{"id":65,"date":"2006-02-08T23:18:24","date_gmt":"2006-02-09T04:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/wordpress\/?p=65"},"modified":"2024-11-01T21:13:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T20:13:32","slug":"taiko-kodo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/2006\/02\/08\/taiko-kodo\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiko \/ Kodo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nJapanese drums. A very special art form, and very intensive experience.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
O-daiko<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\nKodo seems to be the Japanese Taiko group that most often visits Europe. We’ve seen\/heard them once before, but that was several years ago. This time their programme was more modern: the leaflet named individual composers for all songs of the first half. The last of them (“Monochrome”, on 7 small drums) had a particularly modern feel, with enormous variation in volume. It gave the impression of a large swarm of potentially aggressive insects – a storm of locusts, or a nest of hornets. First quiet humming, then sharp and furious.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe second half shifted towards a more traditional style, with more primal rhythms – purer and more focused in my opinion. And it’s got more of the really large drums – the ones that make the entire hall vibrate, the ones you can feel not just in your belly but in your bones. Miyake style taiko (with two drummers playing on one large drum, placed horizontally between them) in particular is very vital and intensive. Then of course there’s o-daiko which is the largest one. It’s odd that something so large and loud can at the same time be so tranquil and meditative. To listen to, that is – playing it appears very physical.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Miyake<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\nTaiko is also a very visual show. (I found reasonably good pictures of a Kodo show here<\/a>.) Taiko concerts are not ones to listen to with closed eyes – possibly with the exception of o-daiko. It’s fascinating to see the drummers move: focused and purposeful, economic, full of power but also very graceful. It looks like as much thought lies behind the shape of each movement as the sound it is to produce. (More likely, they’ve realised that cleaner, stronger movements lead to cleaner, stronger sound.) This is another reason I like more traditional taiko music better – the larger kinds of drums make the physical aspect more visible. I also get the impression that movement patterns are more important in traditional pieces.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe experience was somewhat marred by the audience. I think I must be growing old – I’m starting to think that people have no manners nowadays. Arriving half an hour late and then standing up to take off their coats, and walking out partway through the concert when their wine glass runs dry… And far too many enjoy their own applause more than the music itself, and applaud as soon as there’s a quieter moment. If they just glanded at the players they would see that it’s nowhere near done! I guess concerts have become a social event rather than a cultural one – the music is just entertainment, and not the main event.\n<\/p>\n

\nI learned today that the drum sticks, Bachi<\/a>, are not only of different sizes for different drums, but also of different materials. Softer woods give a clearer sound on small drums, where harder woods would sound “dead”, while hard woods bring out the sound better in larger drums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese drums. A very special art form, and very intensive experience. O-daiko Kodo seems to be the Japanese Taiko group that most often visits Europe. We’ve seen\/heard them once before, but that was several years ago. This time their programme was more modern: the leaflet named individual composers for all songs of the first half. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art_entertainment","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18607,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/18607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}