Taikoza was originally formed in Hiroshima in the mid 1980s and has been based in Wellington since 1991. We have played at countless festivals, venues and events in the Wellington Areas and throughout New Zealand for almost thirty years.
Highlights include the Parihaka Peace Festival, the Festival of Asia, the Cuba Street Carnival (1999 – 2006), Cuba Dupa (2016 + 2018), The Gathering (1997 – 2003), HighLight: Carnival of Light (2017, 2018 + 2019) and the Petone and Napier Fire Festivals. We performed at all three Wellington Premiers of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, at the annual Dragon Boat Races and at community festivals, dance parties, corporate events, Martial Arts Dojos and also schools, colleges and universities.
Highlights include the Parihaka Peace Festival, the Festival of Asia, the Cuba Street Carnival (1999 – 2006), Cuba Dupa (2016 + 2018), The Gathering (1997 – 2003), HighLight: Carnival of Light (2017, 2018 + 2019) and the Petone and Napier Fire Festivals. We performed at all three Wellington Premiers of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, at the annual Dragon Boat Races and at community festivals, dance parties, corporate events, Martial Arts Dojos and also schools, colleges and universities.
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Most of the festival rhythms we play were learned from Hiroshima Taiko Hozonkai, a performance group committed to the perpetuation of the local rhythms known to have been played for hundreds, even thousands of years. Contemporary pieces include Miyake, based on the Matsuri rhythms of Miyaki Island near Tokyo, and Chichibu Yataibayashi, a rearrangement of festival rhythms from Chichibu city in Saitama.
Taiko have been played in various forms throughout central and East Asia, especially China, Korea and Japan, for many thousands of years. In Japan the rhythms are the heartbeat of Matsuri, the seasonal cycle of Shinto shrine ceremonies and festivals and have their roots in the Shamanic / Animist cultures of East Asia, the roots of Shinto and Taoism. |
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Huge drums were used to carry messages vast distances, from village to village through the mountains or from island to island and were considered to be powerful enough to communicate with the local guardian deities. The deep base tones were thought to have strong healing properties and the power to move the soul; many people feel physically and emotionally recharged after the Matsuri.
