TAIKO DRUM FESTIVAL - NARITA, JAPAN
First I would like to apologize for not having videos. I still can't figure out how to transfer them from my phone to this blog. There are a couple on my fb page. I have included a link below from youtube. This is the main song they play at the beginning of the festival each year. It is a much better view than what I had.
I found out about this not too long ago and was super grateful that it was on a day that I had nothing planned. I really enjoyed the Taiko we had at my school a couple of months ago. This tradition and part of Japanese culture is absolutely one of the things that I love most! Taiko drumming is really quite amazing. The photos and videos that I have shared really don't do a good job of portraying what it really is like. When you see a performance in person it really is so entertaining and impressive. If you have a Taiko performance headed towards your local concert hall I HIGHLY recommend getting tickets. I LOVE TAIKO!
This event was at a Temple in Narita, near the airport. The grounds were quite large and pretty. I have posted a number of photos below. After these I posted pics of the actual Taiko drumming so just keep scrolling down and enjoy.
This was next to a small shrine and appeared to be a memorial for small children. Quite sad. the little statues have knitted hats to keep them warm and it was quite touching to see how patrons left pinwheel toys.
We got there before the event started but apparently it wasn't early enough. I ended up standing near a back corner area and I had to try to hold my camera above peoples' heads in order to get a lot of photos. This is why a lot of them didn't turn out too well.
So all of the invited groups were together in their uniforms and after several people spoke to the crowd, each group was introduced by the mc and then did about a 30 second preview/performance. I loved this because you got to hear each of them and there were a lot of groups there with distinct style and sound.
When this group was announced they started playing Jamaican Reggae style music on Caribbean drums. They played Happy and it was kind of cool. It was an interesting mix of island music mixed with traditional Japanese Taiko.
Afterwards all of the groups started packing up their drums to move them to their assigned stage. Taiko drums are quite heavy and hard to move around.
This is the main street in Narita that leads to the Temple. The street was lined with shops and restaurants. Most of them sold baskets and kitchen items. I about vomited when I saw the traditional medicine shop with dead animals and creatures in jars. SO GROSS!
I learned today that you really should carry and bring a step stool with you when you come to these festival events. A lot of people brought them and it really made a difference with what you could see. Most of my photos are from quite a distance and even when I zoomed in it was hard to get some close ups.
Lots of knick knacks and such. I actually bought two Japanese paper parasols to use for I don't know what. But they are pretty and I wanted them for future use.
Was disappointed in the chocolate banana. It was made with that gross wax fake chocolate stuff.
I came with my friend's Mother-In-Law who is in town visiting.
This group was quite good. they were small in number and drum size but fun to listen to.
This group was awesome. The girl played the large drum in the middle and she whacked that thing so hard. It was awesome and I wanted to be her. These guys were great - they would throw their sticks in the air and catch them while performing and they could play pretty fast. Quite impressive.
Another entertaining group.
This was a group of high school students and they were quite good as well. They used humor and creativity with cymbals and fans. I really enjoyed them. One aspect that I thought was interesting was a song performance that sounded very Native American more than Japanese. I have no idea if their are ties between Native Americans and the Japanese but it would be interesting to find out. I will have to investigate.
I am DEFINITELY going again next year and staying all day. There is a night show that they do that is supposed to be quite impressive. I seriously would sign up for a class to learn how to do this a little bit but I already know I would suck at it. They all make it look much easier than it is. When you watch, the technicality and precision are completely noticeable and even though there is a simplicity about it, it would be very challenging to learn.
Looking forward to next year!
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