Our new home, Arlington, celebrates the arts with the sixth annual Arlington Alive! Summer Arts Block Party. It is a free event with live music, storytelling, artisan and craft booths, food vendors, and activities for all ages. Odaiko New England opens the event at 1pm.
Odaiko New England (ONE) is a premier Japanese drumming group in New England. We are celebrating our 25th anniversary and new location in Arlington. Come see and hear what ONE has to offer!
After practicing over 20 years in Woburn, we found a new home in Arlington early this year. This event is our way of saying “Hello” to our new neighbors and show what taiko drumming is all about, and share our love for taiko. You will see different kind of drums, different style of drumming, and have a sneak peak of our new songs in progress, how our school shows would look like, and of course, try some drumming yourself!
All ages are welcome although taiko drumming can get really loud, so those who have sensitive hearing, we recommend bringing ear plugs.
FREE for public (donation appreciated).
Salem-Ota Cultural Exchange and students from Ota City, Tokyo celebrate Obon together at the Peabody Essex Museum. Come for some amazing taiko, and after the performance participate in bon odori (festival dancing.)
This event is included with museum admission.
Odaiko New England is very pleased to return to Rhode Islands’s 36th annual Black Ships Festival, August 9th and 10th.
Friday evening, catch our full performance at 7pm at Independence Park. The event is free. Bring chairs and blankets to sit out on the grass.
Saturday will feature multiple small performances throughout the day as part of the Arts & Crafts and Martial Arts Fair featuring demonstrations, workshops, and displays. And in the evening, we’ll be performing at the Black Ships Festival Gala.
The Black Ships Festival is a weekend-long festival celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade. The “Black Ships,” or “Kurofune,” refers to the Japanese term for foreign ships.
To celebrate this friendship, the Japanese city of Shimoda also celebrates this festival.
The Black Ships festival is hosted by the Japan-America Society of Rhode Island.
Odaiko New England is very pleased to return to Rhode Islands’s 36th annual Black Ships Festival, August 9th and 10th.
Friday evening, catch our full performance at 7pm at Independence Park. The event is free. Bring chairs and blankets to sit out on the grass.
Saturday will feature multiple small performances throughout the day as part of the Arts & Crafts and Martial Arts Fair featuring demonstrations, workshops, and displays. And in the evening, we’ll be performing at the Black Ships Festival Gala.
The Black Ships Festival is a weekend-long festival celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade. The “Black Ships,” or “Kurofune,” refers to the Japanese term for foreign ships.
To celebrate this friendship, the Japanese city of Shimoda also celebrates this festival.
The Black Ships festival is hosted by the Japan-America Society of Rhode Island.
Join us at the 137th annual Bolton Fair in Lancaster, MA for an old fashioned agricultural fair with petting zoos, tractor pulls, fiddler contests, lumberjack shows, acrobats, livestock contests, exhibitions and entertainment. Odaiko New England will be performing on Sunday, August 11th.
Tickets available on line at http://www.boltonfair.org/. Parking is free
Join Odaiko New England to connect your mind, body, and soul as a rhythmic collective through the Art of Japanese Taiko Drumming.
All ages and levels are welcome.
Have you seen taiko performed and thought “I want to do that!” Do you like booming drums, using your body and having fun? Do you enjoy rhythm, movement and teamwork? Odaiko New England is offering an introductory taiko workshop which is the perfect opportunity to try your hand at taiko. Our workshops are great for beginner players, even those with no musical background at all.
New drummers learn taiko fundamentals such as kata (form), kiai (vocalization) and kumidaiko (ensemble drumming). Using your entire body to learn and play a song, explore first-hand the mesmerizing, heart-pounding power of taiko. Come ready to move: wear comfortable clothing and bring water. Ear plugs are also highly recommended.
No experience is necessary! Returning students are welcome to attend. ONE brings enthusiastic and encouraging instructors and all necessary drums and equipment. Participants bring plenty of energy, spirit, and joy!
If you are interested, please fill out a pre-registration form.
To secure a spot, complete and mail in a registration form with your $35 workshop fee. You may also bring these with you on the day of the workshop. Group discounts are available if arranged in advance. Please email [email protected] or call 781-938-DRUM (3786) for details.
(Please note: The location is 7 Medford St. Arlington MA. Enter the glass door to the left of the main theater entrance of the Regent Theater when facing the Arlington Regent Theater.)
For more information about this workshop or about ONE classes email [email protected] or phone 781-938-DRUM (3786).
Summer festivals are a seasonal tradition in Japan. Typically hosted by a shrine or temple, people wear yukata (summer kimonos) and play fun games while eating foods and snacks sold at food stands. The Brandeis Japan Student Association aims to share this tradition with the community through good food and fun, interactive activities; they will have a Japanese taiko performance, yakisoba at a food stand, and traditional summer games such as suika-wari (watermelon smashing)
Join Odaiko New England on the great lawn at Brandeis University for their Natsu Matsuri, or Summer Festival. ONE will be performing at 12:30.
The Arlington Commission on Arts & Culture is hosting Garage Band, a dance party at the Arlington Service Station, a gas station on Mass Ave in Arlington. Arlington Service Station is located within Arlington’s newly minted Cultural District, and owner Abe Sahli was inspired by the designation to commission local artist Johnny Lapham to paint a mural on his station, including on the pumps! It’s exuberant and beautiful, as you may have seen, and now Abe is getting into concert presenting. Our first event was last June, and we had a crowd of about 1,500 joyful, dancing people. This is a free event focused on bringing together the community.
Join the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture for a festive celebration of art in public places! Take a walking tour with the 4 artists involved in this season’s PATHWAYS, installations of temporary public art inspired by the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington’s Cultural District. Enjoy an open air concert by the raucous, soulful Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and Odaiko New England’s dynamic Taiko drummers. Activities take place in SPY POND PARK (located at Linwood Circle), at the Kickstand Cafe and along the Minuteman Bikeway. Odaiko New England will be playing at the Kickstand Cafe plaza at 3pm and 3:45pm located at the intersection of the Bikeway and Swan Place/Mass Ave.
You can bike, take the Mass Ave Bus, or park for free in nearby neighborhood streets. Light refreshments served, including pizza donated by Za Restaurant. Raindate: September 22.
SCHEDULE: SPY POND PARK
At Linwood Circle
4 to 4:30 pm REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE
Enjoy the joyful sounds of this innovative group of superb musicians inspired by New Orleans Mardi Gras music and spirit
4:30 pm ARTIST WALKING TOUR – remarks artists Freedom Baird, Resa Blatman, Chris Frost, and Johnny Lapham and curator Cecily Miller
5 to 6 pm REVOLUTIONARY SNAKE ENSEMBLE second set
SCHEDULE: KICKSTAND CAFE PLAZA
At the intersection of the Bikeway and Swan Place/Mass Ave, in Arlington Center
3 to 3:15 pm ODAIKO NEW ENGLAND
A dynamic performance of Japanese Taiko drumming by students and teachers of this Arlington school dedicated to preserving this traditional art form.
3:15 pm THANK YOU to 6 Transformer Box artists who have painted 5 utility boxes around town — collaborators Laurie Bogdan & Karen McCarthy, Aubrey Cloutier, Chi-Yun Lau, Molly Scannell and Shun Yamaguchi — and their sponsors.
3:45 to 4 pm ODAIKO Second Set
