San Jose Taiko by Cherith

This was a performance that was just really a lot of fun to watch! Everyone was so excited and impassioned with what they were doing it was contagious. I liked that each song was a blend of different elements: the traditional Japanese, and many other types of music. One of my favorite things was the seemingly random yelling. While watching this performance I got the feeling that I was watching something that was very personal to the performers. It was like they were sharing their identity with me. They shared their heritage and the changes that have affected them through the years.

The style was very distinct the movements were so graceful and yet sharp. The way that the drumming was mixed with “martial arts style disciplines” really showed through. I was tired from simply watching the performance. It was so active and lively that the drummers have got to be in some pretty serious shape.

I enjoyed meeting with the Drummers afterwards. It’s amazing how much dedication and time it takes to learn Taiko. It is really admirable that these men and women worked so hard to learn their skills and learn them so well.

San Jose Taiko was something new and very different for me. I was very impressed. I had never seen music take on such an athletic front before and that was a really neat thing to see.