KODŌ – Japanese percussion ensemble

It’s almost as if the space between man and drum disappears and a fusion of the two entities opens up another realm. There is nothing tangible created, but there is a palpable life force, and everyone who shares that space is somehow transformed. (Takao Aoki, Kodō’s managing director)

Kodō strives to both preserve and re-interpret traditional Japanese performing arts. Exploring the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko, Kodō are forging new directions for a vibrant living art-form. In Japanese the word “Kodō” conveys two meanings: firstly, ‘heartbeat’ the primal source of all rhythm. The sound of the great taiko is said to resemble a mother’s heartbeat as felt in the womb, and it is no myth that babies are often lulled asleep by its thunderous vibrations. Secondly, read in a different way, the word can mean ‘children of the drum’, a reflection of Kodō’s desire to play their drums simply, with the heart of a child. Since their debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981, Kodō have given over 2800 performances on all 5 continents, spending about a third of the year overseas, a third touring in Japan and a third resting and preparing new material on Sado Island.

Taiko (太鼓) means ‘drum’ in Japanese. Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming. Taiko drums have been developed into a wide range of percussion instruments that are used in Japanese folk, ritual and classical musical traditions.

Taiko, in general, are stick percussion instruments. With the exception of the kotsuzumi and ootsuzumi, all taiko are struck with bachi. They have heads on both sides of the drum body, and a sealed resonating cavity. Taiko are also characterized by a high amount of tension on the drums heads, with a correspondingly high pitch relative to body size. This high tension likely developed in response to Japan’s wet and humid summers when most festivals take place. Many taiko are not tunable, and a drum with high head tension would counteract the slacking effects of humidity.

After more than a decade of living in a converted schoolhouse, Kodō finally obtained 25 acres (100,000 m2) of thickly-forested land on the Ogi peninsula in the southern part of the island, and in 1988 the opening ceremony of the village was held.

In keeping with Kodō’s dedication to preserving traditional arts, the first structure, the main office building, was reassembled from the timbers of a 200 year-old farmhouse that was scheduled for demolition. It has now been extended and includes communal cooking and dining areas as well as a library devoted to world music and dance.

Since then, a reception building (also a reassembled farmhouse), a dormitory building, a studio and most recently a new rehearsal hall have been added. In addition to these main communal buildings, married members of the group have been building family homes on surrounding land.

More info:

Ilja Judeikin
Live Nation Baltics
tel.: +372 50 28 712
e-mail: ilja@bdg.ee

 

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