Honolulu Weekly

In the film The Visitor (reviewed 6/11), there’s a great scene in which main character Walter Vale hesitantly joins a New York City drum circle for an afternoon. But most of the drummers in the scene (including Vale) are playing djmebes and congas–I’m sorry, Tom McCarthy, but as director, couldn’t you have thrown in at least one taiko drum for the sake of diversity?

McCarthy probably doesn’t read the Weekly, but no matter. With the Taiko Center of the Pacific presenting Taiko Fest ‘08! this weekend, who needs him? Showcased this year will be the Taiko Center’s youth, the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble, and the TaikoProject (which won the 2004 Tokyo International Taiko Contest).

Translated “fat drum,” taiko is one of the most popular and often performed Japanese styles of drumming. The word refers to the drum itself, which is large and barrel-shaped (kind of like the participants in Japan’s other often performed spectacle–sumo wrestling).

But don’t think big and bulky. Taiko combines movement, sound and spirit, and has been used historically in warfare, religious ceremonies, and oddly, to control insect infestations. So if you head to Hawaii Theatre this Friday, you can leave the mosquito repellant at home.