Seven of the nine members now on tour gave a free lunchtime concert outside the campus' Dome cafeteria, drawing an initial crowd of about 100 that continued to grow as passers-by were enchanted by the alluring music and the group's animated choreography.

The performance was a collaborative effort with the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, where San Jose Taiko will perform at 8 tonight.

"They're great," said Bonnie Biggs, Cal State San Marcos's coordinator of university arts and lectures, who recalled San Jose Taiko's visits to the university in 1991 and 1992. "We feel like they're coming back home to us."

The group, which is based in San Jose, was started in 1973 by third- and fourth- generation Japanese .Americans looking for a way to celebrate their heritage, said Roy Hirabayashi, one of the founding members. ("Taiko" is Japanese for drum.) They got the idea from similar groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

However, instead of sticking to traditional Japanese music, group members have written their own pieces incorporating several forms of modern music. They also design their own costumes and choreograph their moves, using influences from dance, martial arts and tai chi.

Between musical pieces, group members explained their art and invited audience members on stage to play the josuke (small drum), the chu daiko (middle drum), and the shime taiko or "tightened drum" - a drum with rope wrapped around it. Tightening the rope raises the drum's pitch. Group members also used the atare kane, a metal percussion instrument; the hyo tan, a gourd-like instrument covered with rattles; and the shimbue, a bamboo flute.

San Jose Taiko has an active outreach program in the Bay Area, including several performances every year at schools and area festivals. There is also a junior taiko group with about 80 members. The full adult group has about 20 members, and not all are Asian-Americans.