SCHENECTADY — The tradition of taiko drumming, a distinctively Japanese percussive art involving the ensemble playing of two-headed drums in a variety of sizes and styles, extends back more than two millennia.

“Taiko drumming itself had long been connected with ceremonial settings, mostly in Buddhism and Shintoism,” said Jun Akimoto, a producer and spokesman for the drumming collective Kodo, which will make its second-ever appearance at Proctors Theatre Friday night (it first played the venue in 2005). Friday’s performance will be the culmination of Kodo’s current North American tour, which has been in motion since January.

Much has changed for taiko drumming since the days when the instruments were used largely in religious ceremonies, or as Nippon’s answer to the Scottish bagpipes — a resonant instrument for exhorting troops into battle and putting fear in foes’ hearts.

Beginning after World War II, taiko became a more commercial art with a number of ensembles on both sides of the Pacific as its exponents, perhaps none so prominent as Kodo, the successor to an earlier group that made its international debut at a music festival in Berlin in 1981.

“We have a vibrant, young history of commercial taiko drumming,” Akimoto said. “And Kodo has been a leading force in it.”

Indeed, it’s the sheer physical force of the powerful sound that attracts contemporary audiences.

“There is strength, prowess, physical excellence involved in the performance,” he said.

Though practicing an art form so steeped in tradition, there has been much recent change for Kodo. A year ago, a widely revered master of the theatrical art of kabuki, Tamasaburo Bando, took over as artistic director. His leadership has infused their performance with theatricality and a more colorful sense of costuming and presentation.

Taiko has long been associated with ritual-heavy kabuki and Noh theater.

“Mr. Tamasaburo has grown up in these kinds of musical settings where drums were heavily used,” Akimoto said. “His major contribution is bringing more energy and theatrical technique into the musical heritage Kodo has developed.” Continued...