Hello from Emily in Japan!
Emily has been living in Japan this past year fully emersed in a taiko experience....
12 January, 2024
Most of our pieces are original Ho Etsu compositions. Besides composing, we dedicate many rehearsal hours to music and visual presentation. Our concerts are designed as unique thematic experiences.
– see emergent –
Our workshops range from beginner’s taiko to intense apprenticeships. Please note: We are taking a hiatus from teaching workshops while we focus on upcoming performances. We will update update our website when we resume sessions. Ho Etsu
We perform at festivals, schools, corporate events, weddings and self-produced concerts. We have a passion for sharing taiko and we love to mingle with audience members after shows.
– see our portfolio –
Emily has been living in Japan this past year fully emersed in a taiko experience....
12 January, 2024A global pandemic cannot keep us down - watch our socially-distanced version of Emergent....
16 March, 2023Enjoy a look behind the development of our concert emergent. ...
10 March, 2023Performances
Workshops
The mission of Ho Etsu is to spread the joy of taiko through energetic performances, workshops and educational demonstrations. We strive to raise the level of taiko music and enrich our members and other communities through our strong taiko spirit.
In 2015, Ho Etsu became a 501(c)(3) Not-for-Profit organization, making it possible to seek grants (government and corporate) to help us achieve our mission. In addition, our Not-for-Profit status helps us raise funds from private donors to support our group’s continued musical development. Your donations help us train with other taiko and musical professionals, repair and replace our instruments, and develop new workshops, seminars and concerts to spread the joy of taiko around the city and across the region.
If you would like to make a donation to Ho Etsu, use the link below. All donations are tax-deductible and will receive a written acknowledgement.
Composer’s note: Poston is an incarceration camp in Arizona that held over 17,000 Japanese American citizens rounded up and displaced by the US government during World War II.
Only what you can carry, they said
An unknown future, moving forward
Separation, nulled identities
Stories hidden, some may never know
Divided by war (Unified to forge ahead)
What lies ahead from here? (We’re staring into present day)
No time for the past (Unified in face of hate)
What lies ahead from here? (Won’t let it repeat again)
All life
All life is
All the love you give
Tell me Where does your heart
Your heart live?
In the nightwood, dark and deep
The tiny songbird cries in sleep
Sleep my love, though the wind do wail
And snow clouds pile, and storm and hail
Black bough trees, cold earth beneath
The breath of night bares icy teeth
Water moves, though the moving’s slow
And the deepest root guards life below
Fire flicker, warm and bright
Bind us in your ring of light
Shadows tall on the cold ground cast
Draw dancing shapes of those who passed
Gather now in the circle round
While the hoarfrost kiss the ground
Heart and hand and drum and song
We speak of them, we speak of them, our voices strong
Mountains high and oceans wide
The dead stand with us, side by side
Greeting’s sweet and parting’s sore
And still time’s tide wears on our shore, wears on our shore
And still time’s tide wears on our shore
Come by me and share your light
Walk hand in hand into the night
Glowing hearts and our faces cold
Life catches us in a web of gold
In the nightwood, dark and deep
A tiny songbird sighs in sleep
Sleep my child though the wind do cry
My love will keep you by and by
All life
All life is
All the love you give
Tell me Where does your heart
Your heart live?