Even in the drizzle they still managed to draw a crowd. Yesterday, soundaXis '08 festival of New Music kicked off with a performance of Taiko drumming by RAW (Raging Asian Women).

Taiko is an ancient Japanese practice in their folk and classical music traditions, and was a popular form of entertainment in royal courts as part of the Japanese Noh drama. RAW, a more modern incarnation, was founded in 1998 and is still one of the only all-female Taiko groups in North America. It represents South and South-East Asian women and considers itself a social activism group as well as a music group. "We like to show women in positions of strength and power," one of the group members said as she addressed the captivated crowd at ROM Plaza.

soundaXis is presented by New Music Arts Projects (NMAP), a non-profit arts organization representing various new music presenters in the city, in conjunction with Soundstreams' "Cool Drummings" festival. soundaXis runs until June 15th with over thirty-five events. Today at 6:30 p.m. there will be another live performance at ROM Plaza (Bloor and Queen's Park), this time featuring Capoeira, the Brazillian stylized martial arts-dance. Check their website for details.

More photos of yesterday's event by Torontoist's Miles Storey after the jump.

All photos by Miles Storey