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Send us your review:
Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Val Forsyth
Location: Glasgow
Instruments: taiko drums
Music: Japanese taiko drumming
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSIC听听听听听听听听听听WHERE I PLAY听听听听听听听听听听A FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 听听Listen (2'50) to 'Sister Drum', performed by Val Forsyth and Psycho Taiko from Cleveden Secondary School.
听听Listen (2'30) to Val Forsyth and her students talk about their music
Where I Play:
I have 3 groups in the school. Psycho Taiko are the 5th and 6th year group. Psycho is Japanese for 'the best'. We didn't know this when we actually thought of the name, but it's quite groovy anyway. They're really dedicated. We're out about once a month playing at different festivals or concerts, be it the Charifun day at Kelvingrove Park or the Sighthill Festival, all community festivals that happen during the Summer. Then Yakamashi is the 3rd and 4th year group. Yakamashi means 'noisy', because they are! The 1st & 2nd year group is called Toati which isn't a Japanese word at all, it's just Scottish for very small!
We rehearse in the school, and have recently been lucky enough to get a grant from Japan 2001 to have drums specially made for us. I'm hoping to extend this project beyond the school and introduce it to the wider community so lots of different groups and organisations will be able to have a wee sample of what the drums are all about.
Psycho Taiko are an all-female group where as Yakamashi and Toati Taiko actually have some men in the group now, which I'm delighted about. Originally, and traditionally, Japanese taiko drumming was very male-orientated. But, in Cleveden it seems to be very girl-powery!
The very fact that we do a little bit of Japanese speaking, Japanese shouting, and we've been playing at festivals that have been organised by the Japanese community as well, does wonders for Japanese-European links. We get lots of nice comments from Japanese people!
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