Business is booming for Kodo
By Stuart Derdeyn, The Province January 25, 2011

ON STAGE: KODO: One Earth Tour

Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Hamilton and Georgia streets

When: Friday at 8 p.m.

Tickets: $77.50/$60.50 at Ticketmaster

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Three decades on, the 408-kilogram o-daiko remains the mother. This gargantuan percussion instrument forms the centerpiece of all Kodo performances. The Sado Island, Japan-based drumming group/community brings big beats to town once again, this time debuting young band member Kenta Nakagome on the giant rhythm piece.

From his office at Kodo HQ, Jun Akimoto discusses the importance of the group’s island location to its latest recording, Akatsuki. Boasting its signature booming martial drumming against airy traditional melodic hammered and plucked stringed instruments such as the shamisen, koto and kokyu (a traditional fiddle), it is the first album from the group recorded entirely in its rehearsal hall. Only final mixes were done in studio to produce the most organic sound. The all-new material is primarily from the younger "new generation" of Kodo, including — for the first time — the "elegant style" of its female members.

“In the beginning, we were strangers to the Sado people and they were suspicious of mainlanders coming there,” says Akimoto. “Recently, we started to pay more attention and study the local customs, rituals and folk performing arts. It has really influenced the new show’s music, dance and overall presentation.”

Kodo member Masaru Tsuji’s composition “Sakaki” receives its world premiere on the One Earth Tour and is one such Sado-based piece. A solo male dancer twists and turns to rhythms invoking Sado’s Onidaiko (demon drumming) patterns played during a seasonal ritual where villagers don monstrous masks and summon supernatural protection for crops, livestock and living relatives in the coming year. It is a lighter tune than what is typically thought of as Kodo’s sound. There will be many moments for that sheer physical release of the whole company bashing away, too. Only the top graduates of the Kodo training ever make the touring group. To join, they will leave their previous lives behind and live communally in the complex, learning, practicing and playing together.

“The minimum is at least three years, starting with the two year-long apprenticeship and then a one-year provisional membership follows. We usually only take on one or two members a year and the auditions are very difficult. Many take five years to get there, so it is a lot of patience for both apprentices and the management team,” says Akimoto.

It is an interesting period of time together watching young novices being groomed for the big show. He admits that it is often frustrating, too, because you can’t always spot a unique talent until well into the training. Individual skills alone won’t do the job either — a level of total commitment to teamwork is required to meet the physical, mental and spiritual demands of the group. When likened to a drumming "cult," he laughs.

“We live, train and spend — literally — all of our time together and this leads to the precision, integration and intuition developed in the performers and expressed in the show. We play like we live.”

At present, no Kodo workout and diet book is being planned. Suffice to say that nobody makes the cut that isn’t cut. Playing over 200 shows a year requires a phenomenal level of fitness and remember, there is no amplification involved in this performance. It means that the group can play anywhere. As long as the staging ground can handle the o-daiko’s heaviness.