Group History#
Ame no Ato is a Montréal-based taiko duo. We strive to inspire audiences through an array of traditional and modern taiko styles. Our performances showcase our voice as a duo from humble beginnings during the pandemic, inspired by studies of tradition and techniques with teachers around the world, to share a little bit of our flavor of Japanese Canadian culture.
Despite Ame no Ato only being 3 years young, we have a combined taiko history of over 30 years built upon learnings from teachers both local and international, at workshops, conferences, festivals, and intensives. We have had the pleasure of applying our experience and re-learning this new joy and challenge of presenting taiko as a duo, how to put this beautiful artform together with a limited number of players and hands for setup and drum changes. Experiencing the sound of loud drums humbled by fewer players.
Founding Inspiration#
To share taiko, to inspire and connect through the art of taiko
Notable History#
Calgary Taiko Festival July 23, 2022: The first Canadian Taiko Festival post pandemic and our first event attending and performing as a duo. We are ever so grateful to Paula Nieckar for organizing the event, believing in us and giving us a chance to both teach and perform. It was a real pleasure getting to meet so many Central Canadian taiko players in a small, cozy setting. The theme of this conference was “Stronger Together” encouraging the Canadian taiko community to come together, an idea that we need to continue to nurture.
Hartford Summer festival performances: This is an annual and fully community-run event that takes place in a small area of west Hartford aiming to share elements of Japanese culture with the general public. These performances have been meaningful to us as we’ve had the opportunity to truly connect with the audience and community, sharing the art of taiko to those with a fondness for japanese culture along with some Japanese Americans that have had few opportunities to experience taiko previously. Every time we have performed there, we have returned nourished after interacting with audience members and seeing the impact that taiko can have.
Promo video project in the fall of 2022: for this big project, we wanted to showcase taiko in an iconic Montreal setting and our friends rose to the challenge to lend us a hand with getting our drums to our chosen outdoor location and helping with filming and sound. It gave us an opportunity to learn how to shoot, edit, and create material and spend a fun afternoon in the gorgeous sunlight playing taiko by the water. Putting this project together required us literally to think and look from an audience’s perspective which gave us insight into areas we need to put more awareness towards when performing.
Cheshire Public Library performance June 8, 2024: This was our first hour-long concert performed at the Cheshire Public Library, where we debuted some new material that we had composed and took a very open and curious audience on a little tour of different taiko styles from different regions. It was a very intimate space with a very attentive audience that held a beautiful space for us to share taiko with. Perhaps it was the intimate setting or additional emphasis we put into talking about each piece, but we were reminded once again how taiko can act as a connector on a level beyond words.
RAW Toronto Taiko Festival 2024: another Canadian taiko festival hosted by our dear friends RAW, sharing taiko with both new and dedicated taiko community members. It was a joy to meet many east coast Canadian taiko players and share a stage with them as well. It was also a pleasure to teach and share taiko through workshops at this event. Having had several iterations over the last decade, it was our first time attending this festival as a duo. Continuing from the Canadian Taiko Gathering, we see the significance of Canadian taiko events to strengthen Canadian taiko.
Future Goals and Values#
Furthering and strengthening connections with the Canadian taiko community
Performance Material Sources#
Combination of open source adaptations, traditional pieces, and our own compositions as well as compositions written by friends.
Taiko Community Mentors in the Group#
Steve (Effective practice planning, Group dynamics & cohesion, Small group performance)
Valerie (Group dynamics & cohesion, Small group performance)
