POP MUSIC REVIEW : Hiroshima Has the Potential to Lead the Way for Culture-Crossing Groups : Music: Fusion band combines Latin rhythms with Asian instrumentation and rock attack. It could well set the pace for music mix in the ‘90s.

Hiroshima is a true fusion band: Not only does it combine rock rhythms with jazz sensibilities, it moves across cultural boundaries, bringing traditional Japanese instruments and phrasing to its contemporary pop direction.

The group’s performance Sunday before an enthusiastic audience at the Celebrity Theatre showed why this mixture has worked so well through six albums. It also pointed out some limitations.

The core of Hiroshima consists of Johnny Mori on percussion and taiko (large, festival drums), June Kuramoto on koto, Dan Kuramoto on flute, saxophones and keyboards, drummer Danny Yamamoto and vocalist Machun. Add bass, guitar, another keyboardist, another percussionist and a couple of backup singers, and one gets an idea of how big a sound this band can generate.

Most of the tunes heard Sunday were from the band’s recent release “East,” a proclaimed “celebration of America’s greatest resource, the cultural diversity of its people.” Dan Kuramoto, who was born in East L.A., spoke a couple of times on this theme during the show to great applause. But the most impressive statement was made by the music, which combined Latin rhythms with Asian instrumentation and rock attack.

The group’s unique sound depends on this instrumentation. Mori added percussive depth with the taiko while adding emphatic clacks from the drum’s rim. His unaccompanied solo built slowly until he was whirling between the two drums with a dancer’s grace while beating out an involved, funky backbeat.

Or take the koto, the Japanese string instrument that looks like a bloated guitar and is played in the horizontal position with movements that suggest the weaving of cloth. Most of us in this country are familiar with its fragile, considered sound through advertisements in which it is used to suggest our stereotype of traditional Japan.

In the hands of June Kuramoto (and sufficiently amplified), the koto rocked out with authority, and provided a sweet touch to ballads. On her own “I’ve Been Here Before,” Kuramoto plucked out the theme emphatically, adding trills and harplike embellishments.

But she had little time to display the instrument’s delicacy. Though it easily could be heard above the guitars and keyboards, one wonders how much of the koto’s inflection was lost because of amplification. More time should be given Kuramoto to continue her slow-hand explorations.

Vocalist Machun, who occasionally strapped on a guitar to rock along with sure-footed bassist Dean Cortez, showed a wide range and plenty of strength but little character to go with it. Her best moments were on “Thousand Cranes” (dedicated to a young victim of the Hiroshima bombing) and a funkified “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” which featured Dan Kuramoto on soprano saxophone.

Keyboardist Kimo Cornwell took the evening’s most harmonically interesting solo, sounding at times like a young Herbie Hancock. Drummer Yamamoto showed agility and drive without overpowering the proceedings. The percussive mix (and cosmopolitan makeup of the band) benefitted from the addition of Luis Conte, whose conga playing was a pleasant counterpoint to Mori’s taiko.

Despite a fair balance of ballads and hard-hitting rockers, some of the material began to sound familiar as the show wore on. Still, as further explorations of the cultures embraced by this band yield new musical ideas, Hiroshima well could set the pace for fusion bands in the ‘90s.