Taiko Drummers at Chili's Fest 2008

November 1, 2008

David and I ended up back at Chili's Fest Saturday evening. Matt was meeting a group of friends at Kadena to watch a movie so Mike, David and I decided we would watch the movie too (rather then drop him off, go home, then turn right around and pick him back up.).

All was well through the previews- then the movie started. "Traitor"? I thought the movie was supposed to be "Tropic Thunder"?? We didn't really even check before going in- we went off of what Matt said they were watching. Turns out it was Traitor, which was not a movie David and I wanted to watch (the other kids didn't either, but they stayed anyway). The movie theater folks were nice enough to give us vouchers and David and I went back down the street to Chili's Fest.

We arrived just in time to watch the Taiko Drummers. This was a great group and they put on an awesome 45 minute show.
The drummers put their whole body into drumming- it wonderful to watch.

He is one of the guys who whistles. The whistle was loud enough to be heard clearly over the drums- pretty impressive, if you ask me! He was off the side of the stage and the only reason we could see him was because we were on that side. It was interesting to see how they whistle- the knuckle of their forefinger in the mouth and the rest of the fingers spread across the face.
On YouTube, there is a good example of the whistling (starts about 20 seconds into it). The singing is similar, but different than what we have heard so far here. example of whistling during taiko drummers
or cut and paste: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=C4-WRSKx6mM&feature=related








This lady had a contagious smile- you couldn't help but smile while you watched her!










Many of the performers were young- but all were energetic.





At the end they invited the audience to come out and join in- even on the huge drum on the stage. Everyone had a great time.


The shisa dogs roamed the crowd, gobbling the unawares...
Here, one of the Shisa performers head off-stage.

After the show, David and I wandered backstage to watch the group gather up and load their stuff. The leader of the group saw us and motioned David over to the Shisa costumes. He took David's camera, arranged the masks, shooed away the people behind him and took a few pictures. So nice! I was very touched! We had been trying to stay out of their way as they cleaned up, but he saw that we were interested in the masks and took it from there. That is so typical of the people here.

After the show David and I hung out while we waited for Mike and Matt be done with the movie. The singer Ashanti was performing next so we thought we would catch a bit of her (even though we didn't really know who she was). Unfortunately, she was running 30 minutes behind schedule. I had a perfect spot just off the stage- but was bummed when they announced "No Photos". You could use your phones to snap photos, but they threatened to stop the show if anyone took pictures. My camera is not exactly inconspicuous so I didn't even try. It was apparently a "Contract Issue" that they do not all photos. Not sure why the photos are such a big deal, especially with the phones and iPhone taking such good photos these days. We stayed just long enough to watch her opening song, then left.