Narukami Taiko is five years old, and we are celebrating ! Another fantastic milestone for the team that continues to go from strength to strength. This year we are doing something special to celebrate; something really special…

On July 27th we will be stepping out on stage as we host our very own concert. The theme for the concert is Journey which we think is a fitting subject for the experiences of the group over that period. In that time a dream was hatched and nurtured, the group was formed and grew. The individuals who came together have grown and developed and been on their own voyage of self-discovery and at the same time forged bonds and shared experiences which have taken the team through its own growth, its own changes in personality and has ultimately led it to how it is today. Many Taiko songs themselves reflect on motion and movement and have their origins in the concept of journey, be it in a literal sense reflecting a mighty river travelling across the lands, to a more abstract sense reflecting the growth of knowledge and wisdom. Such is the depth of the concept and how applicable it is to the art of Taiko and to life itself we are dedicating this occasion to it.

Three years ago I wrote an article on the experiences I had as part of my first year of involvement with the team and having just re-read that article, it’s incredible how strongly that concept was evident as part of my thoughts then, of course not knowing then about would be happening now. It’s very satisfying to see that same concept being a consistent feature of being with this team and playing Taiko through the years.

So how do we reflect the concept of a Journey in a concert ? We travel from the past to the future; we embrace our past while being excited for the future and as part of that we celebrate old experiences and we enjoy new experiences. All of these concepts are and will be evident. I say ‘are’ because the concert itself is not the journey, in fact the preparations for the concert are all part of that experience too and that has already provided us with a number of new experiences ranging from composing songs to learning new instruments to standing motionless and being poked and prodded for pictures which would ultimately appear on posters and flyers. Of course, as well as the new songs we’ll be performing, and the new look for the team... there will, of course, also be the old favourites, on which the tradition of the team still rests.

As with any epic journey, much planning and preparation is required and that’s where we are right now. We are all super-excited to be involved in this adventure so to be prepared and be looking our best on the day, the landscape currently is one of activity : emails, workshops, more workshops, orders for equipment, uniforms, practicing, and a general hum of excitement and concert-related chat; and yet despite all that, it still feels like the calm before the storm… well for us regular Joes of course, I’m sure Jessie and the organising group are flat out with it all, but I have no doubt everything will be ready to go on July 27th.

So here’s to the excitement that any journey brings with it, the promise and realisation of new experiences. Despite being our biggest ever team event, the concert is not our destination or the end of our journey; the Journey remains exactly that… something never ending. The concert is our way of celebrating our Journey together and sharing it with you if you’ll come along for the ride.

If someone had told me by week 10, of joining Narukami Taiko, I'd be performing in public I DEFINITELY wouldn't have believed them! On Sunday many members of the team, new and experienced, got together for a fun street performance. Playing for the Wellington Night Market for Cuba Dupa, we played our hearts out with some new songs composed by Kenji Furutate.

Huge thanks to the amazing and supportive Narukami whanau, who enabled me to be more than just a spectator at Cuba Dupa and made it a fun and truly unforgettable experience. #Proudtobeoneofyou

We had a first for a narukami performance on January 21st, a performance where we were filmed and recorded. On Sunday we took part in a public performance for a parade of Yuka Oyama's work, Helpers: Changing Homes.

We spent a few hours in civic square playing the songs Wachidaiko and Arakusa for the camera. While it wasn't a public performance, it was in a public space so you may have seen or heard us.

We also played a hypnotic heartbeat while actors paraded Yuka's cardboard sculptures around the square. Wellington turned on the good weather, with the sun coming out after some earlier threats of rain. Not a bad way to spend the day.

On Sunday 18 June 2017, 12 keen Narukami taiko players got up before sunrise to support Wellington’s running community in the Wellington Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K and kids mile/fun run. Our goal was to provide the runners with motivation to keep going. The Wellington Marathon became the sister marathon of the Senshuu International Marathon in Sakai in 2016. We performed for the marathon for the first time in 2016 too and loved it so much that we got out to support the runners again.

We were positioned in two spots this year, 2 kilometres from the start/finish line near the TSB Arena on Queens Wharf and close to the turn around point for the half marathon in Evans Bay. The team at Queens Wharf started our first lot of drumming at 7:30am for the marathon, then again an hour later for the half marathon and then it was drumming for 4 hours straight as each subsequent race came through.

We played a mixture of drills and songs to encourage the runners. Many of them showed their support for us as well. Some danced as they came past us. Others clapped for us. Most got a smile on their face and boosted their pace as they came around the corner to where we were set up.

There were Japanese runners in the races who smiled and gave us the thumbs up as they came past too, including a guest runner from Wellington’s Sister City, Sakai, and the Deputy Head of Mission for the Japanese Embassy.

This performance is a fun performance for us to do as it doesn’t need us to do anything more than play beats. The drums can be heard from a long way off, according to the runners, and are apparently good motivation. It makes us feel good to get good feedback from participants even if it does require us to consume several coffees throughout the day. It’s a really inspiring opportunity for us all.

Drumming for the marathon may also be inspiring one of our drummers to think about taking up running… watch this space.

It’s winter !! It’s dark and cold…. Which can only mean one thing… Time for Lux !

The Lux Light Festival is the largest light festival in New Zealand and showcases the talents of numerous artists, designers and architects from around the world, as well as from around New Zealand. The heart of Wellington becomes a celebration of light, where those dark winter nights are transformed into a million different colours by countless interactive light installations that provide a stunning backdrop on a unique journey through the city and along the harbour.

