Wynn Kiyama is an assistant professor of musicology and ethnomusicology and the music history coordinator at Portland State University. He received a Ph.D. in musicology from New York University and has taught at Rutgers University, Westminster Choir College, Columbia University, and held an artist residency at Colby College.
Kiyama trained with the San Jose Junior Taiko Group, Soh Daiko, Kiyonari Tosha of the Nihon Taiko Dojo, Takada Yosuke of the Tokyo Chindon Club, and the Tachibana School of Nihon Buyou. He has performed with a wide variety of musicians including Arturo O'Farrill and the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Badal Roy, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jason Kao Hwang, Sang Won Park, and Korn at such venues as the Knitting Factory, Galapagos, Birdland, Vision Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, United Nations, and the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He leads the Japanese street music group HAPPYFUNSMILE and the experimental trio KIOKU, and has recorded on the Quiet Design record label.