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Japanese Taiko Drumming Moves to a Global Beat

by Corey Takahashi | March 29, 2007 -- 6:30 PM

Taiko drumming is sometimes described as the heartbeat of Japan. It's an ancient cultural practice that has been a fixture of religious ceremonies, festivals, wars and everyday village life. But as performance art, it's still relatively young. In Japan and North America, a new generation of taiko players is pushing the sound in wildly new directions, expanding its scope while trying to negotiate between the sacred and the contemporary.