Performances and Events - 2013

Oshogatsu, a festival welcoming the New Year, is one of Japan’s most important annual festivals. Join us at the Children's Museum to celebrate 2013, the Year of the Snake. Following our performance will be a shi-shi-mai (lion dance) and parade with taiko accompaniment. The Oshogatsu program is jointly sponsored by both the Japan Society of Boston and the Boston Children's Museum.

今年もよろしくおねがいします

• Boston Children's Museum (map)
• 308 Congress Street
• Boston, MA 02210

www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org

Currier Museum of Art brings Odaiko New England to their "First Thursday Live" program. It is sure to be a powerful night of taiko. Also visit their special exhibition Lethal Beauty: Samurai Weapons and Armor, and try your hand at Samurai-themed origami.

• Currier Museum of Art
• 150 Ash Street
• Manchester, NH 03104

www.currier.org

Kate Jurow, Odaiko New England's board president and performing member, will be drumming her way across the Harvard Bridge (Massachusetts Avenue) to help celebrate International Women's Day as she stands up with women around the world to honor women working for equality and justice.

Free and open to the public.

• Harvard Bridge
• Mass. Ave between Boston and Cambridge
• Boston, MA

Women on the Bridge Facebook page

Join Odaiko New England at the Middleboro Town Hall for an evening concert as part of the Middleboro Public Library's 2013 Japanese Cultural Festival. This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Odaiko New England's performance is sponsored by the Friends of the Middleboro Public Library.

• Middleboro Town Hall
• Middleboro, MA 02346

Middleboro Public Library

For the fifth year in a row, Odaiko New England’s thunderous taiko rhythms will energize more than 40,000 walkers at this year’s Walk for Hunger in support of Project Bread. We’ll be playing on the Boston Common at the finish line of the 20-mile route. We look forward to again sharing our spirit and joy with walkers at the end of a long and admirable journey.

For more details about the Walk for Hunger, visit ProjectBread.org.

• Boston Common
• Charles Street
• Boston, MA

The Genki Spark once again hosts the Brookline Sakura Matsuri with music, bon odori dance, crafts, food, and, of course, taiko drumming. Odaiko New England joins the Genki Spark at the Brookline High School to celebrate the cherry blossoms and have a lot of fun. The festival runs from noon until 4pm. ONE performs at 2pm, but will also be joining in on Miyake and Matsuri which will be played by all the attending taiko groups. Come join us!

The event is co-Sponsored by Brookline High School.

• Brookline High School
• 115 Greenough Street
• Brookline, MA 02445

www.thegenkispark.org

Wood, metal, leather and power. These are all parts of a taiko. These are also the key ingredients in steampunk, a genre of a Victorian world where technology advanced not with the invention of electricity, but with the power of steam. The Watch City Festival is a celebration of the artistry and culture of steampunk, and runs for the whole weekend. Odaiko New England will only be performing on Sunday the 12th at 11am and 3pm. Admission to the festival is $20 for the weekend for adults or $15 per day.

• Waltham Common
• Waltham, MA

Watch City Festival

ACAS
• 29 Montvale Avenue
• Woburn, MA

Take a tour of the world at the Woburn Worldfest. Visitors can enjoy artwork, fair trade crafts, activities, cultural displays, and of course food from around the world. ONE will perform at 2:55pm. WorldFest will take place on the Woburn Public Library Lawn at 45 Pleasant Street. Rain location is the United Methodist Church, 523 Main Street.

• Woburn Public Library Lawn
• 45 Pleasant Street
• Woburn, MA

Woburn Worldfest

The 34rd Cambridge River Festival is a free event along the banks of the Charles River featuring jazz, folk, roots and world music performances, as well as dance, art demonstrations, family art-making activities and over 100 specialty food purveyors and craftspeople. Odaiko New England is proud to be a part of this amazing event and will be performing on the Imagine: Family & Children's Stage on Memorial Dr. between JFK & Plymton St on the Harvard Universty Side.

• Memorial Drve near JFK Street
• Cambridge, MA

Cambridge Riverfest

Rescheduled from May.

A lantern festival is a beautiful way to remember loved ones. Lanterns with inscriptions are lit and floated, sending them off in hopes the messages will reach friends and family. Odaiko New England is excited to participate in this first Lantern Festival at the Chapel at West Parish in Andover. Come bring a picnic dinner and be a part of the celebration. The festival runs from 7:00pm until 9:00pm. Lantern purchases available for $10.

• The Chapel at West Parish
• 216 Lowell Road
• Andover, MA 01810

The Chapel at West Parish

The Americian Cancer Society's Relay for Life is an annual event to raise awareness and funds to fight cancer. Teams walk from the afternoon into the morning of the next day to honor both those who have lost the battle against cancer and to celebrate those who have survived. It is inspiring and Odaiko New England gladly shares the energy of taiko with those walking. We also can't help but walk a lap ourselves.

• Northeast Metro Regional Vocational High School
• 100 Hemlock Road
• Wakefield, MA

Relay for Life in Wakefield

Saturday, 7/20/2013
12:00pm, 1:30pm & 3:00pm
and
Sunday, 7/21/2013
NOON

Laconia Multicultural Festival

Laconia presents the city's 12th annual Multicultural Festival, featuring the arts, crafts and cuisine of cultures around the world. Odaiko New England is excited to participate in this celebration of diversity in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

• Main Street
• Laconia, NH

Laconia Multicultural Festival

Wedensday, 8/7/2013
6:30pm to 7:45pm

The festival, a fusion of American and Japanese traditions, celebrates the sister-city relationship between the communities of Fairhaven and New Bedford, MA and Tosashimizu, Japan. The festival runs from 10am to 5pm. Odaiko New England will perform at 10:30am and 1:00pm.

• Historic center of Fairhaven
• Fairhaven, MA 02719