Reflection of the Past - Part II

A long overdue second post to the Reflections of the Past.

This penultimate post has taken a very long time to compile and edit. There was originally supposed to be another post after this, but I might consolidate it into this one.

This past Memorial Day Weekend was the 19th Annual Intercollegiate Invitational, a two-day long conference (despite the title of Invitational hinting at some sort of competition. It's not. Though from my knowledge, it was at one point on the verge of competition in its very early years) comprised this year of 16 collegiate taiko groups from around the nation gathering in one location to share their knowledge and joy of taiko, strengthening bonds within the taiko community, and also to take workshops from Workshop Leaders and various taiko masters from around the world. This year, the invitational was hosted by Asayake Taiko here at UCSD. I had the privilege of being one of the coordinators for the event, and it was, for lack of better verbiage, a joyful nightmare. It was hellish at times because a lot of small problems were always occurring like phones breaking down in the heat of the event, and other random occurrences but overall the event was amazing and I am extremely grateful I was able to be a coordinator in this for I learned a great deal about myself, the dynamic of collegiate taiko (Perfect for this project!), got to meet and talk to the workshop leaders and masters on a more personal level (even better!) and I found out that two of them have degrees in ethnomusicology (Best part of the event in terms of this project! And I got to talk with them about it!).

Compilation video of this year's invitational, taken by one of the workshop leaders, Ringtaro Tateishi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evtMHZfPnYU

The significance of the Intercollegiate Taiko Invitational and it's bigger brother the North American Taiko Conference::NATC:: (And now the East Coast Taiko Conference) in relation to the taiko community as a whole is one of the most important events in the whole community. The function of the event is to promote friendship, community, communication, the transmission of the art, the new techniques that are possible on the instrument, and keep the history of taiko alive. With 16 groups from around the country totaling to about 250 participants, there's a lot of intermingling going on between one another and it's impossible to not make a new friend at the event when all you see is fellow taiko players, most of whom are from other groups; and, with the college life cycle of about 4 years, there are always more people to meet and to help spread the joy of taiko. One of the best things about the invitational is the Hachimaki Exchange, created by past coordinator and now one of the most well known Workshop Leaders and taiko players around the nation, Yuta Kato. The hachimaki exchange consists of every participant creating their own hachimaki that they trade with another participant during the invitational to spread the friendship and help memorialize it through a handmade hachimaki that is a representation of the individuals who traded. To finish the event, there are two concerts held at the evenings featuring all of the collegiate taiko groups:

some examples of this year can be found here:
UCI Jodaiko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwSqsS_fhcM
UCLA Kyodo Taiko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCjC9fnaSg

My own personal experiences will begin here:

On the first day of the event, Friday May 24th, my job consisted of working with the groups arriving on campus as well as shuttling workshop leaders from the airport to the hotel that they were staying at, the Hyatt. It was during these short trips that I had the most free time out of the whole event, and where I was able to talk with some of the workshop leaders about really interesting things. I talked to Michelle Fujii, artistic director of Portland Taiko on the subject of Ethnomusicology in general and taiko in relation to the Japanese American community and its constantly evolving nature. As I was focused mostly on the event, I did not think of recording, nor did I have the capabilities to do so in my car, but I took down some notes once I had access to a notebook. Here are a few excerpts (not verbatim might I add) from the conversation:

- In relation to Japanese American Taiko
Taiko is unique in that it is no longer strictly an Asian musical tradition. Though its roots may have originated in Japan, taiko can be enjoyed by everyone and appreciated by all who love art and music. There are no boundaries for playing taiko and the compositions reflect this. Not all of them have Japanese names, nor do they all sound "Japanese" or rather "asian."

- On the subject of Ethnomusicology
It's a really interesting discipline and I'm glad I was able to study this while in college. I went to every music performance I could go to because I found everything so interesting. I really like experimental music because of the new techniques introduced and it's something out of the ordinary. That doesn't mean I like all experimental music, but I certainly have found things I really enjoy.

Michelle's talk in relation to my project was a sentiment that I shared, but to have this reconfirmed from someone who has had so much experience in taiko and has been exposed to so many things, it is reassuring and nice to know that there are others who are interested in ethnographies on taiko. A really interesting and helpful blog post in relation to "what is taiko" and how it's defined in America from the perception of the East Coast can be found here: http://taikogisp.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/taiko-diaspora-steph/

Taiko master Kenny Endo has an M.A. in Ethnomusicology but I didn't have enough time to talk to him over the course of the weekend... but that would definitely have been awesome if I could!