Raging Asian Womxn Taiko Drummers (RAW) is a Toronto-based performing arts ensemble made up of East and Southeast Asian womxn. Formed in 1998, we carry on the diasporic Taiko tradition that grew out of Asian American and Asian Canadian mobilization in the 60s and 70s. One of the few all-Asian, all-womxn Taiko drumming groups in the world, RAW exists as a critical response and challenge to both systemic and internalized oppressions. RAW plays large taiko drums as creative resistance for social change, carving space for self-expression, education and community building.  

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RAW has performed at a wide variety of events including Pride celebrations in Toronto and Buffalo NY, Dim Sum Chinese Festival as part of Harbourfront Centre’s World Routes Summer Festivals, Muhtadi International Drumming Festival in Toronto and Tobago, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Toronto’s WinterCity Festival, Labour union conventions, International Women’s Day events, art festivals, social justice events, and more. To date, RAW has mounted 3 self-produced theatrical productions; From Rage Comes (2013), Crooked Lines (2016), and Undaunted (2019).