On August 28 Ho Etsu will once again participate in the University of Illinois Matsuri Festival. Held on the grounds of Japan House and the University Arboretum, on the U of I campus in Champaign-Urbana, the festival showcases Japanese culture. To learn more about follow this...
On September 24 Ho Etsu Taiko returns to Lexington Kentucky to participate in the JASK Summer Festival sponsored by the Japan/America Society of Kentucky. If you're in the Lexington area we invite you to spend the day at the festival for its food, cultural displays...
Thank you for your interest in our October 2 Workshop. At this time our workshop is FULL and we cannot take any more attendees. Please check back for notices of future workshops. <!-- At this workshop we'll cover basic technique, including how to hit and...
November 20 - Introduction to Taiko Workshop Back by popular demand! This introductory workshop covers taiko basics, hitting techniques, traditional kata and the history of taiko as a cultural art. Everyone gets to play. Everyone gets to make noise! No bachi, hapi or previous...
Ho Etsu Taiko of Chicago and Yuta Sumiyoshi of world-renowned Kodo of Japan will play a free Japanese drumming show. The performance and workshop are part of a free Japanese Culture Fair that's open to the public. This event is co-sponsored by the Office of...
AUDACIA.us Presents: Ho Etsu Taiko celebrates the album release of "Rotations" w/ very special guest, Jeff Schroeder. Township Doors: 7pm | Show: 8pm | 21+ | FREE Ho Etsu Taiko is a collective of musicians with a fresh take on the art of Japanese drumming....
April 23 - Taiko 101 Workshop The Japan American Society of Chicago is teaming up with Ho Etsu Taiko for a Taiko 101 Workshop. This workshop, which is open to the public, covers taiko basics, hitting techniques, traditional kata and the history of taiko...
Each year Anderson Japanese Gardens invites us to take part in the opening ceremony for their beautiful garden. If you've never visited the garden, in Rockford, Il, you will be amazed to see an authentic and beautifully manicured Japanese garden in the heart of the...
Ho Etsu has been invited to perform in Raion Taiko's (Great Lakes Taiko Center) 7th Annual Concert. If you're in the Detroit area on June 11, come join us! When: Sunday, June 11 at 4:00 pm EST - doors open at 3:00 pm. Where: The...
A night of performances, teach-ins and calls to action by Chicago artists, educators and community organizers, in the first public event of Alphawood Gallery’s "Then They Came For Me," an exhibition about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. Speakers include renowned political activist and...
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?
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