Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Lancer Cup
We played two sets before the kick off, sandwiched in between a performance by a South African drumming group. The whole evening was filled with great energy and it always feels great playing outdoors in gorgeous weather for enthusiastic audiences. After out sets, we also took some time to enjoy the food trucks and watch the soccer matches ensue.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Riverside Lunar New Year Festival!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Ending 2011 and Starting 2012 with TAIKOPROJECT!
Normally during my winter break from work, I am bustling at the mall doing last minute shopping, catching up with friends and family and resting after a long year. BUT NOT WINTER 2011-2012! It has been a holiday season filled with 3 major TAIKOPROJECT performances of all different types.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
TP End-of-Year Taiko Marathon
When we arrived and found out we'd be playing inside the church, away from the hustle and bustle of the night outside, we initially expected a quiet evening. After all, who would venture inside and away from all of the fun (and more importantly, food) outside? Well, much to our surprise, the evening attracted a dense fog and chilly conditions, resulting in a long line of people waiting to come inside to hang out with us!
Our first show went quite smoothly. I remember a bachi flying somewhere, but we handled it well. :)
Our second show was going just as smoothly until I started feeling the first signs of fatigue during our last song, Many Sides. All that cardio after 2 weeks of vacation was intense! All of a sudden, I was hungry. It was like approaching mile 12 and really wanting a burger. Mitchell read our futures and knew we'd be starving, so he arrived after Show #2 with six delicious corn dogs! Thanks Mitchell!
The third show was difficult, exhausting and a piece of cake all in one. It's tricky to describe the feeling of fighting to get through, yet knowing you could do it all over again at the end. By that time, we were on auto pilot. We had made whatever mistakes we were going to make, and we were looking at the finish line. Once again, bachi went flying. However this time, the bachi came back to us! See what I mean about it being a piece of cake? A youngster in the audience was victim to one of our sticks, and after a bit of encouragement, he gracefully tossed it back up onstage so we could finish our set. How wonderful. I'll never forget what a great throw he had!
All in all, First Night was a success. I'm thinking about going back at the end of this year! Have a great 2012 everybody!
Friday, October 21, 2011
TAIKOPROJECT performs with Blush!
Our first performance was at San Gabriel High School, and we performed right in the middle of the quad area. It was so hot! We played a minute or two of Here We Go Now to introduce Blush, and by the time we were finished we were all sweating! I felt so bad for Blush since they had to sing AND dance in the hot sun for another 20 minutes. The students really seemed to enjoy their performance, despite having to bear the heat.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Adventures in Idaho Falls!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Taiko Conference wrap-up
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Lobsterfest 2011!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Rhythmic Relations 2011!!!
Greetings to all of the TAIKOPROJECT blog followers!! We are having quite the busy summer, full of performances, tours and a lot of travelling. But lets rewind things back to the end of June for a recap of our Rhythmic Relations 2011 show at the JACCC Plaza.
Stage setup at the JACCC Plaza
This past Rhythmic Relations was my first Rhythmic Relations concert and it was very stressful and tiring weekend, but in the long run it was a truly amazing experience to be a part of such a big show. The first act featured Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, Loma Pacific Taiko and the Chibi’s, all of the groups that we help teach throughout the year. Since I don’t get to see all of groups on a regular basis, it was really special to play the stroll with all of them at the top of the show. Everyone’s positive energy and excitement has always inspired me to play from the heart and it was truly so much fun! Being one of the newer members to the TAIKOPROJECT family, I was awestruck by all the songs performed by each group. Everyone had such big smiles on their faces and it was very evident that each person was giving their very best and enjoying every minute of it. You guys did an amazing job!!
Ryutaro Kaneko
For the second act, TAIKOPROJECT took the stage with Ryutaro Kaneko who was a member of Kodo, the taiko drumming ensemble on Sado Island in Japan. For many months before the concert, Bryan, Maz and Kris worked with Ryutaro to remix songs both from Kodo’s repertoire and TAIKOPROJECT’s repertoire. One of the songs we remixed was Kodo’s Bird Island, which is a very fast piece and we even got the chance to choreograph a paranku part which is common in Eisa, Okinawan taiko drumming. Thanks to Yumi, her choreography gave our performance a little more depth beyond stationary drumming that we are normally used to. Ryutaro was also given the opportunity to remix one of our songs and the song he showed a lot of interest in was Seiza, our piece that features the koto. Creating a new middle section to the piece featuring a four-drum taiko set solo and several new accompany parts, Ryutaro expanded the normally six-person song to a sixteen-person song. That is almost the entire TAIKOPROJECT cast!
This concert took a lot of work, but with everyone’s combined effort we pulled off a very fun and exciting show. Thanks to the JACCC for providing us with such a nice stage setup and countless hours of help. A special thank you to all of our donors, without your generous support we would not have the chance to share our passion of taiko with the community. A huge thank you to all the friends, family, and fans of TAIKOPROJECT for coming out to the performance. We would also like to show the upmost gratitude to Ryutaro, for taking time out of his schedule to teach and participate in our Rhythmic Relations 2011 show. Thanks for reading TAIKOPROJECT blog followers and see you next time!! :]
TAIKOPROJECT, Bombu Taiko, Kitsune Taiko, Loma Pacific Taiko, Chibis
Our Happy Taiko Family!!! :D