Thank you!!

This past Saturday, we had an absolutely amazing concert! Hours and hours of practice, stress and fixing errors paid off on an evening of taiko madness. The transitions were beautiful - many thanks to our special performers Yukiko Matsuyama and Claudia Tenorio w/ Walter and Kenn. Many audience members shared how fantastic and inspiring the whole concert was.



This is a photo of Makoto Taiko minutes before the doors opened for people to enter Thorne Hall. We were full of nervousness, adrenaline and excitement. I don't think any of us could really predict how many people were going to come. And surprise, surprise: it was a full house! Wow!!

Congratulations to everyone in Makoto Taiko! Many thanks to the wonderful volunteers who fed us, manned the reception desks, distributed tickets, sold merchandise, made and set up signs, basically saved the world, etc. Also, thank you to the staff and crew at Thorne Hall! Their spot-on lighting cues helped create the most professional concert we've ever had.

We are already receiving lots of performance requests for the rest of the year. Look for us at the World Festival of Sacred Music coming this October!

Feel the Thunder

A poem from someone who was inspired by our performance at ArtNight this past May. Thank you! (Unfortunately, the original formatting of the poem cannot be viewed on this post...)

Feel the Thunder

by

Tim Callahan

Feel the thunder of the drums!

Feel the thunder of the taiko drums!

Pounding!

Resounding!

Pounding and resounding!

Pounding and pounding

like a giant’s heartbeat,

like a giant’s heartbeat,

resounding in your chest!

See the drummers gesture,

as they strike their postures

Hear the cry

of the drummers

as they chant.

See the lightning

flashing like a saber,

flashing like a saber

as it rips through the sky!

Hear the lightning crackle

crackle as its fury

echoes through the sky.

Feel its white-hot fury

As it sears the earth!

Then feel the thunder

that rumbles through the hillsides!

Feel the thunder,

pounding like a hammer!

Feel the thunder hammer

like a titan’s heartbeat!

Feel the thunder hammer!

Feel the thunder hammer

As it shakes the earth!

Who is the Drummer

who thunders like a hammer?

Yours is not to question:

You’ll never get an answer.

Yours is but to savor

the power of the hammer:

Pounding!

Resounding!

Pounding and resounding

as it thunders through the sky!

So feel the thunder of the drum!

Feel the thunder of the cosmic drum!

Three Days till...!!!

Ok folks, it's coming down to crunch time for Makoto Taiko! We are wrapping up with concert practices and rehearsals this week.

This Saturday, we are having our annual taiko concert at Thorne Hall in Occidental College. We will not only present our fantastic repertoire of modern and traditional taiko pieces, we have a NEW PIECE in the works by our very own taiko master, Koji Nakamura, Revelation. It will debut officially at our annual concert this Saturday. Don't miss this incredible moment!



One more exciting bit of news! We have finally, finally finished our new costume!! Thank you thank you to everyone who helped with this big project! This was no small feat--Makoto Taiko is now approximately 49 members strong. Forty-nine. Wow! We seem to be growing exponentially every year! It's a really great feeling when you can see all 49 members come together during a concert run-through...all these people from all stages of life, and forms of thought and belief, assembling for a common passion: Taiko.

So make sure to mark this down on your calendar:

SATURDAY, June 25
6:00pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Thorne Hall
Occidental College
1600 Campus Rd. Los Angeles 90041

FREE ADMISSION

Donations gratefully accepted for the continued maintenance of our wonderful drums and the purchase of even better instruments.

2011: So much to do, so little time!

Happy New Year!
Its been a while since we updated our blog. New Year's resolution: update more often!

2011 is full of exciting projects and events for Makoto Taiko. Among our big projects for the year are 1) making new uniforms and 2) producing a taiko educational DVD. Both projects are already under progress and we're really excited to see the final product!
We are ordering custom happi for our new uniforms from happi.jp, a Japanese company based in Aichi Prefecture. The taiko educational DVD is a supplementary resource to our taiko classes for people who are interested in practicing outside of the dojo. Performances of Makoto Taiko's standard repertoire and general information about Makoto Taiko will be included in this DVD and we hope to have it available this year for anyone who is interested in purchasing it. Stay tuned for updates on these projects!


As for performances, we've been pretty busy since the beginning of this month. On January 2nd, we performed at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo for the annual Kotohajime.

For our next performance this coming weekend, we are going......to Kauai!!! If you're going to be on the island, check us out at the 7th Annual Kaua'i Wellness Expo 2011!



Even as 2011 has just begun, we are already looking ahead to big performance opportunities in the fall. We applied to be part of the World Festival of Sacred Music which will be held in Los Angeles this October. Hopefully we will be selected to perform at this wonderful event--keep your fingers crossed!


As always, you can keep up with our performances on the Events page of our website www.makototaiko.org.
Looking forward to sharing more exciting news with you this year!

Peace & Prosperity,

Makoto Taiko

10th Anniversary Concert

It's hard to believe that just a little over a week ago, we all pulled together for the Makoto Taiko 10th Anniversary Concert!

Set changes and production went smoothly and we heard lots of positive feedback. The sound guy for the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse (Jason) said we were "slammin".

Once the pictures start coming in, I'll post them as a slideshow.

June 20th, 2009 4th Annual Makoto Taiko Concert

Makoto Taiko on Twitter

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