Last year grant funds were provided to Iowa City's local performance auditorium, Hancher, so that various artists could come to Iowa and take up a "residency" and tour through Iowa teaching and performing for children and adults alike. This year's artists to come to Iowa is the "San Jose Taiko" drum troupe. http://itsnt166.iowa.uiowa.edu/uns-archives/2006/june/060206taiko.html "San Jose Taiko" is a drum troupe based out of San Jose, California.
This group is wonderful! They had so much energy and enthusiasm for what they were doing that it was contagious! They gave a demonstration at a local library's story time and did a awesome job. They told a story, with the use of drums, and talked about their 4 principles of drumming: 1) Attitude, 2) Ki, 3) Kata, and 4) Musical Technique. Some of the kids even had the chance to drum! Listen to a sample at http://www.taiko.org/audio/index.html
My children loved the demonstration! San Jose Taiko had four members of their troupe performing this morning and on Sunday they will have a two hour performance at Hancher with eight out of their total of sixteen members performing. Check out their website: http://www.taiko.org/main.html and if they come to your town, enjoy the show!
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