The North American Taiko Taikai will be held on Saturday, May 20, at Terasaki Budokan, 249 S. Los Angeles St. in Little Tokyo.
The event is hosted by the J-Town Taiko Club and presented by Bachido in partnership with Terasaki Budokan. The schedule is as follows:
10 a.m.: Registration
11 a.m.: Taikai begins
1 p.m.: Lunch break
2:30 p.m.: Taikai resumes
3:30 p.m. Taikai ends
4 p.m. : Results
5 p.m.: Dinner break
6 p.m.: Evening concert
The theme is “Odaiko.” Participants will play “Narukami,” composed by Yoshikazu Fujimoto of Kodo, for five judges with awards given to the top three finalists.
The judges are Isaku Kageyama, Joe Small, Karen Falkenstrom, Ringtaro Tateishi and Tiffany Tamaribuchi.
Scheduled competitors are: Thomas Murray, Alaina Villanueva, Jason Seymore, Gregory Wada, Kohtaro Yamakawa, Lauren lee, Cameron Blakemore, Michael Gonhata, Patrick James Cruz, Raymond Ricafort, Sarah Gilbert, Kota Mizutani, Mayuko Yamamoto, Erika Ninoyu, Mei-Ling Laures, Lee Cabacungan, Cody Yoshida, Blaine O’Brien, Tyler Devlin and Nao Nunogawa.
The concert will feature many local taiko groups.
A free livestream is available for those unable to attend in person.
For tickets and more information: www.taikotaikai.com