: the high school division and the adult division. This year had some extremely tough competition and the judges had their work cut out for them. However, there can only be one winner in each category and so the winners were Ms. Kelila Gottieb for the high school division and Ms. Jacqueline Tabor for the adult division. The runners up were Ms. Margaret Davis of the high school division, and Ms. Leah Natale for the adult division. 

2007 Seattle Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition Adult Divison winner Emi Meyer

 Additionally during the Female Jazz Vocalist Auditions intermission, PeaceWinds America collected disaster relief donations for the recent Japan Tohoku Earthquake and the audience also had the rare treat of previous winners, 2010’s Ms. Kelly Eisenhower and Ms. Ariel Pocock on stage to say remarks as well as the 2007 Seattle Kobe Sister City Jazz Vocalist Adult Division winner, Ms. Emi Meyer, perform songs in both English and Japanese. Ms. Emi Meyer also dedicated that sales of her cds from the show would be donated to the Japan disaster relief effort.

This program was sponsored by the Seattle-Kobe Sister Cities Association, Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Sankei Travel, Shinkaichi Music Street, and KTIO.

Tempei Nakamura in Seattle

On March 19, 2011 Kobe pianist Tempei Nakamura, a Kobe native whose music career often takes him between his current residences of Tokyo and New York, performed at Seattle's Benaroya Hall for his latest United States tour.

Pianist Tempei Nakamura set

Though initially studying piano at age 5 through elementary school, a flirtation with rock music through middle school and high school prevented Nakamura from pursuing classical and jazz music until he went to the Osaka University of the Arts. Even these days as he performs, wearing a red t-shirt and jeans, evokes a more casual atmosphere in the formal world of classical music.

This was Nakamura's second concert in Seattle. In light of the recent earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan, the concert''s originally planned nine songs was changed to include two new songs dedicated to the victims of the disasters. Nakamura understands what the survivors are going through as he himself was a victim of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, losing his home in the East Nada Ward in the City of Kobe in 1995. With this in mind, he addressed the crowd during intermission to speak his feelings and thoughts.
One heartfelt message was clear, "There's a feeling of wanting to do something and not knowing what to do, but even though we're far away there's still something that can be done."

In the lobby after the concert, the non profit organization, Reach Out To Japan, accepted donations for the Japan disaster relief.

T-shirts for sale with proceeds to go to the Japan Disaster Relief

We were able to obtain Mr. Tempei Nakamura's autograph after the concert. Thank you for the phrase "Ichigo Ichie" or  "once in a lifetime experience".