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After almost ten months' worth of bonding, practicing, performing, building new equipment, traveling to new places, and making collegiate taiko history, Bakuhatsu is sad to say that the 2016-2017 season is over with our last practice of the school year last night.  Bakuhatsu after the last practice of the 2016-2017 school year where we planned for the future and jammed until we were out of breath. Photo courtesy of Naoki Kanagawa Congratulations to our graduating seniors as they take the Bakuhatsu spirit with them in their future endeavors! Allyson Beem August Walker Curtis Fan Calvin Lee Daniel Kim Gloria Kum Naoki Kanagawa Rahi Suryawanshi Shai Nielson Also, a special shout out to our member Hiroya Mizobe who is heading back to Japan soon and who we'll miss very much! The school year may be over, but Bakuhatsu doesn't give up on taiko that easily (or at all). The team will be back at it again with summer practices and performances resuming shortly after finals end. While we will be missing some members who are leaving Davis soon and will say goodbye to graduates as they leave Davis, we still have the summer full of song learning and performing to look forward to! San Jose Obon, July 8-9 Bakuhatsu is incredibly honored to have been asked back for another year in a row to perform at our biggest performance of the summer, San Jose Obon—a festival where "generations of families and friends come together and enjoy a rich cultural experience in one of the three remaining Japantowns in the United States." There will be games, food, taiko performances from various groups, and lots of dancing. We can't wait to join in on the festivities and also perform on Sunday, July 9th! 2017-2018 Board Members Congratulations to the new Bakuhatsu board members as they transition into their new positions over the summer. Co-Presidents – Tomoki Masakawa & Braden Wong Practice Directors – Issa Takada & Yuki Igarashi Administrative Director – Quynhmi Nguyen Treasurer – Jonathan Gong Equipment Managers – Michaela Tan & Gregory Wada Publicity Manager – Michelle Boutell Showcase Directors – Thao Le Hoang, Cayce Badiola & Quynhmi Nguyen Workouts Director – Daniel Lavados Relations Ambassador – Gregory Wada Historian – Michelle Boutell Webmaster – Daniel Lavados Designer – Gloria Kum Thank you to everyone—family, friends, and all other supporters—who helped make this year as amazing as it was. We hope to make next year even better!  Bakuhatsu members and guests after the 2016-2017 annual BakuBanquet. Photo courtesy of Naoki Kanagawa Written by Shai Nielson, BTD Historian 2016-2017
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In the last few weeks, Bakuhatsu has been amping up our equipment maintenance after having so many events and performances for the last two months. From building new stands to re-heading three drums, we've done a lot but we're always finding new projects to complete. This last weekend, members of the team came together to clean and varnish beta stands, varnish shime stands, oil and sunbathe drums, organize tools, and re-head one of our drums. For Bakuhatsu, maintaining our equipment is more than just keeping things clean and working. We treat our equipment like living members of our club. They've all been built and maintained by past and current members and the soul of our club lives inside every piece of equipment. Sometimes live gets busy, especially for a group of college students, but we have to make time for our equipment and remember there is more to taiko than just hitting drums. It's also about maintaining the bonds between members and our equipment, as well as learning how to treat everything around us with respect and making sure we never loose sight of what makes us who we are. Below are some photos from our latest equipment meeting taken by Bakuhatsu's Equipment Manager, Issa Takada. Written by Shai Nielson, BTD Historian 2016-2017
Next Saturday, April 29th, is Bakuhatsu's 6th Annual Showcase, Kizuna. It's an event we've been consciously preparing for since since last September, but the road to Kizuna actually started many years ago.
All of that work paid off and Akebono was such a success that showcase continued as an annual spring event with the second showcase, Ikioi or "momentum", on April 28th, 2013. At that time, Bakuhatsu had 22 members and performed 10 original songs with 3 of them being brand new songs to the club. The special guests were UC Davis's only K-pop group, SoNE1, JASS's traditional Japanese dance group, Jishin, Violin player Vanessa Dong, and UC Davis Golden Turtle Lion Dance Association. Watch the video below for a glimpse into what Bakuhatsu members were up to right before Ikioi in 2012.
