The Team Kawachi Ondo performed for the Japanese Prefectural Association of Southern California Charity Talent Show at Aratani Theatre in September 2023. Photo by Steve Escarcega.
The Japanese traditional dance performing group, “Team Kawachi Ondo” will perform at the Japanese New Year Celebration: Oshogatsu in Little Tokyo presented by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Southern California (JCCSC) and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce Foundation on Jan. 1, 2024 at Weller Court around 2 p.m. and Japanese Village Plaza around 3 p.m.
Team Kawachi Ondo is the only one live music group in Los Angeles focusing on “Kawachi Ondo,” which is a traditional folk dance music originated in the Kawachi district in Osaka, Japan.
It is a unique dance music, and the lyrics are fluid and the melody is like a rap music with rhymes. Therefore, their Kawachi Ondo performance especially for this event includes “Tatsumono Dukushi,” which means anything sounds like “Tatsu” including many Tatsu sound in the song since Tatsu also means “Dragon” in Japanese for cerebrating Year of the Dragon 2024.
Team Kawachi Ondo also performs a live music of “Tanko Bushi” as one of the most popular coal mines traditional dance music and "Uptown Funk,” a song by British record producer Mark Ronson featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars to accommodate more people on site. They also consider localized live music in English, Spanish and other languages for the future events.
Team Kawachi Ondo has performed at New Year Celebration event in Little Tokyo in 2020, 2022, and 2023 for contributing to the Nikkei, or the Japanese American, community with the Japanese traditional culture.
Besides New Year’s event, Team Kawachi Ondo also performed at the Japan Day by Angels 2019, the Taste of Japan in Phoenix, Arizona 2023, the Japanese Prefectural Association of Southern California (JPASC) Charity Talent Show 2023, and other major local events.
Team Kawachi Ondo was formulated in 2018 within the organization of Kansai Club, Inc. (501(c)(3) organization), which is a prefectural association of approximately 150 members. The members for this Japanese New Year Celebration event were experienced musicians to perform in this celebration event to liven it up.
