Download Known as the ”heartbeat drummers ”, the Japanese group Kodo has been taking the world by storm.
Their performance is a dazzling exhibition of energy and skill.
They tour for nine months every year – and this year, their ”One Earth” world tour marks the group’s 30th anniversary.
Ric Wassserman caught their show in Sweden.
10 Kodo drummers arrive on the stage and place themselves squarely behind an array of different size drums, the largest one with a diameter of half meter.
The performance starts off slow, the cadence of the drumming like a train slowly gaining momentum.The performers don’t give out interviews, but Kodo’s production manager Jun Akimoto is happy to talk about these unique performers, and their traditional Japanese drums, known as “taiko”.
“Originally these instruments were imported from China in the 7th century together with Buddhism. The instruments weren’t for musical use but rather for ritual use. It was a type of tool in order to communicate between people and nature or Gods.”
The roots of Kodo came from Japanese tradition.
But it reached its modern form in the 1950s, with the arrangements of the late jazz drummer Daihachi Oguchi. Since then, Kodo, as well as other drumming groups have developed in Japan, creating a fusion of traditional and modern
Each performer plays a different drum and together they form an ensemble.
Based on Sado island in northwest Japan, Kodo has 17 performing members, six of them women.
All have undergone a rigorous apprenticeship.
“They have to devote themselves to two years of apprenticeship without going back home and no civilization for two years.”
Around twenty Kodo wannabees audition each year to join the apprenticeship program.
Once chosen, they cannot drink, smoke, or use mobile phones. They also have to run 10 kilometers a day, 6 days a week.
It’s this discipline that comes out in their tight-as-clockwork performance.
Both young and old in the audience were ecstatic, though some weren’t prepared for the volume.
“I didn’t bring anything to protect my hearing but I really liked it. Really unique. It’s kind of fun to feel the music, in your heart as well, when it goes that low.”
I’m amazed, there’s something about it that moves my whole body, yeah.”
The drumming is all about communication, says Akimoto.
Kodo drummers don’t use conventional music notation. Instead, they write the beats as sounds.
“Dong dong dong dong, tsika-dong. And you can write it (laughs). So that’s an interesting way they communicate with each other.”
The tickets for this performance were sold out.
But Jun Akimoto is worried about the future of this old Kodo traditions.
“The future is not too bright, because Japanese drumming is still regarded as a traditional, old performing lifestyle. So they often regard Japanese drumming as lame.”
Yet he says this is more of a city attitude.
Japan’s villages on the other hand, are promoting their traditions more than ever, and ensuring the next generation of Kodo drummers.
More communities in Japan support drumming groups communally and those communities support the younger generation by teaching their own skills.”
LEARN ENGLISH:
Vocabularies:
1) hearbeat drummers: penabuh drum yang mengikuti denyut jantung
2) cadence: irama
3) dazzling: mempesona
4) gaining momentum: semakin cepat, semakin melaju
5) rigorous: ketat
6) apprenticeship program: program magang
7) ecstatic: senang sekali, gembira
8) tight-as-clockwork peformance: pertujunkkuan/penabuhan drum yang tepat
9) lame: tidak penting, tidak mengesankan
10) ensuring: memastikan, menjamin
Questions:
1) What does taiko mean and how did they get to Japan?
2) How long does the Kodo group tour per year and what is so special about this year's tour?
3) How do they select the members and what do they have to do?
4) How did this kind of music reach it's modern form and who arranged it?
5)What is the reaction of some city and rural people to this kind of music?
