OYSO + Taiko = Awesome

Wednesday night I stayed home sick from my normal commitment down in Fond du Lac. I've had an awful cold for several days (so has everyone else, I think). But since I was in town anyway, I decided to catch the Taiko drum concert on Wednesday night. I've had a fascination with taiko drumming ever since I saw Yamato: The Drummers of Japan at the Fox Cities PAC. They had a drum the size of a VW bug. We were in the front row, and when they started I thought my head might explode. It was unreal, in a very good way.

The Wednesday night concert at UWO's music hall was actually the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra's annual fundraising concert, which I was initially oblivious to, in my sick runny-nosed taiko frenzy. OYSO was a nice bonus, if you're into that sort of thing. (Which I am, but not enough to show up for that alone.) As an extra enticement for folks like me, OYSO brought in Zenshin Daiko which is a youth taiko drumming group from Maui, Hawaii.

I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd. George Curtis of Curtis Law and Mayor Frank Tower were in attendance, probably among many other notables. The turnout looked pretty good. The hall was almost full.

OYSO started with some "Slavonic Dances," "The Great Locomotive Chase," and "The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring," which seemed to be a medley of all the music from the soundtrack. I was impressed with OYSO's performance and poise. Make no mistake, they may be young, but they will rock you. Sometimes it is fun just watching the conductor, the bows, fingers, and drumsticks all moving together.

Then Zenshin Daiko took the stage. Taiko drumming is just some thing you have to see, and feel (literally), to understand. I never thought that drums alone could make such a complete, powerful piece of music until my first taiko concert with Yamato. Zenshin Daiko lived up to that standard, playing every bit as powerfully, despite their more reasonable-sized (i.e. not vehicle size) drums. Every analogy I can think of to explain what it's like is probably too risque to post here, so I hope you will take my word for it.

After Zenshin's three songs alone, they performed two songs along with OYSO. Both were enjoyable, but I wish there had been more taiko. I've got a fever... and the only cure is more taiko.

When the concert was over we clapped for a really long time, but there was no encore. I found this upsetting, but my wife reminded me it was not a rock concert.

Conclusion: It is the best $5 non-rock concert you will see this year. And you can still see it, because they're playing the same show again on Saturday night at the Alberta Kimball Auditorium at Oshkosh West (375 N Eagle Street). The show starts at 7:30PM, so you should be done just in time to be fashionably late for the Raindogs show at Peabody's.

Also: There are CDs and DVDs of the performance available. $5 of each purchase goes to support OYSO. CDs are $10, DVDs are $15. Send checks payable to "Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra" to:

Mary Borsecnik and Mike Engel
Innovisions
2905 Universal Street, Suite #10
Oshkosh, WI 54904

Include Name, Address, Phone, and specify if you would like your items mailed for an additional $5, or if you would like to be called when the items are ready for pickup from the Curtis Law Office building, at no additional charge.

But don't let the CD option keep you from the concert. You have to feel the taiko.

Posted in: community events,oshkosh