Kazan Taiko club returns with ‘Hibana’
Kazan Taiko reemerged Sunday for a performance met with enthusiasm that mirrored their passionate drums onstage. Kazan, USC’s only taiko drumming ensemble, finally held its 11th annual Spring Showcase, after two years of the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the tradition.
The student group engaged in an approximately 90-minute long performance in the TCC Ballroom, with pounding drums where the crew literally had to carry the performance.
Between each of the 10 sets, performers moved the taiko drums in unique formations, making each piece particularly engaging in a different way.
“Dokokara” featured the performers and drums upright in a line, where audiences could hear and see the main rhythm transferred to different drummers. “Hyperdrive” had the drummers sitting on the floor with their torsos halfway up while drumming, an established form of playing from Japan.
Each drummer also made elegant and swift flourishes with their drumsticks, which paired alongside mood lighting and fog, made for delightfully energetic engagement. The performance of “Rising Dragon Fist,” inspired by martial arts, featured drummers divided into halves of the stage bathed in red or blue, reminiscent of the similar setups of games such as “Street Fighter.” Sometimes, drumming was also accompanied by many smaller percussion instruments, including shakers or light choreography.
No matter whether they were thundering or cheery, however, each performance ended with a satisfying double note, followed by enthusiastic applause and cheers from an audience of friends and family.
As a post-pandemic concert, the club had to revisit old songs and performances to accommodate for two years of missed showcases. This also included inviting recently graduated alumni of the organization to return to perform for the showcase, with some leaving work from Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., to participate. Several performances featured combinations of alumni and current members, with the efforts summarized during the finale piece, “Kazan Matsuri,” a unique take on a taiko group staple.
“[Kazan Matsuri] was composed, and then in our archive, and we had to dig it up and figure out how to play it from piecing together old videos and what old alumni had to say about it,” said Helena Lu, Kazan’s media director and a junior majoring in East Asian languages and cultures. “The fact that we were able to play it at all, it was just such a gratifying experience, I think, for everybody.”
Prior to the concert, Kazan encountered many unexpected obstacles that furthered problems already encountered by the club’s return to in-person. While the club usually practiced on USC’s Parking Structure A at night, after receiving a cease-and-desist for noise complaints, they had to scramble to find a new practice location. Fortunately, musicology professor Scott Spencer lended rehearsal space and his office to store the drums, which were previously stored at the Senshin Buddhist Temple.
“It’s sad that a group as old as ours, who USC brings out as [Asian Pacific Islander Desi American] representation in their official events, gets constantly chased off campus by DPS and turned down every time we try to find storage space on campus for our drums,” Lu said. “Carting heavy drums and stands from off campus twice a week always takes a big toll on our members as well.”
The club also experienced difficulties with maintaining consistent membership during the coronavirus-induced pause of in-person school. The anxieties felt by the club were furthered by the disbandment of Haneulsori, USC’s traditional Korean drum and instrumental group, during the pandemic. Despite this, Kazan emerged with new and enthusiastic members eager to continue its extensive legacy.
The showcase’s title, “Hibana,” became emblematic of the club’s revival and growth. In Japanese, the kanji characters for Hibana, read as “fire” and “flower,” serve to represent the brightness of taiko and the club’s blossoming into something beautiful and inspiring.
“The theme ‘Hibana’ — it’s like ‘spark,’ so really about growth from dwindling to a tiny thing, then growing back into this large event,” said Zoe Beyler, a junior majoring in percussion performance who serves as Kazan’s artistic director. “That’s what we really wanted to try to do with this concert, is really show we’re here, that we’re still playing. We have a big group, we have support, it’s still happening.”
Kazan itself is derived from the Japanese word for volcano. Esther Hsu, a senior majoring in human biology and East Asian languages and cultures who serves as the club’s executive director, sent “lotsa lava” to the show’s many attendees and supporters, including Cal State Northridge’s taiko group who was also in attendance, demonstrating the closeness of the art community.
In addition to operating under the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly, the organization also collaborated with the USC Eastern Chamber Orchestra, who previously performed “Journey of the Elephant King,” featuring a variety of traditional Chinese instruments, including a zither and pipa. The partnership highlighted the diversity of cultural music on campus, which will also be featured during APASA’s upcoming night market on Thursday, where Kazan Taiko will be performing as well.
“I would say, even though we’ve been established for around 20 years, we’re still kind of finding our space in USC, just because we are a smaller group, and we’re on a more traditional kind of Asian side,” Hsu said. “Recently, people have started taking notice of us. It kind of fluctuates every year. Now, we do have a home with the other Asian groups, especially under APASA.”
While Kazan Taiko aims to provide its members with means of expression through rhythm and movement, it looks to continue growing as a group and presence on campus.
“Historically, we would already be coming in with at least a group of members who have had three years of experience, but everyone’s like, fresh here, so they have no idea what’s going on,” Hsu said. “We’re kind of like, resparking this tradition. Not restarting it, but reintroducing it to our group.”