Open Taiko Practices

The past year has been exciting for us in Aber Taiko. A year ago it seemed that Covid had overtaken important things in our lives, we were only just getting back to somewhat regular practice but the future for us as a Taiko group was not clear at all. We had no gigs in sight, we had not played regularly together and our repertoire was nestled in our brains and bodies, dormant.

We had then made the decision to invite new people to try out practicing with us with the idea that while for some the pandemic made Taiko harder to commit to, maybe for others this would be just the time to try something new.

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Taiko at the re launch of the Japanese Garden in the National Botanical Garden of Wales

We always feel quite honoured when we are invited to play at Japanese cultural events. Japanese people who live in the UK and hear us play will sometimes come up to us to tell us how much they miss the sound of the drums.

The National Botanical Gardens of Wales and the Japanese Garden Society teamed up and with help from a professional gardener from Kyoto brought new life to the slightly neglected garden. It looked fantastic at the launch. We were invited to play at the opening of the ceremony and then gave a longer performance in the big glass house. We topped it off with pop up workshops for some of the school children that came to take part in the ceremony.

Taiko at the Ospreys vs Scarlets Derby

We were invited by the Ospreys to support them in their high profile game against the Scarlets. You can imagine the levels of excitement in our group, especially as one of us happens to be very avid Ospreys fan!! We were to play a gig before the start at the entrance to the stadium, and then during the match, get the fans clapping and singing, get the motivation going.

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