San Jose Taiko meets the Bangerz!

(sorry about the format of the pics, Blogger doesn't like multiple pics much...)

Last Friday night, San Jose Taiko collaborated with a local DJ crew, the FingerBangerz (or just Bangerz).

Through a lot of happenstance and degrees of separation, we got in contact with them and found we had a lot in common. They've been around for about 15 years, based in of San Jose, and largely known more outside of their home base than within. SJT's a lot like that, just with more years under our belts.

The idea came to do a collaboration at the downtown street festival SubZERO, described as "A do-it-yourself, artistically bent, high/low-techno mash up where street meets geek." (From the SubZERO website.) Last year, we did a collaborative march through the streets with members of another local group, and I got hit upside the head by the tail of a mobile stegosaurus...don't ask. Anyways, it takes place every year on the streets of downtown San Jose, where they close off several blocks for the festivities.

The Bangerz were on at 11pm and after their three acts, we were to join for the last four songs. It was more of a collaboration than a lot of things I've been involved with. A lot of collaborations go: group A plays, group B plays, then maybe a team-up for the last song. Here, we played with their music or they played with ours.

They used keyboards, turntables, laptops, and all assortment of electronic devices spread out on tables in the back of the small stage, with our equipment set up in front of them. The raised stage was pretty small, about 24' deep and 20' wide, but monitors (speakers) took up some of that width. They got the crowd very pumped up and from behind the stage we watched them work their gear and really get into their music.

When we got on stage to play, the crowd seemed to go on for blocks; a sea of pumped-up fans just as curious to see what was going to happen as we were. We started with one of our songs, "Pandala", which featured taiko, didgeridoo, and the Filipino kulintang. For most of the song, the Bangerz didn't add much and let us do our thing, but when they came in, the crowd came alive. Not that they were quiet earlier, but a switch flipped, to be sure! The only weirdness came from the didgeridoo being mic-ed so that the whole stage buzzed with the low drone during its solo section, but that was minor at worst.

On to song #2, "Robot Remains", the first of their three next songs. We put together a sequence of familiar moves (to us) taken from various songs and spliced a very cool-looking routine. The crowd really seemed to like the bigger motions we made; maybe they looked the most dance-like?

Song #3, "Stuck", was a trio of us (Miyadaiko/big drum up, shimedaiko, and a chudaiko) with them riffing on their own track. We played a short pattern together and then did a few turns/spins to add a little something, but it was 95% improvising for us. I have to admit, I didn't know when the piece ended; it was the one I was least familiar with, but you'd never know by watching!

Song #4, "Inferno", was the climax of the evening. We mostly played on top of the bass track to the song, repetitive patterns and sequences, with a few movements thrown in. Near the end came a portable okedo solo section, but the ending involved samba whistle and the Bangerz coming off their tables to play hand percussion amongst us. Awesome!

Now, we had our small share of oops, but it was a casual setting and the energy - from us, the Bangerz, and the audience - was surreal. There was a real sense of respect from the Bangerz and I/we felt honored to get to work so closely with such a talented group of artists. I never felt like they were anything but excited to work with us, and there wasn't one of them I couldn't talk and get a feeling of gratitude from. I really hope we get to work with them again, and not 5 years from now; soon!

I daresay that this performance will probably be a highlight of my taiko career. Who'da thunk it?

----------

There's some video of this available now; more's coming out every day!

Here's the first of two long-range shots.
Here's the second.
This clip is pretty close up but with a lot of stuff in the way.
Our rehearsal the night before the show.