User:Ricky81682/Tiffany Tamaribuchi

Tiffany Tamaribuchi is a leading taiko instructor and player in North America. She is a founder and member of Sacramento Taiko Dan, as well as the all-women ensemble Jodaiko. She is the first American woman to win first place in an All Japan Odaiko Contest and is most well-known for her expertise in odaiko, the larger-sized taiko drum.

Personal Life
Tiffany Tamaribuchi was born in 1967 in Sacramento, California. Her father is of Japanese descent, while her mother, of mixed Chinese and Caucasian descent, was adopted by a Portuguese family. She studied Theatre Arts at Sacramento City College and graduated from CSU Sacramento in 1993 with a B.A. in Psychology.

Pre-Professional
Tamaribuchi grew up in the Sacramento area, attending local Obon festivals and the Sacramento Buddhist Church’s Culture and Food Bazaar every year, where she was first drawn to taiko. However, during her youth, there were no taiko groups in Sacramento. Her first drumming experience came around the age of 16, with the Sakura Minyo Doo Koo Kai, Sacramento’s Japanese Folk Music and Dance Society. She played jiuchi as they performed the popular traditional bon odori piece, Fukushima Ondo (Soma Bon Uta?), during the annual obon festival.

In 1984, Tamaribuchi saw Kodo, a prominent professional taiko ensemble from Japan, perform their One Earth Tour concert at UC Davis’s Freeborn Hall. Inspired, Tamaribuchi sought to learn more about taiko and pursue it seriously. At the time, going to Japan to study seemed impossible, as she was only 17 and still in high school. The remaining option was to look for a group near home. However, the closest groups were San Francisco Taiko Dojo in San Francisco and San Jose Taiko in San Jose, both of which Tamaribuchi had seen perform in the Sacramento region before.

After convincing a friend to driver her down to San Jose, Tamaribuchi approached San Jose Taiko in early 1987 (or 1984?). Unfortunately, they were not accepting new members at the time. Next, Tamaribuchi turned to San Francisco Taiko Dojo. In November 1987, she attended their International Taiko Festival at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall. Afterwards, she approached Seiichi Tanaka to explain that she wanted to start a group and ask him to come to teach in Sacramento. Tanaka initially declined, but after a second request, he suggested that Tamaribuchi come study with him at San Francisco Taiko Dojo instead so that she could then start her own group in Sacramento. She joined San Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1988, and began commuting to San Francisco 2 to 3 times a week to study under Tanaka.

Sacramento Taiko Dan
While taking classes with Tanaka, Tamaribuchi tried to start her own group in Sacramento. At first, she had some trouble finding a space to rent for practices, particularly due to noise concerns. Fortunately, Reverend Gary Barbaree from the Japanese American United Methodist Church heard about this difficulty and decided to help. He was involved with the Jan Ken Po Gakko, a Japanese-American cultural summer program for children, with which Tamaribuchi had taught. Reverend Barbaree aided in persuading the church board to rent space for taiko classes. With that, Tamaribuchi began advertising taiko classes by posting flyers at the local summer festivals to gather interest. The class started out with about 12 people and Tamaribuchi passing on what she learned at San Francisco Taiko Dojo. The group had its first performance on tires at the Sacramento Buddhist Church’s Culture and Food Bazaar. Classes went well enough that soon after, in 1989, Sacramento Taiko Dan was officially established and is now a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization.

Interest continued to grow such that the number of students doubled every year for about the first 3 years. In 1993, the same year that she completed her Pyschology degree from CSU Sacramento, Tamaribuchi established the Sacramento Taiko Dan's Children Ensemble, thus fulfilling her personal goal of making taiko available to children. Some notable taiko artists that have come from Sacramento Taiko Dan include Art Lee and Megan Chao Smith.

With her background in theater and experience with concert production while playing with San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Tamaribuchi began producing concerts and tours for Sacramento Taiko Dan. In an effort to broaden their knowledge of the art form's different styles and techniques, she invites instructors and groups from all over North American and Japan to give workshops and perform with Sacramento Taiko Dan. The group is comprised of community members as well as its own touring troupe, which performs nationally and internationally. The group makes appearances at the California State Fair, San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival, and San Francisco Taiko Dojo's International Taiko Festival. The group has also collaborated with several artists and arts organizations including the Sacramento Ballet, Sacramento Symphony, Camellia Symphony and poet Julia Conner.

Jodaiko
Around the same time that Tamaribuchi was beginning to take classes with Tanaka at San Francisco Taiko Dojo and trying to start her own group Sacramento Taiko Dan, she also managed to start another group, called Jodaiko. She was still a student at CSU Sacramento in March 1988, when she was asked to perform for the university's Women's History Month celebration. She asked some fellow female players from San Francisco Taiko Dojo to join her in performing at the Take Back the Night march and rally, which led to the formation of Jodaiko, an exclusively female taiko ensemble. The "jo" in "jodaiko" means "woman," translated from Japanese.

Today, Jodaiko remains an all-women group and is composed of a number of women from groups across North America. They come together annually to perform at the Powell Street Festival and the Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver, Canada.

Japanese Career
Since first seeing Kodo perform in 1984, Tamaribuchi finally managed to take a trip to Japan in 1991 to participate in the first Kodo Juku for foreigners on Sado Island led by Katsuji Kondo. Kodo Juku is a musical retreat hosted by Kodo during which participants "live, learn, and create" communally. Her time in Japan allowed Tamaribuchi to meet and make connections with Japanese groups. She even had the opportunity to study shortly in Tokyo with Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, one of the first taiko groups in Japan.

At the end of 1993, Tamaribuchi was invited by Den Tagayasu to join Ondekoza on its North American tour. Ondekoza is known as another one of Japan's first taiko ensembles, as well as the group from which Kodo got its start. Tamaribuchi accepted and in the following year, 1994, had the honor of performing with Ondekoza as a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall. Afterwards, she continued touring with Ondekoza in Asia and Japan as a guest artist.

In 1996, Tamaribuchi left Ondekoza for Okinawa, Japan to work with Zampa Ufujishi Daiko and the Mafueakaji Eisa group over the next few years into 1998. During this time she participated in scattered tours and performances with Zampa while also touring and performing with Sacramento Taiko Dan. Tamaribuchi had the honor of performing odaiko opposite Chisato Arakaki, a leading female player of Zampa in Osaka.

In the Taiko Community
After many years of practicing taiko and working with groups from all over North America and Japan and teaching at Sacramento Taiko Dan, Tamaribuchi's thorough knowledge of the art from makes her a well-sought after instructor in the taiko community. Many groups and players seek to take private workshops on topics including odaiko from her. She has also led many workshops for the North American Taiko Conference and Intercollegiate Taiko Invitational. Tamaribuchi also hosts her own workshops, such as taikobaka, four-day odaiko and shinobue gasshuku intensive co-led with Megan Chao Smith. Also, having directed Sacramento Taiko Dan since it's beginning in 1989, more recent groups have even consulted with her on organizational matters.

While Tamaribuchi interacts with many taiko groups and ensembles through workshops, she also interacts with many through collaboration or as a solo guest artist. Some of these groups include Ondekoza, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Mu Daiko, and Hanayui.

Awards and Honors
Tamaribuchi won first place in the 2002 OTAIKO Hibike, 9th Annual All Japan Odaiko Contest. She is the first American woman to win a Japanese Odaiko Contest.

Compositions

 * Kokorozashi 1993
 * Takoyaki (year?)

Media
Ondekoza Live VHS Video and Laserdisc, Ondekoza, 1995