Photograph by Rich Ryan
Taiko Drumming
Jennifer Weir couldn’t have seen HERbeat: Taiko Women All-Stars happening in her wildest dreams. Even after she’d brainstormed the idea for the performance with Tiffany Tamaribuchi, one of the leading solo taiko artists in the world, Weir still wasn’t sure her dream would come to fruition. But on February 29, Weir’s vision to bring together a handful of the best female taiko artists in the world to collaborate during a two week residency will culminate with a one-of-a-kind performance at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
Taiko is the Japanese word for drum. Taiko drumming is a high-energy endeavor that combines music, dance, physical endurance, Japanese and Asian-American culture into an entrancing live performance. “The performances have this visceral energy behind them because the way you play taiko is with your whole body,” Weir says.
The idea stemmed from a conversation with Tamaribuchi, a taiko artist who has been at the vanguard of her craft for over two decades. Megan Chao Smith, another performer, learned from Tamaribuchi and toured with her for years, in addition to training and touring professionally in Japan with Japanese taiko groups. She remembers playing on-stage with Tamaribuchi at the All-Japan Odaiko Competition in Japan, where Tamaribuchi outplayed 27 Japanese men to win the competition. While talking with Weir, Tamaribuchi wondered why there aren’t more of her. Taiko, like many traditional arts, is a traditionally male-dominated field with a history almost entirely told through the actions and accomplishments of men. But Weir, the founder of TaikoArts Midwest, and Tamaribuchi know plenty of female taiko artists who deserve at minimum an equal amount of the spotlight (and pay). So why not bring these artists, from throughout North America and Japan, together in St. Paul to showcase their outstanding talent?
Weir received a grant for seed money from the Knight Foundation and also raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter. She started asking various prominent taiko artists on her advisory council at TaikoArts Midwest, like Tamaribuchi, Michelle Fujii from Portland, and Iris Shiraishi from St. Paul, about their dream collaborations. She asked Chieko Kojima, a founding member of Kodo, a preeminent traveling taiko troupe that has popularized taiko throughout the world, to be involved. “We multi-sourced the list with the idea that not only are they doing exciting things, but that they would be the kind of people that would be interested in creative collaboration and that we truly represent a diversity of style and approach, so that we’re not all doing the same type of taiko,” Weir says.
In what is undoubtedly the largest female collaboration in the history of taiko, the artists from across North America and Japan will arrive in St. Paul on Valentine’s Day and will train for two weeks. What will emerge for the Leap Day performance will be a mix of new work created during the residency and new arrangements of existing, seminal work from the artists. Megan Chao Smith likens this convergence of talent and life force to artisans in Japan who have devoted their lives to their respective art form. “I feel like national treasures are coming to Minnesota and bringing not only this generation, but generations of wisdom and beauty and struggle and resilience to the stage,” Chao Smith says.
Understanding the distinct nature of this performance, Weir found it paramount for a recording to occur so the night could live on past February 29 and reach more people than those in attendance. She approached Dawn Mikkelson, a documentary filmmaker and her friend of over 20 years with the idea of producing a concert film. Mikkelson immediately saw a larger story, a story that warranted a documentary that goes beyond the show. “It’s the story of people coming together and in particular, the story of women whose narratives haven’t been a part of taiko,” Mikkelson says. “On a larger level, I’m interested in women who have not been involved in the history of film, for example. I think there’s a number of parallels in our industry in the sense of how women have been working very hard for a very long time and the recognition hasn’t been there.”
Having the film crew reflect the mission of the performance was vital to Mikkelson. The crew is almost entirely female, with members identifying as queer, Minnesota-based, Asian and Asian-American. “It's important that in the creation of the film itself, we are enacting what we want to see happen in the broader community and in the larger world,” Mikkelson says. She tapped Keri Pickett, another documentary filmmaker who she knows through Film Fatales, to be co-director and director of photography. Mikkelson and Pickett made the decision to film HERbeat in a cinéma vérité style, meaning there will be no sit-down interviews, just authentic footage showing the women and their journey. Mikkelson says this creates a more intimate, authentic atmosphere for the audience, allowing them to create a relationship with the people they are watching.
Pickett traveled to Japan in the fall of 2019 to shoot footage of Kojima and Kaoly Asano, another performer and figurehead in the taiko community. Pickett worked with Shiho Fukada, also found through Film Fatales, to capture Kojima teaching and performing on Sado Island, referred to as the mecca of taiko. While in Japan, Pickett also saw a traditional taiko stage, reserved only for the performances of men.
Despite the longstanding tradition of elevating men and their contributions while devaluing women’s accomplishments and contributions in the world of taiko (and beyond), women have been making strides within the taiko world for quite some time, especially in North America. Chao Smith says since she entered the world of taiko about 27 years ago, the majority of groups she’s been a part of in North America have been mostly female. That participation among women in taiko has continued to grow, with different statistics saying women account for 60 percent to two-thirds of taiko players in North America. Chao Smith believes this performance, accompanied by HERbeat, can inspire future generations of female taiko players. Talking about the upcoming performance and its deep list of talent that has been on display for years, but never brought together, Chao Smith says, “It's like when something's growing and you're waiting for it to grow and you're watching the ground and nothing's coming up and there's no sprouts. But for 30 years, it's like roots have been growing and growing and growing, and now it's coming up out of the earth. And that's super cool.”
February 29, tickets start at $27. Ordway Center for Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. 651-224-4222. You can keep up with the progress of HERbeat by following its Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
