Groups » Cal Raijin Taiko

In the Spring of 2005, a small but extremely committed group of students pooled the resources they could manage and formed UC Berkeley's first Taiko group. The founding members began practicing in a fraternity basement, gradually shifting to the campus' Sproul Plaza, playing on tires and chairs in lieu of drums. One year later, following countless nights of carrying equipment from apartments to practice spaces and an equal amount of Saturdays invested in hand-crafting the group's first drums, Cal Taiko had their inaugural performance at Cal Day on April 22, 2006. The group has since come a long way in establishing its presence on campus through performances and evening practices to become known as Raijin Taiko, or more casually, "those drummers on Sproul". Raijin Taiko practices two to three times a week, writes its own original repertoire, and makes frequent performances throughout the year. Raijin Taiko is excited to have become a regular part of campus activities and enjoys sharing the energy of taiko with the students of Cal.