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LATEST
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2001 COLUMNS *
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31
January, 2001
BEAT
CRAZY: KODO RETURNS
TO COLORADO
The cover of the new album from Kodo, "Tataku: Best of Kodo II, 1994-1999, features an eerie photograph of eight members of the group against a setting (rising?) sun, all leaping in the air with their arms held high above their drums. The image captures the majesty, the mystery and the earthiness that is central to the Kodo experience.
| Taiko music is both a unique and universal sound, because drumming is so essential to both culture and communication throughout the world. |
Kodo, which is returning to Colorado for concerts in Denver and Colorado Springs February 14-17, isn't just a musical group. It's literally a way of life. Formed in 1971 and originally called "Sado no Kuni Ondekoza" (Demon Drummers of Sado Island) as a way of preserving and extending the tradional sound of taiko drumming, the group changed its name to Kodo and debuted to the world at a Berlin music festival in 1981. Since then have maintained a strict schedule, touring the world one-third of every year, performing throughout Japan another third of the year, and spending time at home the other four months of every year, learning new material and practicing, practicing, practicing.
Home for Kodo is Sado Island, off the northwest coast of Japan. There are currently 42 members (25 men, 17 women), of which 22 (14 men, 6 women) are actively performing members. Both the performing and non-performing members stay active maintaining the group's home base, Kodo Village on the island. For the first few years, the group was based out of an old schoolhouse. But in 1988, Kodo purchased 25 acres of wooded land and created its own campus with dormitories, communal kitchen facilities, recording studio and rehearsal hall, as well as family homes built by married members. From the start, Kodo members have also spent a large part of every day (when they're at home) running along the island coast and then practicing their musical craft, including making their instruments.
Taiko music is both a unique and universal sound, because drumming is so essential to both culture and communication throughout the world. In fact, the Kodo Foundation, the non-profit entity that oversees the group's many non-profit activities, sponsors the annual "Earth Celebration" International Arts Festival, held every summer on Sado Island, as a way of weaving together multicolored cultural threads from around the world.
The heart of taiko is, as the group's points out in a pun, the heartbeat - the first rhythm all creatures hear, before birth. The history of taiko drums goes back more than a millennium to Chinese and Korean instruments introduced to Japan as far back as 300-900 in the common era. The word translates literally to "fat drum" and refers to the instruments - which come in a myriad of sizes -- as well as to the music. Hearing the percussive power of the drums played in unison, it's easy to imagine that taiko was used as a battle cry to intimidate the enemy and inspire soldiers to fight with the sound of thunder on their side.
Taiko as it's played today, in ensembles such as Kodo, is a relatively recent development that evolved after World War II. The music is now popular all over Japan, as well as throughout Japanese American communities across the US (Denver Taiko, the local group based at the Denver Buddhist Temple, released its first CD last year). And thanks to growing interest in ethnic styles, and the all-embracing work of such artists as former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, the taiko sound is catching on outside the Japanese cultural limits, with rock and world music fans around the world.
Kodo was formed and began playing its taiko repertoire long before the music's current popularity, and the group has ridden the crest of the taiko wave like an expert surfer, smartly packaging itself to worldwide audiences while performing awesome concerts everywhere they go.
The live show is riveting - the precision choreography of Kodo's drumming is hypnotic and energizing, stirring energy deep inside audiences' souls.
The recordings lack that visual punch, but still grab your attention.
"Ibuki," the song that kicks off "Tataku," the new greatest hits CD, opens with the ominous sound of drumming that starts softly, as if someone was playing over a hill and approaching the crest. Then the pounding grows louder as flutes begin to curl their melodies in and out of the beat, until the taiko are teeth-rattlingly powerful. Although "Kirina's theme is a beautiful quiet meditation played on the bamboo flute, many of the songs have a similar sense of dynamics, balancing soft and loud, tender and brutal during the span of a composition.
Once in a while, as in "Song of the Universe," a non-traditional instrument is added to the mix, in this case synthesizers played by the acclaimed Japanese musician Isao Tomita and Latin percussion by members of the band Kusillaqta. One song, "Nanafushi," is followed by "Strobe's Nanfushi (Satori Mix)," a techno dance version that proves how adaptable taiko is. The final track on "Tataku," "Niji no Tagori (Rainbow Traces)" also features a haunting vocal by Yoko Fujimoto, who seems to soar over the rhythmic foundation laid by Kodo's percussive crew.
If you've seen Kodo
before, you're already planning on seeing them on their 2001 tour. If
you have never seen them, or better yet, if you've never experienced taiko
music at all, don't miss Kodo - they're a treat to see and hear.
You can learn more about Kodo at the group's
Web site … and you can buy tickets for Kodo's upcoming Denver (The
Auditorium Theater) and Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak Center) concerts
by calling (303) 626-0106.