MUSIC ISSUE 5°/22° SNOW
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017 THE INDEPENDENT WEEKLY STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR XLVI. VOLUME XCII. ISSUE IV.
Genki Spark shines light on empowerment through taiko BY ELISE TAKAHAMA DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Social advocacy and taiko drumming aren’t a traditional combination. This is something Karen Young, the founding director of The Genki Spark, had known for a long time. But seven years ago, she combined both passions. The result was the creation of the first and only multi-generational, pan-Asian women’s taiko and advocacy group in the United States. “One of our main goals is to use the art form and our stories to address issues about racism and be able to address issues of homophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments,” Young said. “We generally do it in a pretty cheery way — taiko’s fun and really energetic.” The Genki Spark held its first membership open house of the season Sunday at The Brookline Ballet School, inviting the community to learn more about the organization and even hit the taiko drums a few times. Young and the other members emphasized that the group is built on the foundation of a “genki” attitude, a Japanese word meaning “happy, healthy, energetic, and FULL of life,” according to their website. Taiko is an ancient art, developed in Japan more than 2,000 years ago for communication and religious purposes. In the United States, modern taiko developed fairly recently as a way for Japanese Americans to keep cultural ties alive. Roy Hirabayashi, Young’s uncle and one of the original founders of San Jose Taiko in 1973, was one of her relatives who inspired Young’s passion for Asian-American activism, she said. “They started taiko groups not only because it was a great art form and it was fun, but also because it really meant something about being Japanese American and AsianAmerican,” Young said. “That to me, that lineage and their stories, is really more important to me as a taiko player, and I didn’t want to see those stories get lost.” But some things haven’t changed. Taiko drums are still made with dried cowhide and
PHOTO BY ELISE TAKAHAMA/ DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
The Genki Spark, a taiko group, hosts a membership meeting on Sunday in Brookline to support visibility for Asian women, while advocating for equal rights for all.
thick wooden barrels, paired with two drumsticks called “bachi.” And its beats still reverberate through a crowd, a sound originally produced to mimic a heartbeat. But The Genki Spark, a Jamaica Plainbased organization, pushes modern taiko even further. The group works to promote equality for all individuals, regardless of age, sexuality, gender or ethnicity. Members range from 19 to 62 years old and span ethnicities including Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Indian, Young said. “We’re immigrants, we’re adoptees, we’re
mixed-race, we’re third generation, we’re Yonsei, we’re international students,” Young said. “And the world tends to want to lump us into one group, and so much of it is understanding intersectionality as identities.” Because of this, Young said she has shaped the organization’s goals specifically to combat certain stereotypes Asian women face, such as societal pressures to be quiet, passive or compliant. And this starts with taiko, an activity filled with physicality. It’s not about looking cute, Young said. It’s about expressing emotions
when words aren’t quite enough and, for The Genki Spark, sharing cultural traditions in the United States. At the Sunday meeting, Young played a student-made documentary about the mission of the organization. With shots of bonding activities, personal narratives and some tearyeyed interviews with the members, the video showed off the deeper meaning the group held for the majority of the players. It’s unusual for most taiko groups, Young CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
TERRIERS INBIZ: Azra on unleashing her passion for music BY ANTONIA DEBIANCHI DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Azra is a woman of many interests, but music has been her constant companion and teacher since she was four years old, she said. When she moved from South Korea to the United States at age 9, she learned English by singing and listening to American music. After graduating from Boston University and starting her own consulting company, CLÚ INC., Azra found that her four-year-old dream never went away — music has never left her side. “I only knew half of the alphabet when I came to America,” Azra said.
When she started fifth grade, she looked to music to find friends by joining the drama club and forming a girl group. “That helped me express myself, communicate and also kind of learn more about the culture and the language,” she said. Listening to classic ‘90s pop artists such as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, while also holding her girl group’s rehearsals in her parent’s garage, Azra immersed herself in American culture through a musical lens. When it came time to apply to college, she wanted to find a school with a notable hospitality administration program, which she said is “not related to music at all.” She graduated from Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration
in 2010 with a degree in hospitality administration. “I’ve always kind of been an entrepreneur at heart,” Azra said. “I think interning at so many places during the summers really got me exposed to so many different types of businesses.” But, Azra did not confine her college experiences by her major. She performed at the George Sherman Union for student organizations and was a dancer in Fusion, BU’s hip-hop dance troupe, she said. “During college, you know, even though I was going to SHA, I was always trying to take different classes,” she said. “So I took [some] public speaking classes in [the College of Communication].” Dipping her toes into the waters of
corporate America, she interned on Wall Street, but also caught a glimpse of the entertainment industry by taking modeling opportunities and trying out a girl group. “[The girl group] didn’t work out at the time because [of a] management conf lict, but at that time I was so excited because I was like, ‘Wow, I finally get to go after my passion and try to do it professionally while going to school,’” Azra said. In the middle of this auspicious period, a health diagnosis unexpectedly hindered Azra’s professional drive. “One day I woke up and I just couldn’t see anything out of my right eye,” Azra CONTINUED ON PAGE 6