In our earlier article for “home and living” we had already introduced Kanako to our Japanese readership. Now two years later, Kanako Omae, a 19 year old drummer, will release her very first CD. After the events of 9.11 she changed her approach to music and decided that she wants to heal her audience through what she refers to as ‘tender music.’ Operating from this new approach she wrote and composed 15 new songs for this album.

When she was in her first year of high school, she felt an insatiable passion to play rock music so she quit school and came to New York with her mother Kyoko (a 45 year old) in order to practice music. However, only two days after she moved to NYC, she awoke to see smoke rising over the river dividing Brooklyn from Manhattan - the attack on the World Trade Center had occurred.

In the aftermath of these terrible events, she went to ground zero in order to pray for her victims. She was very frightened and couldn’t understand ‘why the terrorists committed these awful acts’. However, rather than being cowed by these events, she adopted a new approach to music. She decided that she wanted to play ‘tender drums’ as opposed to more violent aggressive music. [This story “Track of Mind – 1 Year after 9.11” was published in the Yomiuri Shinbun on August 3^rd, 2002.]

Since then, she has formed her own band ‘Fake ID’ where she is the only girl among three American male musicians. She named her group “Fake ID” because when she would play gigs as a 16 year old girl, she wasn’t allowed to enter shows because she was under 21 – since then she has constantly lamented not having a fake ID.

Now she plays about once or twice a month in New York. She was discovered by an American producer and they will be releasing her CD in America. She is also selling this CD in Japan and is currently in negotiation with distribution companies there.

The title of the CD is “Welcome to New York”. It’s an instrumental jazz-funk fusion record consisting of drums, keyboard, trumpet and electric bass. The music is also punctuated by a number of light-hearted skits such as one where a bartender refuses to serve Kanako anything besides ‘juice because she’s clearly under 21.’ 

To this day, Kanako’s vision persists: “After 9.11, I realized how music had the power to revitalize and inspire people. I still believe this deeply.” 

For CD information visit her website: www.kanakodrums.com