Zenshin Daiko’s 12 Annual Taiko Festival Concert Series will consist of two different concerts this year with different featured guest taiko groups. Zenshin Daiko Zenshin Daiko is a non-profit corporation dedicated to teaching taiko to children and sharing it with the community. Since forming in 1999, Zenshin Daiko has performed in almost 600 cultural and community events all over Maui and the other Hawaiian Islands and in Los Angeles, Wisconsin and Japan.

Featuring Kagami Kai from California. KAGAMI KAI is a mochi tsuki group based out of San Francisco, CA. We were founded 20 years ago when a few of us missed the taste of fresh mochi, so we decided to start making it ourselves. We have evolved from a group of friends missing the flavors of home to a performing group dedicated to preserving the community, traditions and camaraderie of mochi tsuki.

Zenshin Daiko will be premiering three original pieces written by members. Over 40 members will be performing during the first half of the concert.

Featuring Stanford Taiko from Stanford University. Stanford Taiko was founded in 1992 by Ann Ishimaru and Valerie Mih after they were inspired by a class taught by Susan Hayase, a former San Jose Taiko member. With the help of San Jose Taiko, master drum maker Mark Miyoshi, and a Stanford Undergraduate Research Opportunity grant, the group built its first drum and began to recruit and teach members.. Since then, the group has grown to produce an annual concert of original works, tours domestically and internationally (2000: Japan, 2003: Hawai‘i, 2004: Thailand, 2005: Los Angeles, 2006: Thailand and Japan, 2007: Seattle, 2008: China, 2009: Thailand, 2011: Hawai'i, 2012: England), and performs frequently on campus as well as in the surrounding communities. In 2005, Stanford Taiko was honored with an invitation to perform at Taiko Jam, the headline concert event of the biennial North American Taiko Conference. Stanford Taiko remains the only collegiate taiko ensemble ever to participate in this showcase concert, one of the most prestigious venues for taiko in North America. Stanford Taiko is also part of an ever-expanding network of collegiate taiko groups and founded the Intercollegiate Taiko Invitational in 1995. Since the event’s inception, Stanford Taiko has hosted this event in rotation with UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, and UC Davis.

Special Guest Kenny Endo will also be performing with Zenshin Daiko in this concert. KENNY ENDO is one of the leading artists in contemporary percussion and rhythm. He is the vanguard of the taiko genre, continuing to pave new paths in this Japanese style drumming even after thirty-five years as a career taiko player. A performer, composer, and teacher of taiko with numerous awards and accolades, Kenny Endo is a consummate artist, blending Japanese taiko with rhythms influenced from around the world into original melodies and improvisation.