In a far-flung corner of a Derry industrial estate, the Thursday morning calm is interrupted by the sound of thunderous drumming.
A group of women are banging huge,cowskin-covered Japanese taiko drums in a mirror-walled dance studio,tucked between a kitchen showroom and a tire shop. As they play in unison – wearing yellow foam earplugs to protect their hearing – they utter chants, or “kiai”, to encourage each other and release energy.
Beyond this room, their responsibilities are heavy. Each one of these women is a carer: for family members with special needs, foster children, children in kinship care, or elderly parents. During breaks between songs, someone will have to slip outside to answer a phone call that can’t wait, leave early for an appointment or share a message from a friend who is unable to attend. But from the moment they lower their arms ceremonially, and their sticks make contact with the drum, their sole focus is the beat.Taiko drumming has been part of Japanese culture for centuries,with its powerful rhythms and rousing shouts heard everywhere from religious ceremonies to battlefields.Derry woman Fiona Umetsu, who runs the Taiko for carers group and the local Japanese arts organisation Foyle Obon, first encountered the ancient art form in the 1990s. She was teaching English in Tokyo when a friend took her to see the world-renowned taiko group Kodō at a festival.
“In my mind’s eye I can still see [that performance]. You just felt it,all through your body,” recalls Umetsu,who decided there and then to learn taiko for herself,and joined an all-female group in Tokyo.She also fell in love with a Japanese man, Katsu, at about the same time, after meeting him at a house party on St Patrick’s Day. The couple married, started a family and moved to Ireland in 2000, when Umetsu assumed she woudl have to bid farewell to the beautiful (and big) barrel-shaped drums for good. “I broke my heart thinking, ‘That’s it now, my taiko world is over’,” she says.
[image of Taiko for Carers performing at foyle Obon. Caption: ‘A labor of love’: Taiko for Carers perform at Foyle Obon, which fiona Umetsu established with her husband Katsu and other friends more than a decade ago.Photograph: Gav Connolly ]
But on a trip back to Japan to visit Katsu’s parents in 2009, Umetsu had the opportunity to buy a taiko drum at a bargain price. After a rapid phone call to Virgin Atlantic, the family found themselves flying home with “a drum instead of a suitcase, three children under the age of five and two prams”. Derry was soon introduced to the rich sound of taiko.
More drums were acquired by the couple on subsequent visits,and Katsu was even able to make some himself using a neighbour’s old floorboards.
“It’s been such a labour of love,” says Umetsu, who established Foyle Obon with Katsu and other friends more than”Being a carer is a 24/7 job and at times it can be quite lonely and isolating, whereas this is somewhere that you can chat to other people who get where you’re coming from” – Kelly Brown
For Large, who insists she is “not musical at all”, the fun and connection have been the best part of the experience.
At the start of every session, each person will share how their week has gone, and what wins or challenges they’ve had. With funding from housing association Radius housing’s Good Relations program, the group has also watched presentations about life in Japan, and learned origami and traditional festival dances.
After the drumming, over a cup of tea or some lunch, the carers offer each other support and advice, and laugh at any blunders they made during practice.
There is also a WhatsApp group,which was “popping” in May when the carers performed at the annual Foyle Obon Festival. A Derry park was transformed into a “Little Tokyo” for the celebration of Japanese culture, with drumming, traditional dance and storytelling, and sushi-making and calligraphy demonstrations.
The Taiko for Carers group played in front of about 350 people in a large amphitheatre, joined on stage by two members from Kodō – the famed act who Umetsu first saw in Tokyo 30 years ago.
Taiko for Carers at this year’s Foyle obon festival.Photograph: Gav Connolly
It was Large’s second time performing at the festival. “I have no co-ordination whatsoever and last year, when my friends came to see me, they ripped me to shreds that day. They loved watching me fumbling about,” says Large. “But it was the best thing, as when you’re fostering, your fam
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