SPECIAL WORKSHOP.

Please all come, this will be fabulous!

At Huon Quays on Saturday, April 3, from 9.30 for the full day. With Toshi from the professional group Wadaiko Rindo in Melbourne. Lunch will be provided. Cost: $10 students, $15 others.

Beginners and advanced, all welcome.

All members, both new and old, are all invited to a barbecue at the Salamanca Courtyard, to be held on Saturday, March 6th from 5 pm. There will be food, drinks and entertainment, including a demonstration of Taiko for all of those new to Taiko.

It's free for all Taiko members. So come along and immerse yourself in Taiko this year!

For our older members, remember it's time to pay your annual membership fee ($5) if you haven't already done so.

There will also be a short AGM - the usual stuff, but we will keep it simple. And a vote on changes to our Constitution. The committee has already thrashed this one out in detail, but we will send you a copy of the proposed changes by email.

Our Launceston performance was great - the Festivale is an excellent part of the Tasmanian calendar and we are proud to be a part of it.

Thanks to all of the team for their very hard work to make the Taste performances so so excellent. It has been a fabulous week, as well as being lots of fun. Our next performance will be at the Cygnet Folk Festival on Saturday afternoon - see you there!

Goodbye Nabe!

On Sunday 4th we had our farewell for Nabe (Yosuke Watanabe), with much sadness and joy all around. He was thrilled with his new didgeridoo and photo album with pictures of the group. We also farewelled Dylan and James, and said Happy Birthday to Rasa and Dane. All the group thanked Simon for his wonderful teaching throughout the past year, and Simon also said how happy he was with the way the group is coming along. It was an excellent evening. I can't quite believe we will never see Nabe again, or hear his voice saying "Wicked!"

Nabe will be leaving soon. We are having our farewell late on Sunday afternoon (4 Jan). Please try and make it, because we will be missing Nabe and it's our last chance to say goodbye and wish him well. Dylan and James are also leaving for an extended period, so we will say goodbye to them also.

Thanks heaps to all who have helped and worked so hard to get our new drums and uniforms ready. We are currently performing for the Taste of Tasmania with a brand new look, and we are looking fabulous and sounding even better. It has been a huge effort but really worth it. So far the audience feedback has been just great.

The schools program is going strong - we had a busy first week, and the schools all were thrilled with our program Three more weeks to go. There is still room for you, even if you are a beginner, or even if you can only come for a few days. Let Simon know if you can help. This will give you a good grounding in helping to run a performance, as well as teaching you more about Taiko.

We had a fabulous day at the Christmas Pageant. We had our Odaiko, 4 Nagados on a trailer, 2 shimedaikos, and a whole stack of rope drums carried by our marchers. We won runner up prize for Best Band. Thanks team! You were fabulous.

In spite of the problem with our new venue (see page 2, Mercury, Thursday 2 Oct 2003), we are continuing on, but we are looking to move to another venue as soon as something can be arranged. If you can help us with ideas for a suitable venue, please let one of the committee know!

Our ideal venue would be:

Close to the city, for students without cars to be able to get to easily
Preferably no stairs
Easy to back a car up close to the door
Soundproof, or in a non-residential area
Lockable and secure (for drum storage when not in use)
Free or quite cheap to hire.