Asayake Journal

Winter Quarter!

2009-01-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009! I guess this is a bit late but... we got newbies! Yay! Congrats to the 7 that have now entered our ranks!

Winter quarter is here and that means we'll soon be having our annual retreat! Can't wait! And we're also going to have a couple performances lined up for this quarter along with getting ready for CONCERT which is on Saturday, April 18th! Details to come later once we get everything squared away but keep that date open on your calendars!

Fall 2008 Happenings

2008-10-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Fall quarter is off to a running start and it's that time again: Tryouts! We'll be holding our first tryouts on Sunday, October 5th at the top of Gilman Parking Structure.

Also this week we are having our very first boba run on Saturday, October 4th. We'll be meeting at Peterson at 8PM.

Hope to see you there!

Asayake Spring Concert!

2008-05-03T02:12:00.000-07:00

first off,

THANK YOU very much to each and every member of the audience tonight for coming! it was great to have so many people come and watch us put on our very first Spring Concert! i think it was a great success if i say so myself. San Diego Taiko, thanks for coming and partaking in this concert; you guys were very very awesome!

to Asayake members:

YAY! we did it guys! all those practices and construction days really paid off, didn't it! i do hope this amazing experience continues on in the years to come..

great job everyone :)

Awakening

2008-04-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

After countless hours of pre-planning, practicing, drum construction, reskinning, costume sewing, practicing, fundraising, committee meetings, practicing, designing programs and flyers and tshirts, and practicing and rehearsing some more, we are down to FOUR... MORE... DAYS.

Get ready for Asayake Taiko and San Diego Taiko's first ever Spring Concert!!

AWAKENING
May 2nd 8pm The Neurosciences Institute Auditorium
http://www.nsi.edu/index.php?page=directions_map

Asayake Spring Concert '08

2008-04-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

The website for Asayake Taiko is nearly done with its redesigns and updates. Keep checking back for updates on our very first Spring concert!

Albert

NSU Culture Show 08

2008-03-25T01:05:00.001-07:00

Oh no! We forgot to write about one of our biggest performances in the entire year!! Which was, obviously, NSU Culture Show.

This year was very special because it was the first time we ever performed a set written entirely by our own Asayake members. First we had our new and improved Shibuki by Kelli & Mike. And our signature piece Arashi was performed very well by this year's newbies. Kodomo Zakari written by Diana & Mike, was arranged differently from last year with more movements and energy. We have definitely come a loong way since my first year when we played Matsuri :) Can't wait to see the DVD of our performance. Meanwhile, if anyone out in the audience took pictures, please send them to us if you can, we love to see performance pictures! :)

I hope everyone enjoyed our performance, and thanks to all of you who came out to support us.

<3 NSU and Asayake :)

2008-01-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! Looks like we're getting off to a pretty productive start with a couple performances this month as well as our group retreat...

Next weekend:

:)

Newbies! Awesome!

2007-11-06T13:14:00.001-08:00

Yay!

Faculty Club Performance

2007-10-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

Thought we should share our UCSD Top News article of our performance on October 12th, 2007 when we performed for Campaign for UCSD fundraising celebration dinner. CLICK HERE to read the article. We are definitely getting our names (and drumming) heard on campus ;)

And we got great reviews :) yay us!

"I wanted to thank you and your fantastic UCSD Asayake Taiko performers. You all are amazing to watch and so much fun. Your performance was very well received by our donors and they were impressed. Thank you for coordinating the details. Your group is very professional and we look forward to a time when we can have you perform for our guests again. -Michelle, (Campaign for UCSD Staff?)"

Let's Do the Time Warp Again!

2007-10-17T16:46:00.001-07:00

It's great to be playing again with Asayake in full force :)

We started off the 2007-2008 school year with a small performance for NSU's GBM on October 3rd, and then we did a full set in Price Center Plaza on October 5th.

For me, this is the closest thing to having a hometown performance... while it is exhilarating going to different schools and organizations and sharing our experience of taiko with them, there is still a warm fuzzy feeling I get from being on our home turf, whether it be for NSU or for any of the six colleges. Granted, there happened to be a lot of frat/sorority kids congregating that day, but the familiar faces in the crowd really made it an enjoyable performance.

Many thanks to Tony for taking awesome pictures, and be sure to check out videos, courtesy of TK and Jenna: Omiyage, Arashi, and Oichi Daiko.

Tryouts begin!

