Art Lee and Yukari Ichise have returned from their two week tour of Canada.
See the newsletter about this tour written by Yukari.
New TOKARA 20th Anniversary T-shirts now on sale!
Celebrate with us and order your 20th Anniversary T-shirt!!
Online order form at:
www.tokara.net/20TformE.html
TOKARA's 20th Anniversary World Tour T-shirts are now available for order!
The print colors shown here (Gold or Blue) are available in sizes S through XXL.
Please place your confirmed order as soon as possible, as we have a limited number available.
Orders will be confirmed when payment is received.
Art and Yukari to perform in Canada in May!!
Art Lee and Yukari Ichise will be in Canada for only two weeks. While this year is TOKARA's 20th Anniversary Tour throughout 2024.
This short Canada tour will also feature "Kobushi", Art Lee's 30th Anniversary Concert which began in 2023. This concert with Art and Yukari
was a big hit during our Europe tour in 2023, and has since been requested as part of TOKARA's 20th Anniversary Tour throughout Japan.
We are looking forward to seeing our friends again in Canada.
Europe Tour and Intensive Taiko in Japan!!
Art Lee and Yukari Ichise are in Europe for six weeks. It has been four years since we were last in Europe, but we are happy to be back seeing our taiko mates here,
and meeting lots of new friends. So far, we have taught workshops in The Netherlands, Switzerland, and France.
And we were particularly excited to introduce our new piece “Ajisai” which embraces the beauty and spirit of a kind soul whom is no longer with us
physically, but continues to bloom like the Ajisai flower. This piece is taught to two groups during this tour, and hopefully will expand even more in the coming years.
We still have three more weeks here in Europe, which will include performance in Amsterdam, workshop and performance in Ljubljana, Slovenia and a
full concert with weekend workshop in Duffel, Belgium. We look forward to seeing more of our friends here and meeting more new taiko family throughout the next few weeks.
2024 is TOKARA’s 20th Anniversary as a performing group, and we have a special pairing our intensive courses and concerts happening for anyone who would like to join us.
The Tokara Bootcamp which is paired with the Narita Taiko Festival and Tokara’s 20th Anniversary Nagoya Concert is already full and registration has been closed.
However...June holds a great moment in time as the
INADANI Taiko Course
is paired with Tokara’s 20th Anniversary Concert in the Matsumoto Grand Performing Arts Theater.
Taiko Course participants will have a chance to join one piece with Tokara in this performance.
Registration is still open for this opportunity, so make sure to get your application in soon at:
www.tokara.net/20/en.html
Registration for workshops for Tokara’s 20th Anniversary Tour are now open.
Spaces are expected to fill up quickly, so please make sure to register very soon.
Link to 20th Anniversary Workshops and Concerts website:
www.tokara.net/20
~~~~~FOR NARITA TAIKO FESTIVAL:~~~~~
***The Narita Taiko Festival course is now
full for performing in the Opening Ceremonies.
***
***
Please feel free to apply if you wish to join the training and visit the Narita Taiko Festival
without
performing,
and/or wish to be put on the waiting list to join the Opening Ceremony performances.
We look forward to see you in 2024 to join us for Tokara 20th Anniversary Celebration Concerts and Workshops.
Thank you to everyone who came to the Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival.
The day was a great success with the Fringe Festival in the morning, the Katsugi Okedo workshops at noon, and the Super Show in the afternoon.
We were so happy that we could finally bring Oedo Sukeroku Taiko back to Nagano Prefecture for a performance with us in the grand theater.
It was such a great performance, and great that we could end the concert with a collaboration song together.
Tokara's next concert will take place on August 20th in the Ena Bunka Center Grand Theater in Ena City, Gifu Prefecture.
This will be a free concert which is organized by Ena Juki. The poster is viewable on the left.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Making History!!
We were happy to once again participate in the Narita Taiko Festival, the world's largest taiko festival, in April.
What was extra special was that we were honoured to create the first time in the 33 year history of the festival a group of participants
from different countries coming together to participate as one registered group during the opening ceremony of 800+ taiko performers.
We are already in conversation with the festival about continuing this as an ongoing yearly project.
Tokara is now getting ready for the summer season with concerts in Tokyo and Ena City, as well as our yearly curated
festival, the Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival. And the INADANI Taiko Drumming Course in June.
We are also very much looking forward to touring in Europe again after four years!!
Art and Yukari will be looking forward to meeting our many European friends from years past, and making new friends.
More details as we get closer to mid-Summer.
Birthday Celebrations in March
March is the start of a very busy few months for Tokara, but we are very happy to be busy again performing, teaching and meeting many people from around the world.
During the week of March 6 - 10, we were joined by 15 participants from around the world to Iida, Japan for Tokara Bootcamp 2023.
At the end of the course, the group will travels to Kurokawa, Shirakawa-cho, Gifu Prefecture, for Art Lee's 30th Anniversary Concert "Kobushi" at the Azumaza Kabuki Playhouse Theater.
Immediately after this concert, Art Lee and Yukari Ichise will travel to Singapore to continue teaching one of Tokara's taiko pieces, 'POP'.
Since Art Lee composed this piece in 2017, it has been performed by many taiko groups throughout 15 countries. Now this will expand to 16 countries as
Singapore will be the first country in Asia, after Japan, to have a group performing this piece in their repertoire.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support us. We are looking forward to more concerts and performances,
with the Art Lee 30th anniversary concert tour this year and TOKARA's 20th anniversary concert next year in 2024.
Art Lee 30th Anniversary Tour begins in Iida City - February 12, 2023
The first concert of Art Lee's 30th Anniversary World Tour begins in the Iida Culture Theater on February 12, 2023.
Having been in isolation for nearly three years due to both liver transplant and covid restrictions, Art, joined by Tokara members, plan to
begin touring the world again from next year.
Tickets for the Iida Concert go on sale from December 20th.
Click here for more details
Art Lee and TOKARA were featured in a documentary on NHK World starting May 29th.
See the full documentary online
Here
