Music Manufacturing
Rafael Zendejas has worked for Remo since 1987. When he began, the company was located in North Hollywood. Today he is a factory supervisor within the headquarters of Remo Inc., which is located in Valencia, California. He started in the production end of the factory, sanding drums and soon grew...
Marcial “Robert” Flores knows world percussion! Starting as an entry-level employee as a young man, Robert has worked his way through nearly every process at Remo Inc. and up through the ranks to become the World Percussion Coordinator for Remo, which is no small task. In that role, Robert has...
Thanh Kha has worked for Remo since 1981. He came to this country from Vietnam not knowing any English or Spanish, which was the primary language within the factory. Thanh was determined to learn the language and to do the very best to gain as many skills as possible. The first job he had at Remo...
Hiroaki Oh-oka sat on a thin mat in front of a leg-less table in his traditional Japanese home where he outlined the history of the bamboo flutes his five- man company produced. The company, which his father started as a street vendor in Tokyo, holds a patent for the colorful plastic ends on the...
Takeshi Inomata is the noted jazz drummer who, among other things, helped design the first percussive instruments for Yamaha. His work with Yamaha took place during the early 1960s when the company began providing drum and percussive instruments and accessories. It was a contribution Takeshi was...
Kazuo Matsushita is the son of the founder of Audio-Technica, a creative and innovative company that has been an important part of the music industry since the early 1960s. When Kazuo began working full time for the company, he led the teams that focused on the designs and production of...
Toru Hora was classically trained on the piano and attended Juilliard. He joined the Buffet Crampon company in 1964 and both established and served as president of the Buffet Japan branch three years later. Much of his effort in Japan was to establish the brass instruments into the market and to...
Kenji Chiwaki followed in the footsteps of Toru Hora as the president of Buffet Crampon Japan. Hora-san opened the branch in Tokyo in 1967 and helped establish the brand within the Asian market. Kenji joined the company in 1986 and has focused on the three elements he learned from his predecessor...
Motohichi Harada led the movement that brought the very first marching band to Japan, which took place in 1963. He has since worked for the NHK for over thirty years and formed the Japan Marching Band Directors Association in 1971 and the Japan Marching Band Association the following year. Both...
Nobunari Yanagisawa is the president of the company his father established just before World War II. The company began as a repair shop, which focused on the saxophone. The factory was used for military projects during the war but closed after the war. His father had a difficult time finding raw...