2007-10-15T13:42:00.001-07:00

Many good looking tryer-outers came. We taught them straight form (both left and right arms - i know, alot to take in at once), did some ki-ai drills and some rhythm drills. Overall they all seem pretty strong. We'll see how it all pans out over the next month or so.

It's summer!

2007-08-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

It's summer and we are practicing. All five of us. Maybe seven? I don't know. We do grabs twice around, though. It's exciting. Or, well, perhaps exciting isn't the correct word. Intimate isn't either, although it's closer. It is just a few of us and some drums, and a jolly good time is had by all.

It's kind of strange, because we aren't practicing towards any specific performance - indeed, we have too few people to do any sort of performance - so it becomes a sort of philisophical question as to what, in the end, we are practicing for. Life, perhaps? The honing of a particular skill, despite or because of the fact that there is no concrete reason to do so. Nevertheless, regardless of the conundrum, it's actually rather enjoyable just hanging out and having a good time with a few good friends. Yay for summer practices!

Culture Show, April 27th, 2007

2007-04-28T02:27:00.000-07:00

So that was probably the best audience we've had or will have all year. It was sort of a combination of a lot of things - the history we share with NSU, the friends we have there, the fact that most of the people there were our age and hence could kind of see where we were coming from, etc., etc. It all just sort of... popped.

It is too soon after the fact. I cannot articulate. It was... good. Enjoyment was had by all.

Two more days til Culture Show

2007-04-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Addendum to Albert's post:

NSU Culture Show

2007-04-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

Whooo!! Can't wait! Come watch!

When: April 27, Friday, 8pm
Where: UCSD Price Center Theater
How much: FREE!!

Cherry Blossom

2007-03-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

So, i mean, the Cherry Blossom Festival in the bay area is huge. One of the biggest things that happens in the JA community all year. And so the size of this venue, at least for me, was... unexpected.

Nevertheless, the cherry blossoms were out and the locale was beautiful, and all in all it was fairly enjoyable. Despite the small crowd we were enthused and they were enthused and everyone was enthused and it all turned out alright. Because i was playing in it, i couldn't tell how the debut of Diana's Song went, but i have firsthand accounts that say it went pretty well, which pleases me. The food was delicious as well, and the group of little kids singing japanese songs adorable.

In summation: it was a good performance and a good day.

Also i think i hurt myself rolling down the hill in the park afterwards.

IRPS Asian New Years Festival

2007-02-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

Playing between a qin performance and a heated kimchii eating contest, Asayake performed Ashura, Arashi, and Oiichi in front of the International Relations and Pacific Studies library. Overall I think we put on a good show that drew a lot of people out of their rooms and offices :) Good job to Jenna for her very first performance and solo! ;] All the newbies are playing strong.

Here are some pictures:

Just as a side-note though, with the number of Lunar New Year performance requests we are getting, I am starting to wonder how many people actually know that Japanese people do not really celebrate the Lunar New Year. Not that it's a big deal.

Asayake Taiko in the UCSD Guardian

2007-02-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

02/20/07: Drumming Up Past Experiences

Asayake Taiko was featured in UCSD's very own Guardian! With the number of performance requests coming in, I feel we are getting quite a lot of publicity -at least more so than the previous years. I'm so proud to be a part of this group!

I know what we will go far.

NSU Day of Remembrance performance

2007-02-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

What a great performance! The newbies had their very first performance on Friday, and they were awesome! Congrats to the newbies!!! This marks one of many more great performances to come from them, and I look forward to performing beside them! Great job, everyone! :D

Lunar New Year Performance

2007-01-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

That was awesome guys. Kelli recorded the performance for me, so you can search for it on youtube. We have many more performances coming up, *cough*Fusion*cough*, cant wait!

Hijinks!

2007-01-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Remember lads and ladesses, don't make any plans, 'cause retreat's this weekend! Well, next weekend. I mean, this weekend if you consider sunday as the beginning of the week like i do, but next weekend if you would still consider today this weekend. Uhm. Anyway. This weekend, should be fun.

Website

2007-01-07T02:51:00.000-08:00

Our new website is up! visit http://asayaketaiko.ucsd.edu

and be careful not to include www, we're ucsd affiliated.

Congratulations!

2006-11-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well world, tryouts are over and Asayake taiko is six individuals richer. We are expecting great things.

And so this marks....

2006-07-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

the beginning of Asayake Taiko's very own weblog! :)