Concert a taste of Japan

Japanese culture is coming to Rotorua with a free concert at the Convention Centre tomorrow.

A Journey for Peace is a combined performance involving Rotorua Racco and a Nagasaki choir group.

Rotorua Racco is the taiko (Japanese drum) team of Rotorua and is run by Hiroe and Paul Howell.

The couple met in Japan at a drumming session and have shared their passion for 20 years. They returned to New Zealand eight years ago with a set of taiko drums.

The first Rotorua taiko workshop was held soon after and it resulted in them forming Rotorua Racco Taiko Team.

Taiko means drum in Japanese, and Mr Howell has described their style of taiko as "real grassroots". He said it was closely associated with animism and ancient Japanese religious practices. It had a spiritual aspect and Mr Howell said it was similar to the haka, both with basic stances and using the whole body.

"Taiko drumming is very different and movements are based around the whole of the body, using space and energy. It is very much like a martial art."

The Rotorua Racco performance is scheduled to take 40 minutes.

Choir by Nagasaki choir group will perform for about 50 minutes. They will perform A Journey for Peace - narration and songs based on the true story of Chieko Watanabe, a Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor plus another five songs. All narration and songs will have English subtitles.

A Journey For Peace is at the Rotorua Convention Centre from 2 to 4pm tomorrow. Free admission.