Our fourth annual showcase, Todoroki or "roar", was on April 26th, 2015, with 26 members and 13 original songs performed with one being a brand new song. JASS's traditional Japanese dance group, Jishin, UC Davis Golden Turtle Lion Dance Association, and Ducks of the World, a band composed of Bakuhatsu members, were the special guests. This was the first showcase for our current members Daniel Kim (Practice Director), Issa Takada (Equipment Manager), Rahi Suryawanshi (Co-Showcase Director), and Gloria Kum (Designer). Watch the video below of Bakuhatsu doing a publicity flashmob performance of Utage at the UC Davis Quad for Todoroki.
It's clearly been a long road for Bakuhatsu to get to where we are today. We have 5 showcases to be proud of and we've been working our hardest to make the sixth one the best one yet. Kizuna will showcase 13 returning members, 11 new members, 10 old songs, 3 new songs, 3 different playing styles, a collaboration with the UC Davis Marching Band-uh, and a kizuna or "bond" that has been strengthening for 16 years. This show will honor the legacy of our alumni and exemplify the ever-growing kizuna amongst our members, alumni, drums, family, friends, and community. Be a part of the Kizuna 絆 Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan's 6th Annual Showcase April 29th at 4 p.m. Davis Veterans Memorial Center Theatre $10 for general admission, online or in person $8 for students, in person Tickets available at: https://bakuhatsutaikodan.yapsody.com/event/index/82496/kizuna-bonds 
Written by Shai Nielson, BTD Historian 2016-2017
On October 26th 2016, Bakuhatsu welcomed its newest group of members, Generation XVI, after weeks of them learning taiko and trying out. Most of them had never played taiko before and some didn't even have prior musical experience, but they’ve all worked so hard to make themselves the best taiko players they can be.  The first performance of Shio no Michihi by Michelle Boutell, Daniel Lavados, and Yuki Igarashi of GenXVI in the Tercero Dining Common at UC Davis. Immediately after being accepted, the new generation dove right into practices to improve their form. They also started learning Matsuri Daiko, a festival song known by most North American taiko players, and they created their first solos for the song. Once they mastered Matsuri, they started learning songs written by Bakuhatsu’s past members. The first was Shio no Michihi, which is one of Bakuhatsu’s more fierce and serious songs and means “the ebb and flow of the tide”. It was written by one of Bakuhatsu's founders, Stacey Clark, in 1999 and is usually one of the first songs new members learn. Taiko has changed the way I approach new things. I used to be incredibly shy about trying things, but taiko has shown me that some of the most enjoyable times are often outside of your bubble!  Generation XVI posing after receiving their team track jackets. In January, GenXVI learned Utage, one of Bakuhatsu’s most well-known songs in the taiko community. It was written by Taiyo Onoda in 2013 and roughly translates to “after party”. It’s a high-energy piece that requires 110% energy throughout the entire six minutes of the song. Knowing how to play energetically along with good form is a key part of Utage and Bakuahtsu in general. The most recent song the new members learned as a group was Kick-it!, which was written by Jeffrey Suzuki in 2008. It’s a fun, groovy song where the new members got to learn more complex choreography and create more intricate solos. Joining taiko was probably one of the best decisions of my college career. The dynamic of the group is fabulous and I can't wait to grow more as a performer!  Tomoki Masukawa, Daniel Lavados, Yuki Igarashi, Michelle Boutell, and Thao Le Hoang of GenXVI practicing their form. As individuals, each member of GenXVI has been working hard to learn additional songs and instruments. A few have been practicing playing shime to help keep the backbeat in songs returning members will be playing while others have learned additional songs that they will be playing alongside returning members. All of them have learned how to play various auxiliary instruments like hyotan, chappa, and kane, and many of them have also learned how to play odaiko so they can play the backbeat of their graduating mentor’s senior solo. They've even been learning Matsuri on naname (slant) stands. I was afraid I wasn't going to make any friends and be myself when I first got to Davis, but I'm extremely grateful to have joined BTD since they allow me to do just that. I look forward to each practice even if it's early in the morning or at midnight because all my stress disappears when we start playing taiko together. I never expected taiko to become such a huge part of my first year college experience, but it was one of the best spontaneous decisions I've ever made. LETSU DANSU. Generation XVI will be performing everything they’ve learned so far at our 6th Annual Showcase on April 29th. Written by Shai Nielson, BTD Historian 2016-2017 |
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