Narukami Taiko has a very similar philosophy, we love to bring light to hearts of many in Wellington, so we felt very proud to be making a return to the festival and putting on a show for the festival-goers. For us it has the added element of fun as it means we can pull out the glowing bachi and play in the dark !

We were lucky enough to be asked to play in two absolutely primo spots for our performances, where the backdrops provided a setting full of character to lend some additional drama to the lively performances. Our first show was right in front of the historical Hikitia, whose white painted walls provided a brilliant canvas to highlight the various lights and colours of the installations on Odlins Plaza… which itself was also the home of the many wonderful food trucks, which was an added bonus we definitely took advantage of !

We ran out a few old favourites such as Wachi Daiko, where yet again we did battle and prevailed against the old demon, and Ujigawa where the graceful ladies of Narukami put on a wonderful rendition of the ancient Uji River to bring peace and tranquility to the hearts of the onlookers. For me personally, I was invited to take part in our performance of Arakusa for the very first time, and in the spirit of the song, it provided a moment of growth and accomplishment, this will always bring a smile to my face. Lastly for this segment we stepped up for Gaina. The wind in Wellington is something we’ve grown to love, and it played its part in this performance too as it saw fit to carry numerous spare bachi away from their players as they were hammering out the beats. We preferred to see this as the Gods of Thunder and Lightning showing themselves for the song and providing even more entertainment, mainly for the other players who were sat behind the performance watching and laughing !

Our second and final show was on the front porch of the Wharewaka, which is a beautiful waterfront building, built in the style of a Marae with many exquisite wooden carvings around the entrance. We chose to play Seiryu, which is another song representing a river and the highlight of the song is the players moving up and down the drums as they play, in order to imitate the movements of the salmon migrating up and downstream. The location took full advantage of the packed Wharewaka building, full of people enjoying a special awards reception. Once the drums started, the crowds flooded out from the building, many with champagne in hand, to watch what was happening. It made for a terrific atmosphere and gave the crowd a big buzz of energy, which is exactly what a cold winter night calls for.

On our trip to Japan last year, we visited the drum maker Suwakougei in Saitama; A two hour train ride out of Tokyo. Greeting us on arrival, the friendly staff took us into their display room, and for about 2 hours we communicated in my broken Japanese. Finding all the information we could on the different types of drums they have, what woods they use, skin types, everything! They took us into their store room, let us measure everything and ask ridiculous questions, like "what kind of candle do you use to tie the shime?". For some reason me mixing the word for rope with candle. After working with Suwakougei and painstakingly deciding what drums we wanted, we then began the work of oraganising shipping. As great as Suwakougei are, they do not offer international shipping, making it a lot more difficult to get drums from them. Once leaving Japan we left it to Suwakougei and the shipping company to get the drums on the boat to Wellington. Finally on March 17th they arrived.

A rented ute, a crate in our driveway, and a ludicrous amount of recycling later. Four new Nagadou daiko with stands, a shime stand, 2x new oke stands, and a tall stand emerged and are ready to be played!

Where has the time gone?! Wasn't so long ago that we were ringing in the start of the new year and now, January is almost over.

In saying that, Narukami Taiko has been busy the last few weeks!

Work started on the pre-term open day with Jessie, Claire and Char visiting the Newtown Saturday Market to advertise the session for the next day. It must have been a successful venture as we had a good turn out ranging from toddlers to grandparents. The session started with simple drills, a demo such as you'd learn in a real class and then got people started on the beautiful Taikobayashi. Intermixed with that was a couple of favourites performed by the current team to demonstrate what the goals of the class are. The place was buzzing and it seemed like everyone just wanted to have a go! A number of keen new recruits have signed up as a result, and we can't wait to meet and play alongside them.

The team was also invited to perform to the residents of Argo Trust (http://www.argo.org.nz/). We arrived at the purposely built residence on an overcast day, silently pleading to Narukami to stave off the weather until we finish ! Our prayers were answered , the sun came out and we managed to perform without a hitch. In Narukami's honour, we played the song Gaina which emulates the god's name of thunder and lightning.

Both staff and residents were fascinated by the powerful beats of the drums. They were so excited to have us there, they even posted a live video stream on their facebook page! All the players that performed were super-excited to be playing again, and hope we can do more events for the special peeps at Argo.

Bring on the new year !!

In November, Narukami Taiko participated in the Wellington Japan Festival. After a week of activities and exhibitions, Festival Day took place at the TSB Arena with a line up of stage performances taking place while various stalls, displays and workshops were set up around the venue. As well as events featuring martial arts, moochi making, calligraphy, dance and cosplay, four taiko teams from the lower North Island all performed. It was great to see taiko be so prominent in Wellington, and Narukami Taiko really enjoyed the opportunity to not only perform, but run taiko workshops during the Festival Day.

Narukami Taiko kicked off the morning with a performance to open the Festival in the building foyer. We drew a large crowd with a series of songs that echoed through the space. This was the first performance for three of our members, and the first time we'd performed the song Noto Hounen.

Then throughout the day we held four mini workshops. These allowed people to give taiko a go and learn a short rhythm in a 20 minute session. A large number of people, from young children to senior citizens, all enjoyed beating the drums and learning one of our warm up drills with the help of some of our members.

Finally, we performed the closing performance on the main stage. Getting to perform on a large stage with a large audience and proper lighting is always an amazing experience, and this time was augmented by close up video footage of our performances playing on the screen behind us. We played a total of seven songs, including our first performance of 'Arakusa' along with our old favourite like 'Gaina' and 'Ujigawa'. Keeping up our energy and passion for such a large performance was a challenge, but we are all happy with the performance, and now look forward to participating in the next Japan Festival in 2018!