Swarthmore is a hub of people with different backgrounds, interests, and passions. Swatties come from all over the country (all over the world, even) and are an eclectic mix of personalities and identities. It may seem like a group of such varied 18-22ish year olds would have nothing in common, but that’s far from true. We all care about learning, we’re all creative in our own ways, we all think deeply, and most importantly… we all love taiko.
Okay, maybe this is an overstatement, and perhaps my sample size may be a bit flawed (I’ve never claimed to be a statistician), but everyone I’ve ever interacted with who’s been to a taiko concert here has loved it. Taiko is a style of traditional Japanese drumming with drums of various sizes and shapes. Often, performances consist of a number of performers vocalizing and drumming together. They can get extremely loud and they are incredibly entertaining.
The first time I saw a taiko performance was during my freshman year at the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival, hosted by the student APIDA (Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi, American) board, is usually held in the cherry blossom border at the edge of campus; unfortunately, it was raining the day of the festival so plans had to be changed and the venue ended up being indoors in Upper Tarble. We all gathered and chatted and ate the (free) catered food while various student performers sang or danced or did other cool stuff. Eventually, though, an announcement was made that taiko would be coming out soon. I only had a very vague idea of what this entailed because I had never heard of taiko before coming to Swarthmore, but I noticed the crowd started buzzing with excitement. My friends and I made our way to the front, where people were sitting on the floor to watch the performance and waited in anticipation. Finally, the drums were wheeled out, and the show began. I’m not often speechless, but after seeing the Swarthmore instructors and students perform these really intricate pieces on the taiko drums I genuinely had no words. In fact, I still sort of have no words. Part of the reason I love taiko so much is because there isn’t really a way to experience it fully without seeing it in person. The smiles on everyone’s faces, the rhythmic beating of the drums, the reverberations that echo from the mallets to the bodies of everyone in the audience… it’s more than just a visual or auditory experience; it’s literally a feeling.
Recently, Swarthmore was lucky enough to get the legendary Japanese taiko artist Eitetsu Hayashi to come to campus, and I was lucky enough to get to see him perform! The performance was free (yay for a cash-free campus) and open to the public. This is objectively a beautiful thing; unfortunately for me, it also meant I needed to arrive quite early if I wanted a good seat (and I CERTAINLY wanted a good seat). The concert started at 7pm, and I arrived at the Lang Performing Arts Center at 6:30, right as the doors opened. I managed to get a really great seat (and equally importantly, I managed to grab earplugs because it was going to be a loud affair). I waited for a while for the performance to start, and eventually, the lights dimmed a bit, and I heard a single drumbeat. The people in the first few rows at the front stood up and made their way to the stage. There were around 80 drummers from all over the country! After they made their way to the stage, Eitetsu Hayashi entered and made his way to the drum at the very front of the stage. There was a moment of anticipation and then pure joy. All the drummers started playing together, calling out to one another, smiling, and following Hayashi’s guidance. It was so loud and so beautiful that I even teared up a little. After the big group performance, there were a number of equally moving smaller performances with Hayashi, his troupe, Professor Joe Small ’05, and a recent alum of the college from the class of ’24. They played beautiful music for over an hour, and it was truly such a gift to see them.
Taiko is so moving (literally and figuratively). Although I had never heard of it before I arrived at Swarthmore, I can confidently say it’s been one of my favorite discoveries in my time here. It’s so special to have access to this beautiful art form right at our fingertips!
Editor’s Note: Taiko is taught in Swarthmore’s Dance Department and students can take the classes whether or not they’ve had prior experience with taiko.
