June 9, 2009
Summer Travels, Day 2 – June 8
Today was the first day of my taiko workshop. Needless to say, it was great (even if a bit tiring, giving that it was nearly 4 hours of classes). I’m looking forward to the rest of the week – it’s going to be a nice mix of technique and creativity exercises.
Also was allowed to sit in on a video viewing that Kenny Endo for members of his ensemble and the youth taiko group from Taiko Center of the Pacific – they watched videos from the groups that the youth ensemble is going to study with in Japan in a few weeks, as well as the video from a concert they gave in April. One of the guests of the April concert was an ensemble from Japan named Hachijo Taiko. One of the members of Hachijo Taiko is blind, which made watching his performance on the video all the more awe-inspiring. He couldn’t see the drum, but his body knew exactly where it was and where he needed to hit (once he got into place). If you ever needed an example of muscle memory, it was right there.
Not many pictures today, though. Probably not too many tomorrow either. I’m hoping to go to Manoa Falls on Wednesday morning, so perhaps that update will be more visually pleasing. For the meanwhile, check out the few I took today. As always, they’re linked below.
Until next time!
June 8, 2009
Summer Travels, Day 1 – Honolulu
The adventure has begun! Today was mostly a travel day, but there were still surprises to be had.
I woke up at 4, and left for the airport around 5. The first leg of my trip – Pittsburgh to Phoenix – was pretty uneventful. I slept the majority of the 4 hour flight, so it passed rather quickly. The Phoenix to Honolulu leg, on the other hand, was a typical 5-6 hour flight. A few videos games were played, some movies were watched, some sleep was attempted – the latter attempt failed, however. Oh well.
Nevertheless, I arrived in Honolulu, got my rental car, and made my way to the hotel. Once I was settled in to some extent, I set of for food and to explore the Waikiki area (where I’m staying). I had read about a supposedly-good Japanese noodle restaurant on the Lonely Planet website, and was looking forward to eating there. However, the place no longer exists… I probably should have been alerted to the fact that something was off when the reviews on the Lonely PLanet and others stop around 2007, but by this point I had been in the air for 10 hours and was just wanting something to eat.
Not letting that get me down, I decided to walk around Waikiki Beach for a while. Took some pictures – including a few of myself, which is rare. Beyond the fact that a friend asked to me, I figured that perhaps I should have some photo proof that I’ve been everywhere I say I’m going. They didn’t turn out that great, due to lighting and the fact that I was taking them myself (self-photos rarely turn out well, do they), but regardless there are pictures.
It turns out that today was the last day of the Honolulu Pan-Pacific Festival, so I got to see the ending parade after I finally got some food. It seems like the festival is a cross-cultural celebration between Japan and Honolulu, primarily. There were taiko groups, Japanese dance groups, and hula groups (including groups from Japan dancing the hula). There were also a few Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean groups, but the focus seemed to be on Japan. All in all, it was a pleasant surprise, and a nice way to spend a few hours.
I’ve uploaded all the pictures fI took today to my gallery, along with a few videos I took during the parade. Click on the below picture to check them out.
Tomorrow, the taiko workshops begin!
Waikiki Beach
May 21, 2009
Taiko in Pittsburgh
Now, it may seem a bit odd, my focus on taiko, especially considering that: a) there is not a big Japanese population in Pittsburgh (one of the smallest Asian populations in the city, according to the 2000 census); b) there isn’t a taiko group nearby (the nearest one is Icho Daiko, 3 hours away in Cleveland); and c) tours by the larger groups like Kodo rarely come through town.
However, when you take a closer look Pittsburgh has been pretty lucky on the taiko front. Even if the big groups rarely come around (San Jose Taiko did visit in Oct. 2007), This probably stems from the fact that most groups rely on the involvement of local groups to help support their concerts – no group generally means no concerts. Still, even though the Japanese populace in Pittsburgh is small, it tends to come out in droves for events. San Jose Taiko’s concert proved that, as did a performance by the Pittsburgh-born enka singer Jero, the recent Pittsburgh Sakura Project planting ceremony, and other such events.
Even with that being the case, there have been several taiko concerts every year for the past several years, thanks to area organizations. The DrumTalk Rhythm Festival, hosted by the organization Afrika Yetu, has for the past few years featured among the guests artists Takumi Kato, the 2008 winner of the Tokyo International Taiko Contest (the youngest such winner). Takumi’s visits to the area have also been sponsored by the Bethany College Japan Outreach Program from Bethany, WV (ab0ut a hour southwest of Pittsburgh). He’s also given workshops and performed concerts in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio area.
Similarly, Bethany’s Japan Outreach Project has also brought Ryo Shiobara, the 2007 winner of the Tokyo International Taiko Contest, to the area; together with Takumi, they have played concerts and given workshops every Spring for the few years.
I find the fact that two taiko performers like Kato and Shiobara regularly come to the Pittsburgh area and perform (they performed at the University of Pittsburgh in Oct. 2007, Slippery Rock University & the Pittsburgh Sakura Project Planting Ceremony in April 2009) to be rather impressive, especially considering that there’s no group here. The concerts are always well-attended and well-received, and the artists have said that they enjoy coming to the area. Not very many cities can claim such a thing.
Now, if only a taiko group could get started in the area somehow…
May 19, 2009
Taiko Videos from Around the 'Net
Continuing the filling of space until the travels begin, I thought that I’d share some videos that I’ve come across on some of the video-sharing sites that are out there.
