The Annual Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime Achievement Award
will be presented to
Founder of San Francisco Taiko Dojo
We will honor Grand Master Tanaka during the
Opening Night Festival Performance, June 11, 2005
Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka established the first taiko dojo ( taiko school) in North America in 1968, and since made an enormous contribution to the preservation of Japanese traditions and culture. He has been instrumental in the evolution of taiko, a form of ritual drumming which combines percussive sound with physically demanding choreographic movement.
He was inspired to found the San Francisco Taiko Dojo after attending a Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco and realizing that this art form was not yet represented in the United States. Thirty eight years have passed since the founding of San Francisco Taiko Dojo and more than 10,000 men, women, and children of all walks of life have been fortunate to study under Grand Master Tanaka. His students have gone on to begin over 200 other taiko groups throughout the United States and Canada. Additionally, in Tokyo, the drum maker to the Emperor founded an academy—Nihon ( Japan) Taiko Dojo—based on Grand Master Tanaka’s teachings and taiko philosophy.
The longevity and success of San Francisco Taiko Dojo is attributed to Grand Master Tanaka’s unique style of taiko, which is highly improvised. “Most people just listen,” he said. “I want people to not only hear the sound, but also watch the sound, see the sound, feel the sound.” Although the group is highly trained and their performances may appear to be highly scripted, there is a lot of improvisation and every performance varies. “There’s a lot of creativity,” he said. “You play it by feeling. There is a lot of communication between the drummers and me, a lot of contact. They instinctively know what the others are going to do.”
Throughout the past 35 years, Grand Master Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo have gained worldwide attention and have performed in Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, across the United States, and throughout California. Notable performances include Carnegie Hall, before Emperor Hirohito, Hiroshima 50th Commemoration ceremony in Japan, Ashland Music Festival, Vanderbilt House International Festival in North Carolina, annual Black Ships Festival in Rhode Island, Oakland Coliseum for Nelson Mandela, Ticotin Japanese Museum in Israel, and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game celebration.
Grand Master Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo have collaborated and performed with a diverse line up of luminaries in the music industry, including such legends as Tony Bennett, Bobby McFerrin, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Tito Puente, Babatunde Olatunji, Orlando “Puntilla” Rios, “Patato” Valdez, Benito Concha, Narada Michael Walden, Kitaro, Mickey Hart, Mario Bauza and Max Roach. In addition, Grand Master Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo have been featured in four major motion pictures – Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff and Rising Sun, George Lucas’ Return of the Jedi, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.
Please see Seiichi Tanaka: Go For Broke by Terry Liu.