Kenny Endo

Kenny Endo (born April 2, 1953) is an American taiko performer, composer, and educator. He is the artistic director of several taiko ensembles and tours regularly performing both traditional and contemporary works. Endo is the first non-Japanese national to receive a natori (professional stage name) in hogaku hayashi, the classical Japanese performing art found in Kabuki and Nagauta. Endo performs composes as a solo artist, with his ensembles, and in collaboration with other artists from diverse genres.

Early life and Education Kenny Endo was born on April 2, 1953, in Los Angeles, California, to Japanese American parents--an Issei (first generation) father and a Nisei (second generation) mother. He grew up in Los Angeles with one brother and three sisters, and was exposed to elements of Japanese culture while being raised primarily in an American environment. From an early age, he developed an interest in percussion and began playing drums at age nine. During middle school and high school, he performed in school bands and orchestras, and also played his own drum set.

Endo attended the University of California, Santa Cruz before transferring to UCLA where he studied Political Science and Ethnomusicology. In 1973, while still a college student, he participated in a six-month field study on a Native American reservation in Arizona, the site of the former Poston War Relocation Center, the largest Japanese-American incarceration camp during WWII. The experience was a turning point in his life and prompted him to explore his Japanese American heritage more deeply.

That same year, Endo was introduced to kumidaiko (ensemble taiko drumming) after attending a performance by the San Francisco Taiko Dojo perform in San Jose. In 1975, he joined Kinnara Taiko, one of the earliest taiko ensembles in North America, based at the Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles.

Career However, at the time Kinnara Taiko was only playing during the Obon festival season, and Endo wanted more practice. He consequently spent a summer studying with Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo (SFTD), and, after finishing school at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1976, he moved to San Francisco to continue working with SFTD.

Music Currently Endo has two main performing groups: The Taiko Center of the Pacific Performing Ensemble (TCP, formerly the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble aka KETE) and the Kenny Endo Contemporary Ensemble. The Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble was started around 1991, and today has 3 groups: one based in Japan, one in Hawaii, and one on the mainland US.

Collaborations and awards Kenny Endo has worked with numerous artists on many distinguished projects. His works include, but are not limited to, opening for The Who, performing a duet with singer Bobby McFerrin, performing for Michael Jackson and Prince, as well as Princess Diana and Prince Charles. He has performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Honolulu Symphony, and the Tokyo Symphony. Endo has recorded music for 3 films: Kayo Hatta’s “Picture Bride,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” and James Cameron’s “Avatar.” He was also featured in the PBS special, “The Spirit of Taiko” (2006). Branching more and more into other genres of music, in 2026, Endo collaborated with the Hawaii Chamber Music Festival, as well as the Hawaii Symphonic Band conducted by Ernest Taniguchi.

Endo has received commissions to compose and tour new music from the American Composers Forum, the McKnight Foundation, The Children's Theatre Company, the Rockefeller Foundation (MAPP), the Japan Foundation, Continental Harmony, the Freeman Foundation, Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Stanford Lively Arts, and the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts. Rhythm Summit: featuring Noel Okimoto, Dean Taba, and Kenny Endo Honua (earth): featuring Derek Nakamoto and Kenny Endo Island Breeze: featuring Jeff Peterson, Riley Lee, and Kenny Endo

Uncommon Time: featuring Abhijit Banerjee, John Santos, and Kenny Endo (release pending) Honua II: featuring Derek Nakamoto (keyboards) and Kenny Endo (release pending)