{{ Pheebs }} Taiko story

Dear all,

I haven't post here lately.. I think my last post was in January. And I'm sorry about it. Mainly because now I can't read back and see how I saw the world for 8 months...


And this is exactly how long I have been playing taiko.

For those of you, who don't know this wonderful instrument, here is a snippet from wikipedia (because I'm lazy to write it myself):

Taiko (太鼓?) means "drum" in Japanese (etymologically "great" or "wide drum"). Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums, (和太鼓, "wa-daiko", "Japanese drum", in Japanese) and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming. The performances can last between 5 and 25 minutes. Modern taiko was established in 1951 by Daihachi Oguchi. He is credited with forming the first actual Taiko ensemble referred to as kumi-daiko and starting the modern popularity of Taiko performances.

For more info, check the wikipedia site for taiko.

For me (and I assume it is the case for every other taiko player out there), taiko is not just any drum.. yea, I love its sounds of course, but I also love how your movement and state of mind changes when you play, how it gets people together. It's a theatre show in itself.

So, in February, my friend mentioned that there was an open day at a local taiko assembly (just fyi, there are 3 groups at this time in Hungary: Kiyo-kito taiko, Ataru and Taiko Hungary)... and I was late with a day. So I mailed them and asked if I could visit one of their classes. And so my journey in this world began.

I got hooked at the first moment, and I'm still under its spell.

As it turned out, I was one of the first students, because the open day didn't really go that well. But with months passing by, the assembly (now known as Taiko Hungary) got bigger with new people joining our fun, and soon enough we started performing in front of real people (not just our reflection in the mirrors). We played at the park on Children's day, at HungExpo where the Mondocon was held, and at the opening of a local luxury hotel (which is so luxurious that not even the tv channels dare to say its name out loud [if you feel bitterness in my words, you are correct]). We also had a training camp and a workshop with a foreign teacher, and all this together shaped us into a really close and flourishing group. We not only enjoy playing together, we like each other's company and we are all determined to do this for a very loooong time.

Until this week.

Apparently, nothing lives forever. We started to feel that something was not quite right a few weeks ago, when the question 'if the group broke up, would you still want to play' popped up in one of our classes. I for one was quite shocked by this question. Today I know that the two heads of our group had and still has conflicting ideas about what is important for our group and how the group should operate. It doesn't really look like it's going to be solved.. and quite frankly, I don't know what to do to prevent the group from splitting up.

I have been in a very grim mood since Monday evening, and it's getting worse with the days. However, it seems that a small portion of the group already has a backup plan, which includes the rest of us who are in the group for the fun. So we, as a performing group are not yet finished.

Sorry for not posting good news after such a long time. I just felt that this blog, being my diary and all, deserved to share and store my feelings with you guys and future me (who needs to read this blog from time to time to remember the good and the bad old days).


Pheebs