Taiko Instructor & Performer
After a two-year hiatus, we are thrilled to be back in 2022 for our 8th Sakura Taiko Fest! Please join us THIS SATURDAY, March 26 from 12-5pm! You can join us in person at the Sylvan Theater (on the grounds of the Washington Monument) OR online via our livestream for a full day of awesome drumming!
Check out the details (including the full day’s schedule) and find out how you can support this and future Mark H Taiko events!
The Sakura Taiko Takeover at the Tidal Basin is our biggest event of the year. Part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, if we’re lucky, it actually takes place among blooming cherry trees, as it did last year. While this year’s event was cancelled, we can still enjoy performances by some of the groups that were planning to participate through the magic of the internet.
Oto-Wa Taiko would have been our first guest group from outside the United States, traveling to DC from the Canadian capital. Oto-Wa Taiko members are celebrating the group’s 30th anniversary this year. The name Oto-Wa Taiko, while phonetically reflecting its community of origin, Ottawa, uses two Japanese characters, OTO (音) and WA (和). OTO means sound while WA means harmony. The character WA symbolizes the harmony of spirit among the players with their taiko as they make joyous sound together. Oto-Wa Taiko also conducts general interest taiko workshops and runs taiko classes for anyone interested in experiencing taiko first-hand.
River City Taiko is a community taiko group in Richmond, Virginia, and has been active for nearly ten years. The group gives lessons in traditional Japanese drumming, and performs at a number of events throughout the year in Central Virginia as well as Tidewater and the Charlottesville area. River City Taiko’s mission is to let people of all ages and backgrounds know that taiko is both something that they can enjoy and a community that they can become a part of. If you’d like to learn more, please visit River City Taiko on Facebook and Instagram.
Our neighbors Nen Daiko have performed at every Sakura Taiko event since the tradition began! Nen Daiko is the taiko ensemble of Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Fairfax Station, Virginia, and has been performing in the Washington DC metropolitan area for over 25 years.
While we don’t have video, we’d also like to give a shoutout to the other groups that were planning to travel to DC: Taiko Tides from Stony Brook, Columbia Taiko from Columbia University, and the Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble. And stay tuned for another post with video of our Mark H Taiko groups!
As you are probably aware, the coronavirus concerns in the DC area have escalated and the DC Department of Health has issued a notice advising against large gatherings through the end of March. As a result, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and National Park Service have canceled all events at the Tidal Basin Stage where our event was going to take place.
So, unfortunately we have no choice but to cancel our March 28 Sakura Taiko Takeover event. We’re really bummed about this, to say the least. We had hoped to move forward one way or another, but unfortunately the city’s advisory against mass gatherings makes it impossible for us to find another venue. We may try to reschedule to a new date and don’t have a plan for that yet, but will be sure to keep everyone in the loop when and if that works out.
Thanks so much to all of the groups who had made plans to perform with us and all of the folx who have worked long and hard over the years to make this an awesome event that we look forward to every spring.
Keep calm, stay safe and healthy, and we’ll see you all for our next Taiko Takeover in 2021!
