Thank you for attending the Swingposium Lecture/Demonstration/Workshop at NATC in Phoenix!

San Jose Taiko Is so grateful to TCA and NATC STAFF for allowing us to share the behind the scenes for this special production with you.

- Franco Imperial, Artistic Director San Jose Taiko

Useful references:

Album and Concert: Asian American Jazz Orchestra with San Jose Taiko - Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire
In 1998 as I was in the Audition Process for San Jose Taiko I had the pleasure of witnessing George Yoshida’s performance in this production. He had a silky smooth radio voice and an incredible story to tell. There are 30 seconds of this performance that would be the kernel of inspiration for Swingposium a little over 15 years later.

Book: Reminiscing in Swingtime: Japanese Americans in American Popular Music, George Yoshida
George’s book would become an invaluable reference for the story we wanted to share.

Documentary: Searchlight Serenade, Amy Uyeki
Wayne Adachi is the leader of the Wesley Jazz Ensemble, a San Jose Japantown community group of musicians out of the Wesley United Methodist Church. Wayne connected me to many folks who were themselves musicians at “camp” or connected to someone who worked or performed with them. Wayne introduced me to Amy Uyeki who is a kindred spirit in the desire to share this particular story of swing music in a Japanese American incarceration context. Amy was a great resource for the debut of Swingposium in San Jose Japantown and we later worked together to bring Swingposium to Humboldt just before the pandemic hit. Amy would lead a group of fellow incredible and wonderful women who would become the founding mothers of HAPI (Humboldt Asian and Pacific Islanders - www.hapihumboldt.org). In bringing Swingposium to Humboldt San Jose Taiko is credited for catalyzing the creation of an Asian American community where none existed previously (between you and me the credit belongs to Amy and HAPI). After Swingposium HAPI created their first obon and is active in the community on a number of projects uplifting Asian American voices. Amy and the Humboldt Asian American community showed the potential of this work and a model for presenting our art that doesn’t exist in our current system of touring.

Swingposium

Created and produced by San Jose Taiko
Developed with Epic Immersive and Wesley Jazz Ensemble

Japanese Americans have the dubious distinction of being the only U.S. citizen group incarcerated due to wartime hysteria. Sadly, many Americans are unaware of this history. As more internees pass away, it becomes ever more important to preserve their history and share its lessons with younger generations. San Jose Taiko’s highly-acclaimed Swingposium employs the power of performance to teach about Internment and foster dialogue around civil rights, honoring the resilience of those who lived through Internment.

Swingposium combines taiko, jazz, swing dance, and immersive theatre to tell a hidden history of one way Japanese Americans maintained morale in WWII Internment Camps – through swing dances with live big band music. An immersive environment surrounds the audience with the sights and sounds of "camp,” their active participation pulls them deeply into the emotional trajectory of the story: the fear and loss of being sent to an Internment Camp, the struggle to maintain dignity and hope, and the ultimate victory of the human spirit. From past presentations, we find that the immersive experience affects people deeply, inspiring community dialog.