12th UK Taiko Festival 30th June – 2nd July 2017
A FEAST OF TAIKO – Friday 30th June, 7:30pm.
This concert featured 11 youth taiko groups including more than 150 performers from Devon, the UK and beyond: Willowbrook Primary School, Exeter; Tywardreath Primary School, Tywardreath; Pilton Bluecoat School, North Devon; Tako Taiko, Newton Abbot; Coombeshead Academy, Newton Abbot; Blazing Taiko, Bidwell Brook School; Oku Nojo Daiko, Hampshire; Gyoko Taiko, Grimsby; Tetsu Taiko, Scunthorpe; Dublin Ohio Taiko Group, USA; Bullfrog Arts, Leicester; Doragonteru Taiko, North Devon.
TAIKO BEATS – Saturday 1st July, 12 noon.
Different European taiko groups each play for no more than 10 minutes, making for a varied, action-packed and inspirational taiko show. This year, Taiko Beats featured:
Tano Taiko, Newton Abbot; Aber Taiko, Swansea; Tsuchigumo Daiko, Glasgow; Kensei Taiko, Kent; Taiko Mynydd Du, Black Mountains, Wales; Kion Dojo, Germany; San Francisco Taiko Dojo 共鳴, London; Kaminari Taiko, York; Coritani, North East Lincs; CCS Taiko, Gloucester; イオ IO , Germany
PULSE & ROLL – Saturday 1st July, 7:45pm.
For this special concert, Kagemusha Taiko are joined from Japan by former Kodo member, Shogo Yoshii,and from the USA by one of the world’s leading taiko performers, Shoji Kameda.
Video excerpts from the show will be posted from time to time. Among those currently available is an excerpt from Evensong:
BROTHER DRUM – Sunday 2nd July, 7:00pm
FEATURING KAGEMUSHA TAIKO, TSUCHIGUMO DAIKO & GUESTS
Brother Drum is the final concert of 12th UK Taiko Festival. Featuring players from England, Scotland, Japan and USA, Brother Drum involves not only the theatrical drama and emotional power of taiko drumming, it also embraces folk and traditional music from those countries, as typified by the title song of the show. Guest artists include: Hibiki Ichikawa on shamisen (Kubo and the 2 Strings), Damian Clarke on hurdy-gurdy and hammer dulcimer, Shogo Yoshii on flutes and kokyu, George Whitfield on accordion, and Shoji Kameda on taiko, flutes and percussion. The show included a
performance of the song “Brother Drum”, which can be seen here on the official video and here in the live version.
TAIKO WORKSHOPS
There were 11 workshops across the Saturday and Sunday, with 7 different workshop leaders and more than 160 participants. They were taught by: Martin Doyle & Shonagh Walker, Tsuchigumo Daiko; Shogo Yoshii, former senior member of Kodo; Shoji Kameda, On Ensemble & kaDON; Ting-Chi Li, San Francisco Taiko Dojo;Karen Young, The Genki Spark.
See also: 1st UKTF; 2nd UKTF; 3rd UKTF; 4th UKTF; 5th UKTF; 6th UKTF; 7th UKTF; 8th UKTF; 9th UKTF; 10th UKTF; 11th UKTF;
13th UKTF;