Brazilian Taiko

the construction of Japanese drums in the Kaito family workshop, in Taubaté (SP)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2023.47638

Keywords:

Taiko, Japanese-Brazilian Music, Organology, Luthery

Abstract

Mass Japanese immigration to Brazil, which began in the 20th century, brought with it a rich arsenal of customs and cultural manifestations, many of them passed on to Brazilian descendants. Thus, numerous ethnic artistic groups were able to flourish in the country, including taiko ensembles, percussive groups of traditional drums that became popular among Japanese-Brazilian communities. To meet this demand, drums began to be built in Brazil, seeking to adapt Japanese techniques to the new reality. This article addresses, based on on-site observation and interviews, the process of building Brazilian taiko in the Kaito family workshop, in Taubaté, a city of the countryside of the state of São Paulo. By describing the stages of construction of two different drums, we were able to understand how the taiko maker adapted the Japanese tradition to the Brazilian reality, using local raw materials, as well as national processes and machinery, and giving these taiko drums their own Brazilian characteristics and identity.

Author Biographies

  • Flávio Rodrigues, State University of Campinas, Brazil

    Flávio Rodrigues is a Master's student in Music, with an emphasis on Ethnomusicology, at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), where he develops the research project “The drums that vibrate in us: the community of taiko practice in the city of Atibaia (SP)” under guidance from Suzel Ana Reily. He attended postgraduate studies in Preventive and Social Music Therapy at Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas (2017) and graduated in Music at Faculdade de Artes Alcântara Machado (2015). Since 2020, he has been a member of the thematic project “O Musicar Local: new trails for ethnomusicology”. He also works as a musician, composer and educator.

  • Suzel Ana Reily, State University of Campinas, Brazil

    Suzel Ana Reily is Full Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Music Department of the Institute of Arts, State University of Campinas. She completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo in 1990 and soon afterwards took up a teaching and research position at Queen's University Belfast, where she remained until June 2015. His book, 'Voices of the Magi: enchanted journeys in southeast Brazil', was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2002. He has organized four volumes: 'The Musical Human: Rethinking John Blacking's Ethnomusicology in the 21st Century' (Ashgate, 2006); with Katherine Brucher, 'Brass Bands of the World: Militarism, Colonial Legacies, and Local Music Making' (Ashgate 2013); with Jonathan Dueck, 'The Oxford Handbook of Music in World Christianities' (Oxford University Press, 2016), which was awarded an honorable mention of the 2018 Ellen Koskoff Edited Volume Prize; 'Routledge Companion to the Study of Local Musicking' (with K Brucher, Routledge, 2018), which was awarded the 2019 Ellen Koskoff Edited Volume Proze; two special issues of international journals: 'Brazilian Musics, Brazilian Identities' (special issue of 'British Journal of Ethnomusicology', 2001); 'The Sounds of Processions' (thematic issue of 'Yale Journal of Music and Religion', 2016); a thematic dossier: 'Music and Memory' ('Música e Cultura', 2014).

References

Arima, Kátia. 2007. “Conte Sua História: Tsukasa Kaito.” Centenário da Imigração Japonesa. Acesso em 4 nov 2023. http://www.japao100.com.br/perfil/26/historia/38/

Associação Brasileira de Taiko. 2023. “Sobre”. Acesso em 4 nov 2023. https://taikobrasil.com.br/sobre/

Bender, Shawn Morgan. 2012. Taiko boom: Japanese drumming in place and motion. Asia: local studies/global themes, Vol 23. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bocchini, Bruno. 2020. “Entidades Japonesas Comemoram 112 Anos de Imigração Ao Brasil”. Agência Brasil. Acesso em 4 nov 2023. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2020-06/entidades-japonesas-comemoram-112-anos-de-imigracao-ao-brasil

Garcia, Rafael Mariano. 2022. O corpo na arte do taiko contemporâneo. São Paulo: Annablume.

