Thirteen-year-old Hiroya Tsukamoto picked up a five-string banjo and before long mastered the guitar. In 1994, Hiroya Tsukamoto entered The Osaka University and while at college was introduced to a musical and social movement in South America called Nueva Cancion headed by musical legends such as Victor Jara and Violeta Parra. In 2000, Tsukamoto came to America, having received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Hiroya and his group have appeared several times at the legendary "Blue Note" in New York and have performed at music festivals all over the world, and on television in Japan, Korea and the United States.

HIROYA TSUKAMOTO, 6 p.m., Olympia Timberland Library, 313 Eighth Ave. SE, Olympia, 360.352.0595