Taiko Brings International Beat to Berkeley

By Brian Kluepfel
Special to AsianWeek

The Sproul Plaza on UC Berkeley’s campus is dominated by drummers each weekend, a rag-tag and eclectic collection of congas and cowbells, bodhrains and bongos — even plastic buckets making a joyful, noisy circle. That beat was replaced temporarily this weekend by the 34th International Taiko Festival — which brought the international vision of San Francisco Taiko Dojo’s founder, Seiichi Tanaka — to a sold-out audience in Zellerbach Hall.

Taiko drumming goes back thousands of years in Japanese culture, but the recent renaissance really only came about in the late twentieth century. Tanaka founded the first North American dojo in 1968 in San Francisco. Like ripples on a pond, the movement has spread — groups from Sacramento and Los Angeles were also present at the weekend festival. A new partnership with a “brother dojo” from Nagano was celebrated in front of a crowd, which included the Japanese General Consul in San Francisco and the official drum-maker to the Emperor of Japan.

Participants tried to drum up new memberships, literally, outside the concert hall, passing out fliers and talking to passersby while others worked on their intricate beats. Loren Miyasuki, a third-generation Japanese American from Sacramento, told AsianWeek about the importance of Taiko in his life.

“I get all this energy within me drumming,” the six-year student said. “It’s cultural and spiritual for me.”

Jennifer Fray, a novice in the San Francisco group, took a breather from practicing to talk about taiko. “It’s good exercise; it’s very good stress release, and it’s got a very good group dynamic too.”

Master of Ceremonies Mark Siegal opened the show by joking, “turn off your cell phones, you won’t hear them anyway,” and the rhythms of the evening began with the Rising Stars Dream Team, a collection of the San Francisco dojo’s junior members who started with Tanaka’s “Hachidan.”

Tom Anderson of San Francisco was wowed by the performance of the group and is impressed with his 13-year-old son Jackson’s commitment — he’s participated in the San Francisco dojo for over five years. “He is totally juiced, spent, and he comes back with blisters on his hands,” said Anderson of his “rising star.”

A boisterous contingent traveled from the state capital to see the Sacramento Taiko Dan’s performance, which featured wonderful soft-to-loud dynamics and included flute music. Significantly, Sacramento’s artistic director Tiffany Tamaribuchi, who recently became the first American to win a drumming competition in Japan, was featured as a solo performer.

Tarambuchi also performed with two experts of other instruments: Keneya Sasazo and Masayuki Koga, who collaborated on flute and kora — a West African harp lute — respectively, in a quiet, haunting interlude titled, “The Masters.”

The visiting Kijima Daiko left the most lasting impression on the audience, combining drumming with a masterful ritual play representing a village warding off and eventually subduing a violent, masked intruder. This strong piece of theater was followed by a fascinating “Lion Dance” by Nosuke Akiyama, a dancer of such renown that he performed for Emperor Hirohito in 1975. Akiyama has also been a member of San Francisco Taiko Dojo for over 30 years and was supported by the group’s drumming.

The Ballet Russe of Russia, who are in a cultural exchange program with Tanaka’s group, performed next, but though their three-dance segment was beautiful, its presence on the bill was a jarring departure from the rest of the performance, and more thought should have been given to its integration. Other non-Taiko performers Keith Terry and Evie Laden, however, did wonderfully well with a short piece called “Body Music,” which incorporated the clapping of hands and slapping of legs and other body parts in an amusing, entertaining tour de force. Audience participation was made mandatory by Terry’s Chaplinesque admonitions to the crowd.

A huge silver drum emblazoned with the Japanese crest was the ultimate recipient of a thrashing by Master Tanaka in the finale, “Tsunami.” The energy of the San Francisco ensemble reached an incredible crescendo in this number, practically washing the crowd back out on to Sproul Plaza in waves of energy, where Berkeley’s drummers will have to wait for it to subside before continuing their own rituals next weekend.