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Wabash Valley residents will be able to enjoy and participate in the beautiful rhythmic and artistic style of Japanese taiko drum playing when the Yuzuriha performance group of Kanazawa, Japan, kicks off its U.S. concert tour on Tuesday, April 22, at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
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Making American Debut: Members of the Yuzuriha performance group of Kanazawa, Japan, will kick off its American tour with an educational try out session and evening show on April 22 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. |
A free taiko drums try out session and educational workshop is planned from 3:30-5 p.m. in Hulbert Arena of the Sports and Recreation Center on campus. Then, a formal concert follows in the arena from 7-8:30 p.m. Both sessions are free and open to the public.
Taiko is a drumming style of Japanese origin. A taiko is a drum made from an open-ended wooden barrel with animal skin stretched over both ends and it is played with two bachi (wooden sticks). One of the earliest uses of taiko was on battlefields to intimidate the enemy and to call commands and formations. It also became part of the fabric of rural life. It was used to alert residents of storms, was played at folk festivals and is part of both Buddhist and Shinto traditions. The style of taiko best known today has a relatively short history, beginning in the 1950s. Taiko players, like the Yuzurika group, are now taking the style worldwide.
Yuzuriha is a four-member female group whose performances include traditional pieces, original arrangements and works. All members learned to play taiko as beginners in 1997 and started performing together in 2000. The following year the shinobue (a bamboo flute) was added and a tsugaru shamisen (three-stringed Japanese instrument) was added in 2003.
Members include Tomoko, who the group's founder and leader; Gono-chan, who helps teach a "Taiko Class for Beginners" for the Ishikawa Taiko Association; Keiko, who plays shinobue and was attracted to playing taiko by its unique sound and touch; and Mami-chan, a longtime taiko fan and performer.
"Everybody, including myself, knows I really love taiko. I am crazy about it. But if you look around, I am not the only one," admits Gono-chan. "Taiko players keep practicing taiko very hard, even though saying their knees and back hurt. I just hope to keep playing and enjoying taiko for a long time."
Keiko added, "The harder I try to play (taiko), the more difficult it seems. But I love the concentration and teamwork that I feel when playing with the other members of Yuzuriha.”
The Rose-Hulman evening show will include "Shingetsu" (New Moon), specially composed for Yuzuriha by well known shinobue and tsugaru shamisen player/composer Kimura Shunsuke; "Kochi" (East Wind), another Shunsuke composition; "Kizashi" (Omen), a famous piece by star taiko performer Hiroyuki Hayashida; and a variety of Japanese folk songs. Yuzurika original compositions include "Matsuri," the group's first song; "Hanamichi" (center of attention); and "Hatatagami" (violent summertime thunder), composed with the image of Mongolian nomads traveling across the steppes. Beautiful original costumes are also featured in the group's presentation.
The group's debut U.S. tour, assisted by Rose-Hulman Professor of Anthropology Scott Clark, will include concerts at Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) on Wednesday, April 23, and John Carroll University (University Heights, Ohio) on April 25. Clark became familiar with the group during an educational sabbatical at Kanazawa Institute of Technology, one of Japan's leading technological institutions.
"We are looking forward to learning a lot and sharing music with people we will be meeting (throughout the U.S.)," stated Tomoko. "We hope that people will enjoy the music that traditional Japanese musical instruments produce."
More information about the concert and Yuzuriha is available at www.rose-hulman.edu/hss/yuzuriha2008.htm and http://yuzuriha-music.org/English.html.
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