International music creator and composer
International music
creator and composer
Miguel Hiroshi was born in Kamakura, Japan, to parents from southern Spain’s Andalusia, the region most known for flamenco. His family left Asia soon after and returned to Spain, settling in La Alpujarra, a region in Granada where Hiroshi grew up surrounded by nature.
A beloved grandfather, a folkloric lute and mandolin player, inspired Hiroshi’s path towards music as a child. Under the tutelage of German musicologist and music therapist, Dagmar Trichtinger, Miguel Hiroshi tried a variety of instruments like the piano, flute and electric guitar. Then, at the age of thirteen, he started to focus on percussion, the beginning of a deep love affair with rhythm.
Not long after, Hiroshi sought the teachings from world percussion masters Niti Ranjan, Yogesh Samsi and Ghatam V. Suresh (India); Los Rumberos de Cuba, El Piri y Los Chinitos de la Corea (Cuba); Zohar Fresco (Israel); Misirli Ahmet (Turkey); Ernest Maçanet (Barcelona) and Rubem Dantas (Brazil).
Miguel Hiroshi then earned a bachelor’s in World Music and taught World Percussion at Rotterdam Conservatory. Also in the Netherlands, he completed a Master’s degree in Jazz at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
Through experimentation and discovery, Hiroshi developed masterful sound sensitivity, the skill for creating percussive resonance from almost anything his hands touched. Hiroshi became also well-versed in percussion instruments of African, Mediterranean, Caribbean, South-American and Indian origin. Since 2006, Hiroshi has also been playing, exploring and producing music with an instrument called Hang (also known as the handpan, pantam or hang drum), a kind of melodic steel drum recently created and believed to bear no culture or heritage behind it. Adapting his techniques, knowledge and musicality, Hiroshi has created his own unique style for Hang drum playing.
Miguel Hiroshi’s first album, Oniriko Orinoko, was recorded in 2018 between Europe and the United States, and was inspired by a powerful dream Hiroshi had about one of South America’s great rivers, the Orinoco. In early 2020 his EP Tani Avartanam come out, rhytmical and percussive music inspired on southern Indian Karnatic Music.
Hiroshi’s next albums are a work-in-progress that explores soundscapes with different intentions: dance, introspection, meditation and healing.
During the past twenty years, Hiroshi has worked on multiple music projects with world-renowned artists such as Mirabai Ceiba, Jorge Pardo, Josemi Carmona, Tomatito, Chick Corea, Shai Maestro, Sandra Carrasco, Antonio Serrano, Jose Manuel Leon, Ricardo Moreno, Zohar Fresco, Ghatam Suresh, Javier Colina, El Piraña, La Kaíta, Karen Lugo, Isabel Bayón, Kudsi Erguner, BVR Big Band, Tunisia National Orchestra, among many, many others.
He has also toured in more than 30 countries around the world performing in renowned venues and festivals such as Concertgebouw and Bimhuis (Amsterdam), NorthSea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam), Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Drom (NYC), Katara Oud Festival (Doha), flamenco festival (Mont de Marsans), Nymes Flamenco Festival (Nymes), L’auditori (Barcelona), Boom Festival (Portugal), Fex (Granada), Etnosur (Jaen), Sziget Festival (Budapest), Auditorio Black Berry (Mexico City), International Festival of Carthage (Tunisia), International Cirque Festival (Montreal), among many others.
Currently, Miguel is Madrid based spending his life on Music creation. Parallel to his own music production he works as a music producer and composer for other artists and develops new content for the MHMA (Miguel Hiroshi Music Academy) from his music studio in Madrid.
MHMA is a platform to learn music online. A great way to learn about rhythm, handpan, world percussion instruments and more.
Miguel has become a respected versatil multi-instrumentalis, music producer, music creator and composer and music teacher.
Miguel Hiroshi © 2018-2020