Gould, Michael. 1998. “Taiko Classification and Manufacturing”. Percussive Notes, 36 (3): 12–20.

Graeff, Nina. 2023. “É um ser vivo: substituição, adaptação e padronização de instrumentos musicais entre África, Europa e Brasil”. Per Musi, 24: 1-33. doi:10.35699/2317-6377.2023.40743

Kaito, Yoohey. 29 ago 2022. Entrevista concedida a Flávio Rodrigues. Taubaté (São Paulo). Gravação em áudio.

Kanashiro, Natália. 29 ago 2022. Entrevista concedida a Flávio Rodrigues. Taubaté (São Paulo). Gravação em áudio.

Kebbe, Victor Hugo. 2014. “Ser japonês, ser nikkei, ser dekassegui: contornando metáforas de parentesco e nação”. Revista de Antropologia da UFSCar, 6 (1): 63–80. doi:10.52426/rau.v6i1.112.

Kubota, Nádia Fujino Luna. 2008. Bon Odori e Sobá: as obasan na transmissão das tradições japonesas em Campo Grande – MS. Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciências Sociais). Marília: Universidade Estadual Paulista.

Lesser, Jeffrey. 2008. Reflexões sobre (codi)nomes e etnicidade em São Paulo. Revista de Antropologia, 51 (1): 267-281.

Lorenz, Shanna. 2007. Japanese in the Samba: Japanese Brazilian Musical Citizenship, Racial Consciousness, And Transnational Migration. Tese (Doutorado em Artes e Ciências). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.

Machado, Igor José de Renó, Kebbe, Victor Hugo e Silva, Cristina Rodrigues da. 2008. “Notas sobre família transnacional”. Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana, 30: 79-98.

Oguchi, Daihachi. s.d. Manual de taiko. Tradução: Artur Nakahara. S.l.: Confederação japonesa de taiko.

Pachter, Benjamin Jefferson. 2013. Wadaiko in Japan and the United States: The Intercultural History of a Musical Genre. Dissertação (Doutorado em Artes). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.

Reily, Suzel Ana. 2021. “O musicar local e a produção musical da localidade”. GIS – Revista de Antropologia da USP, 6 (1): 1-21. doi:10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2021.185341.

Sakurai, Célia. 2007. Os japoneses. São Paulo: Editora Contexto.

Satomi, Alice Lumi. 2008. “Considerações organológicas sobre o Taiko”. Descubra Nikkei. Acesso em 10 nov 2023. https://discovernikkei.org/pt/journal/2008/6/28/taiko/

Uemura, Victor. 2023. “Grupos de taiko no Brasil”. Associação Brasileira de Taiko. Acesso em 10 nov 2023. https://taikobrasil.com.br/mapa-dos-grupos-de-taiko-no-brasil/

Ueno, Luana Martina Magalhães. 2019. “O duplo perigo amarelo: o discurso antinipônico no Brasil (1908-1934)”. Estudos Japoneses, 41 (junho): 101–115. doi:10.11606/issn.2447-7125.v0i41p101-115.

Vogel, Brian. 2009. Transmission and performance of taiko in Edo Bayashi, Hachijo, and modern kumi-daiko styles. Tese (Doutorado em Artes Musicais). Houston: Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/61883

Yoon, Paul Jong-Chul. 2001. “‘She’s Really Become Japanese Now!’: Taiko Drumming and Asian American Identifications”. American Music, 19 (4): 417-438. doi:10.2307/3052419.

Downloads

Published

2023-12-08

Issue

Vol. 24 (2023): General Topics

Section

Thematic Session RePercussions

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Per Musi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Licença Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, contents on this site are licensed under a  Creative Commons - Atribuição 4.0 Internacional.

How to Cite

“Brazilian Taiko: The Construction of Japanese Drums in the Kaito Family Workshop, in Taubaté (SP)”. 2023. Per Musi 24 (December): 1-25. https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2023.47638.

Similar Articles

1-10 of 159

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.