Taiko group drums up good energy at the library
Audience members learned to play taiko drums at the Wareham Free Library on Saturday, June 20. Photos by Nick Mossman
Juni Kobayashi and other Odaiko New England members perform. 
Kathy Stacey learns to drum. 
Concert goers sat under the trees outside the library trying to catch some shade. 
Odaiko New England plays. 
The performance included different types of large drums.
Audience members learned to play taiko drums at the Wareham Free Library on Saturday, June 20. Photos by Nick Mossman
Juni Kobayashi and other Odaiko New England members perform.
Kathy Stacey learns to drum.
Concert goers sat under the trees outside the library trying to catch some shade.
Odaiko New England plays.
The performance included different types of large drums.
As the sun beamed down on the Wareham Free Library on Saturday, June 20, the normally quiet place was filled with the sounds of drums as Odaiko New England performed outside the library’s doors.
The high-energy performance included several types of large drums, cymbals and flute.
Taiko drumming has a long history of use in Shinto and Buddhist rituals and traditional Japanese theater performances. The drumming at the library is known as kumidaiko drumming, which was started by Daihachi Oguchi, a Japanese drummer who was studying American jazz music in the 1950s, according to Odaiko New England.
Odaiko New England is the oldest operating taiko, a Japanese drumming organization, in the Boston area, according to the group's website.
The performance at the Wareham library included songs with rhythms inspired by “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin and encouraged audience members to participate.
Wareham resident Chloe Potter attended the taiko performance with her friend, Kathy Stacey, who got to try out one of the taiko drums.
The interactive performance included a mix of instrumental music and vocalizations, which
One New England Artistic Director Juni Kobayashi said that the vocalizations are meant to “to give and express energy.” Not only did the audience get to try their hand at drumming, Kobayashi led them in learning chants too.
Residents danced along to the rhythm of the music as they found shelter in the shade of the trees and under umbrellas on the sunny day. The concert was organized by the Wareham Free Library.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Potter said about the performance.
