For half a century, San Jose Taiko has supported San Jose’s Japantown with its driving beats. Although internationally renown as a performance ensemble, the group has stayed close to its roots in community organizing. Though much has changed since its inaugural format as an activity for the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin’s Young Buddhists Association, […]
‘HERbeat’: Asian women lead ‘a new era of taiko’
September 29, 2022 by Leave a Comment
“We hope to inspire people not to have the courage to win at all cost, but to persevere through all adversity.” – Tiffany Tamaribuchi, “Finding Her Beat” Not even Tiffany Tamaribuchi could have anticipated the extreme adversity she and 17 taiko women faced when Tamaribuchi and concert partner Jennifer Weir brought together an “all-star” cast […]
S.F. Taiko Dojo to move out, but plans to keep drumming
September 1, 2022 by Leave a Comment
As donations continue to pour into San Francisco Taiko Dojo’s GoFundMe fundraiser, its leaders are looking for a sustainable future for the storied taiko performance group and school. Ryuma Tanaka, son of Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka, broke the news to group members Aug. 7 that they had been asked to vacate their South San Francisco studio […]
Pioneering NYC taiko group Soh Daiko continues to transform itself
April 2, 2022 by Leave a Comment
It’s another snowy Saturday afternoon in New York, but this has not kept members of taiko group Soh Daiko from holding their normal practice. As the days relentlessly beat toward their Carnegie Hall citywide performance at the end of March, members follow hours of drills and practice with a run through of their performance, energetically […]
TAIKOPEACE: A movement for connection and community
April 3, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Last year, San Jose Taiko’s artistic director emeritus and long-time community activist PJ Hirabayashi launched the Website for a movement she calls TaikoPeace. According to Hirabayashi, TaikoPeace is a movement of Japanese traditional drumming for social change and empowerment. Over the past couple of years, Hirabayashi has spread the movement through creating shared values, guided […]
FOR THE COMMUNITY: Melody Takata’s three decades of teaching Japanese arts
March 28, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Melody Takata has been drumming taiko for around four decades, starting in Los Angeles as a high school student with L.A. Matsuri Taiko before moving to Tokyo for a year during college to study with Oedo Sukeroku Taiko. After finishing her studies, she moved to San Francisco to work with artists in Northern California. She […]
High school graduate pursues professional taiko dream with Japan’s Kodo
March 28, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Ren Zoshi recalled the first time she saw Kodo Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble perform as a 9-year-old child. “That first performance, I think, I just couldn’t forget the sound, the energy and how much you can do with drums,†Zoshi, the 18-year-old Shin-Nisei, said. “Taiko — the sound, you can feel it vibrate in you.†[…]
Arts center on hold while commercial developments move forward
September 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment
SAN JOSE — As San Jose’s Japantown finally sees construction begin at the site of the city’s former Corporation Yard and its historic Chinatown, community members expressed hope as the long-delayed project is now pouring concrete. Part of the development, however, has been put on hold, with costs becoming too high to move forward on […]
Deconstructing intersections of Asian America
January 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
DRUMMING ASIAN AMERICA: TAIKO, PERFORMANCE, AND CULTURAL POLITICS By Angela K. Ahlgren (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018, 198 pp., $34.95, paperback) Up until 2004, I was a mere (and rather unreflective) spectator to taiko drumming. However, that year I fortuitously became involved as an oral historian in a Japanese American National Museum-sponsored project that […]
San Jose Taiko reflects upon its evolution in community-centered arts
September 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
As the iconic San Jose Taiko approaches their 45th anniversary concert later this month, the Nichi Bei Weekly caught up with Executive Director Wisa Uemura and Artistic Director Franco Imperial via e-mail to discuss the group’s transition from its founding pioneers, their approach to creative collaborations, and what the future has in store for the […]
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