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JAPANESE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLEKODŌ |
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)
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.
Kodō strives to both preserve and re-interpret traditional Japanese performing arts.
Download: Shake, fragm, 47 sec, mp3 , 272 KB
Download: Nanafushi, fragm, 156
sec, mp3 , 2.4 MB
Kodo village
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.
Performing
members
Fujimoto Yoshikazu, Kojima Chieko,
Fujimoto Yoko, Yamaguchi Motofumi, Saito Eiichi, Mitome Tomohiro, Arai
Takeshi, Imagai Kazuki, Onizawa Ayako, Abe Kazunari, Tsuji Masaru, Hori
Tsubasa, Funabashi Yuichiro, Miyazaki Masami, Ishizuka Mitsuru, Sunahata
Yoshie, Oda Yosuke, Abe Kenzo, Sakamoto Masayuki, Yoshii Shogo, Saito
Natsuki, Nakagome Kenta, Takahashi Tokio, Maeda Tsuyoshi, Shimauchi
Hiroko.
Discography
Ubu-Suna (1988)
Blessing Of The Earth (1989)
Irodori (1990, Gold Disc Award for Japanese classical music)
Gathering (1991)
Mono-Prism (1991)
Kaiki (1992)
Best of Kodo (1993)
Nasca Fantasy (1994)
The Hunted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1995)
Kodo Live at the Acropolis (1995)
いぶき (1996)
Against (1998)
sai-so 再創 (1999)
Ibuki Remix (1999)
童 warabe (1999)
tsutsumi (1999)
Tataku: The Best of Kodo II (1994-1999) (2000)
Mondo Head (2001)
FIFA 2002 World Cup Official Anthem (2002)
Hero Soundtrack (2003)
Sado e - One Earth Tour Special (2004)
prism rhythm (2005)
Sources: official website of Kodō, website of Orient Festival, Wikipedia
Drums
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.
Taiko
are categorized into 2 types of construction. Byou-uchi daiko (鋲撃ち太鼓)
have heads nailed to the body. Tsukushime-daiko (付締
め太鼓) have heads sewn onto iron rings, which are then laced to each
other around the drum body. Byou-uchi daiko are typically hollowed
out of a single piece of wood. The preferred wood is keyaki (欅)
due to its density and beautiful grain, but a number of other woods are
used. Byou-uchi daiko cannot be tuned, and their sizes are limited by
the diameter of the tree they are made from. The typical byou-uchi daiko
is the nagado-daiko (長胴太鼓,
long-body taiko). Nakado-daikos are available in a variety of
sizes, from 12 to 36 inches (head diameter). Nagado-daikos over 36 inches
are also available, but they are referred to as ōdaiko (大太鼓,
‘great drum’). The largest ōdaikos (with a length of 2.4 m, a
maximum diameter of 2.4 m, a weight of 3 tons, made out of a single piece of
wood from a 1200 year old tree) are too big to move and permanently reside
inside a temple or shrine. Tsukeshime-daiko are available in a wide
variety of styles, and are tunable. This style of taiko is typically
tensioned before each performance. The tensioning system is usually rope,
but bolt systems and turnbuckles have been used as well. Tsukeshime-daiko
can either have stitched heads placed on bodies carved from single piece of
wood, such as the shime-daiko and tsuzumi, or stitched heads
placed on a stave-construction body such as the okedo-daiko.
Booking for Eastern Europe
ERP (Estonian Record Productions)
Estonia Avenue 4
10148 Tallinn
Estonia
Phone +372 50 20979
Fax +372 6484571
artists(at)erpmusic.com
See also: other ethno-artists represented by
ERP
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