Farewell, Cherry Blossoms - Until Next Year!

As the cherry blossom petals start to fall and the 2014 National Cherry Blossom Festival comes to a close, we'd like to take a moment and thank everyone who came out to support us at the various festivities.  We had a great time performing at the Carnegie Library for the Grand Sake Tasting event, and enjoyed seeing familiar faces and new ones at the 16th Annual Cherry Blossom Freedom Walk hosted by the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation.  And what a fantastic crowd at the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival!  Your energy really helped to pump us up in the breezy, cold, evening air.  We were delighted to be invited back to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for its 10th Anniversary event, and entertain the crowd entering the Smithsonian American Art Museum for their Family Celebration - a new event for us.  We capped the weekend off at Sakura Matsuri and joined fellow taiko enthusiasts at Sakura Taiko Fest organized by Mark H. Rooney.  Whew - what an intense but fun two weeks!  

If you got a chance to see us this weekend, you may have noticed we debuted a new piece called Rouga, composed and taught to us by Ryo Shimamoto from Japan (thanks to Mark H. for bringing him to DC!)  Remember us talking about it in our December 3, 2013 post?  The literal translation of Rouga is Wolf Fang, and it depicts the ferocity and intensity of a pack of hungry wolves chasing its prey.  We hope you enjoyed it!

And the National Cherry Blossom Festival might be over, but spring is just getting started.  We'll head down to Charlottesville on Saturday, April 19, 2014 for the Japan Week Spring Festival sponsored by the University of Virginia's Japanese Program.  We hope to see you there!

--Lisa

Fueling up between gigs and soaking up the sun. For more pics, check out our Facebook page!