To define things, the drum is the taiko and Kodo means heartbeat. The drummers of Kodo, let me assure you, take the rhythms of the taiko very seriously indeed. Rock Band this ain't.

For one thing, just trying to join means two years of the mother of all boot camps, rigour to beat anything the marines dole out. If you make it through the initial interviews -- and that's a big if -- you will live communally, getting by on a few hours sleep per night, waking up to go run 10 kilometres straight off.

You learn dance, music and drama as well as drumming, grow and harvest your own food, work quite literally from dawn to dusk. Westerners have tried to get in, made it through the initial interviews but almost invariably drop out. That said, apparently Chris Slade, AC/DC's one-time drummer, did quite well with it. var addthis_pub = 'canada.com'; function textCounter(field,cntfield,maxlimit) { if (field.value.length > maxlimit) // if too long...trim it! field.value = field.value.substring(0, maxlimit); // otherwise, update 'characters left' counter else { var divLabel = document.getElementById("divLabel"); divLabel.innerHTML = maxlimit - field.value.length + " characters remaining"; } }

The Kodo world view was born in the wake of Second World War, when Japan had become westernized as never before, losing many of its ancient traditions. Den Tagayasu was a disaffected young guy who made his way to Sado Island, an isolated outcropping long known as home to exiles, dissidents, intellectuals and artists, those who didn't easily fit into the strict Japanese codes.

The place was so remote the old traditions had survived intact and here Tagayasu and his followers founded an austere, spartan way of life and transformed the ancient folk art of taiko drumming into a world class performance discipline. They've been touring since the mid-'70s and once famously put in a full show the same day they ran the Boston Marathon.

However harsh and regimented a life, however high the ideals, Kodo Village, as their communal compound on Sado Island is called, never lacks for fresh and eager novices at the gate.

"I think its interesting to hear their stories," says Jun Akimoto, long a member of the Kodo production and management team and one of the interviewers for prospective members. "Basically what they expect from the Sado Island Apprentice Centre is what they cannot find on the mainland of Japan. I think our local community and the rural life cannot be acquired on the mainland. And more importantly they are taiko drumming lovers. So they have to love both the Kodo style of drumming and at the same time the living style of Kodo."

The drums we'll see on the Vancouver stop, the first and only Canadian date of a 29-city tour, range in size from a pie plate circumference to an 800-pound behemoth that takes at least eight people to move in and out of its crate and is sent here by ship well before the tour. There are 13 players in the troupe, five of them women, and they'll be travelling by bus throughout the States until the end of March.

They were here in 1986 for Expo and sold out the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on their last visit two years ago. Kodo may be as much about a way of life as it is drumming but it still sells a lot of tickets.

"Yes, drumming technique and music knowledge are very important," says Akimoto, "but we prioritize their commitment and their personality as a human being. This is also very important to become a Kodo member."
- John P. Mclaughlin