Taiko Channel (太鼓ちゃんねる)
Produced by the Japan Taiko Association, this 15 minute show airs weekly on Sundays on BS11. It was preceded by a show called Taiko-chan ga Iku!! (たいこちゃんが行く！！ – “Taiko-chan will go!!”), which aired on a local network in Saitama. Typically, a brief clip about a local group or performer is featured, followed by a brief lesson. It’s not much, but still the fact that there’s a weekly show about taiko is great.
Every episode of both programs are available on DailyMotion. It’s also available on YouTube, but they divide each episode into two parts for upload there (due to YouTube length limits, probably).
Taiko videos from YouTube
Of course, there are too many taiko-related videos on YouTube to name, but I thought I’d point out a few noteworthy ones:
A user by the name of irohanihoteton has posted a bunch of videos (34 in all) taken at the Kokura Gion Festival (小倉祇園祭) from Kitakyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture, which heavily features drums. I’m quite interested in local drumming traditions across Japan, particularly since they’ve inspired pieces like Yatai-bayashi and Miyake that have been popularized by groups like Kodo and Ondekoza (thus having a huge impact on what people across the world think of as “taiko”). You can imagine my excitement, then, when I found these videos.
The user has also posted a bunch of other videos from various festivals as well.
Mifune Toshiro in “The Rickshaw Man” (Muhomatsu no issho 無法松の一生 )
The great Mifune plays taiko in a 1958 movie. This was supposed to have taken place at the Kokura GIon Festival. The movie is said to have been a big influence on the founder of Ondekoza, among others.
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Of course, there’s a wealth of taiko-related videos out there – these are just some that I’ve found that I wanted to share with you all.
May 8, 2009
Why taiko?
Recently I’ve been getting this question a lot, both by Americans and by Japanese. Why am I studying taiko? To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it until recently. Still, it’s a valid question, so I thought I’d use this blog to think out loud. Figuratively speaking.
May 4, 2009
Summer travels
Given that this blog is (initially, at least) dedicated to my summer travels, I thought it might be a good idea to inform the general reading public of where it is I’ll be going and what it is I’ll be doing.
June
The majority of my travels will be taking place in June. Generally they revolve around various taiko workshops taking place in Hawaii, California, and Japan, but hopefully I’ll get some sightseeing in as well.
From June 8-12, I’ll be participating in the Taiko Center of the Pacific’s Summer Taiko Intensives in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Taiko Center of the Pacific was founded by Kenny Endo, a taiko performer who is the first non-Japanese to receive a natori (stage name) in Japanese classical drumming.
Then, I’ll be going to San Jose, California, to participate in a workshop on June 14 offered by San Jose Taiko, one of the first kumidaiko ensembles in the United States. After that I hope to spend a few days catching up with friends on CA. I’ve never been to that state, so it’ll be a fun adventure. Of course, it’s not like this trip won’t be filled of fun adventures.
On June 16 I’ll be meeting my brother in San Francisc; together, we’ll be flying to Tokyo and staying there for a few days. He’s going to be heading to Seoul for almost two months, but before then we figured out a way to hang out in Tokyo befoe each of us continues our journeys.
After Tokyo I’ll be stopping in Nagoya for two nights. Nagoya’ll be my home base as I wander in the surrounding area. Among the places I’ll visit is Ena, a city in Gifu Prefecture that is the home of Takumi Kato. Takumi is the 2008 winner of the o-daiko division of the Tokyo International Taiko Contest; he’s also the youngest drummer to win. I first met Takumi in the fall of 2007, when he and Ryo Shiobara (the 2007 winner of the Contest) came to Pitt and gave a concert; since then, we’ve remained in contact and met up several times when he’s come to the area to perform. Hopefully, if our schedules match up we’ll be able to meet in his hometown. He’s currently in the middle of a drive to perform 1000 times over the course of the year, quite often going door to door while carrying an okedo-daiko.
From Nagoya, I’ll be going to Achi Village, near the city of Iida in Nagano Prefecture. There, I’ll be participating in the INADANI Taiko Drumming Course, offered by Art Lee and Wadaiko Ensemble TOKARA. Art Lee is the 2005 winner of the Tokyo Contest, the first non-Japanese to achieve such a feat. He’s also the first person to receive a visa from the Japanese government to perform taiko.
During this time, I’ll also have the opportunity to see Ryo Shiobara perform nightly at a resort near the ryokan at which I’ll be staying. I’ll also be able to see a concert given by Art Lee and TOKARA, as well as the 10th anniversary concert of shinkokyu AYA, an amateur taiko group that Shiobara-san organized.
After all that,I’ll be returning to Tokyo for a couple of days to hopefully get some rest and relaxation in(as well as some shopping, including a stop at Miyamoto Unosuke taiko company’s store). I’ll get back in Pittsburgh July 1.
August
Of course, that’s not the end of my travels. I’m hoping to attend the North American Taiko Conference, held August 7-9 in Los Angeles. It’ll be a nice counterpart to my June travels, I think.
…Well, that’s about where my summer stands. Hopefully, I’ll be able to blog about all those happenings as they occur. At the very least, I hope to take a bunch of pictures and bost them on my photo gallery.
The Road Goes Ever On and On... 