I went to see the 35th Annual International Taiko Festival in Berkeley this afternoon, and all I can say is holy mother of pearl!
All I really knew of taiko drumming was from what I’d seen at the Japan pavillion at Epcot in Orlando (and, coincidentally, that group played at the festival this weekend). That’s typically three performers, but it’s still quite a spectacle. Now, imagine over fifty drummers on stage at once, playing all sizes of taiko drums as well as other percussion instruments, jumping around and yelling battle kips across the stage to encourage each other on. That was the opening number for this show, and it nearly had me in tears. And it actually did knock the wind out of me at one point, it was so powerful.
The rest of the show didn’t live up to that opening number (Onbashira, for the curious). To be fair, I don’t see how the opening number could’ve been any more impressive without fireworks and lasers. But it was still an amazingly complete and well-balanced show. There were groups from SF, LA, and San Jose, a “fighting-style” group from Japan (where they actually wrestled each other while playing a shared taiko), the group from Orlando I mentioned earlier, and various smaller groups. Plus, there was a theater/dance/mime performance that I found completely impenetrable, but it was nice to be exposed to it and it was a nice break in the proceedings.
My perception of taiko used to be that it’s all ceremonial; an impressive and powerful performance, but very formal. This was as spectacular as just about anything I’ve ever seen, and what got me was how joyful the entire thing was. Yes, it requires a ton of rigorous training and athleticism and musical skill, but it seems to be just as much about getting up there, letting everything out, and banging the shit out of some huge drums. It looked like everybody was having a blast, both on-stage and off.
So the moral of this post: if you ever hear of a taiko performance anywhere near your area, go see it.