“Kodo Workshop Performance at Kyoto’s Shunjuza” by Kenta Nakagome
During our tour, I made a detour to Kyoto to do some publicity for the upcoming Kodo Workshop Performance with the staff from our host venue, Shunjuza at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
Some members of the Kodo group are alumni of this university. I met the theater staff and felt their passion towards our performance. We have a special connection to this venue, which makes me very happy to perform there.
Please come along to watch the special Shunjuza version of our performance!
Dec. 7 (Sun), 2014 Kyoto Performing Arts Center Shunjuza, Kyoto City
http://www.kodo.or.jp/news/20141207koryu_en.html
Kyoto Performing Arts Center Shunjuza Official Website (In Japanese)
http://www.k-pac.org/performance/20141207.html
“Miwaku Dancers in ‘Eternity'” by Jun Jidai
Nov. 15, 2014
Our brand new production, “Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity,” premieres on Nov. 20! Right now we are at the climax of our rehearsals!
In this performance, Koki, Shogo, Mariko, and I will dance in a new piece called Miwaku. It is a unique dance, like some kind of magical ceremony. Please come and watch us in action.
Spiraling sounds will lure you to another dimension.
Once the curtain rises, another world will be revealed.
Please join us for “Eternity.”
Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Eternity
Nov. 20 (Thu) Amusement Sado, Sado Is., Niigata
Nov. 30 (Sun) City Hall Plaza “Aore Nagaoka,” Nagaoka, Niigata
– “Heartbeat Project” Special Version –
Dec. 2 (Tue) Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Dec. 4 (Thu) Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater Concert Hall, Nagoya, Aichi
Dec. 6 (Sat) & 7 (Sun) NHK Osaka Hall, Osaka City
Dec. 10 (Wed) Okayama Civic Hall, Okayama City
Dec. 12 (Fri) Ueno Gakuen Hall, Hiroshima City
Dec. 15 (Mon) & 16 (Tue) Hakataza Theater, Fukuoka City
Dec. 19 (Fri) – 23 (Tue/Public Hol.) Bunkyo Civic Hall, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo
Dec. 25 (Thu) Niigata Prefectural Civic Center, Niigata City
TV Appearance: tvk “Kodo Eien no Hibiki” (Kodo, Echoes of Eternity)
tvk Programme “Kodo Eien no Hibiki” (Kodo, Echoes of Eternity)
On Nov. 22, a special progamme featuring Kodo will be aired on Television Kanagawa (tvk) in Japan.
*Photos are not from TV footage
This TV programme was filmed this autumn and features one of the key cast members, Masayuki Sakamoto, giving a tour around Kodo Village, shows the Kodo members off-stage & up-close, as well as taking at behind-the-scenes look at the regimented training they undergo to become performers on the Kodo stage.
The programme will also introduce “Eternity, our brand new production that will tour around Japan from late November through December, alongside various other works directed by and in collaboration with Tamasaburo Bando in recent years.
If you’re in Japan, we hope you’ll tune in!
Television Kanagawa (tvk) “Kodo Eien no Hibiki” (Kodo, Echoes of Eternity)
Broadcast Date & Time: Nov. 22 (Sat) from 18:30
*Date and time are subject to change without notice.
“‘Team Uchida’ Prepares for the Next Workshop Performance Tour” by Kenta Nakagome
Rehearsals for the new-look “Workshop Performances,” on the road from late November, have just started. This programme is directed by Eri Uchida and performed by a newly assembled cast. It has a whole new feel, too!
I will play the o-daiko (big drum) on this tour. I am already so excited!
Now that I have gained stage and performing experience, I feel like I can do a variety of things, but when I approach the o-daiko, I want to forget everything and feel brand new each time. As I beat the drum, I just let myself go rather than trying to express myself.
I asked Yoshikazu, “How can you play the o-daiko just by improvisation, without deciding any of the phrases you will play?” and he replied, “I go into the sound that I create.” His words really stayed with me. Now, I play as I feel, encouraged by my own sound. Since he said that to me, I find that the more I play the o-daiko, the more I feel like I can get into the sound and the taiko itself.
The reverberations from the taiko wash over me as I drum and evoke all kinds of feelings, which I want to experience fully, one by one.
Kodo | Workshop Performances
http://www.kodo.or.jp/news/20141200koryu_en.html
- Dec. 7 (Sun), 2014 Kyoto Performing Arts Center Shunjuza, Kyoto City
- Dec. 20 (Sat), 2014 Kunitachi Geijutsu Sho-Hall, Kunitachi, Tokyo
“Kodo Heartbeat Project: Lest We Forget” by Tomohiro Mitome
Nov. 1, 2014
Hello, everyone. This is Tomohiro Mitome, leader of taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo.
It’s November now and autumn is at its peak. It looks great here on Sado Island, Kodo Village is adorned with yellow and red leaves all around. Both the “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” cast & crew and the ”School Workshop Performance” tour, which started last November and toured simultaneously over the past year, have completed their long journeys and safely returned home to Sado.
Now, everyone is rehearsing at Kodo Village to prepare for our new production “Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity” and a newly directed “School Workshop Performance” programme.
This month, I would like to talk about the upcoming “Kodo Heartbeat Project” performance at Aore Nagaoka in Nagaoka, Niigata, on Nov. 30.
Ten years have passed since the Chuetsu Earthquake. To pray for the area’s continued recovery from this disaster, and for Tohoku’s recovery from the 2011 Tohoku Pacific Earthquake, this November Kodo will visit Nagaoka to perform a special version of “Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity,” hold school workshops, and collaborate on-stage with three specially-invited performing arts groups from the Tohoku area.
One of the groups from Tohoku is Shiroyama Toramai (Shiroyama Tiger Dance) from Otsuchi in Iwate, who we met when we performed with them at “Nanako Matsuri – Fuyu no Jin” last December. I recently visited them in Otsuchi to prepare myself for our Nov. 30 collaboration.
Left: Performing arts groups from each district lead magnificent festival floats through the town during “Kamaishi Matsuri.”
Right: Taking a close look at a float built in 1699 in Ozaki Shrine.
During my stay, it was the festival season in Otsuchi’s neighboring town, Kamaishi, so I was able to see the tiger dance being performed at an actual festival.
Also, I went to see the current state of the disaster area.
“Tour Finale on Miyakojima” by Kenta Nakagome
The tour finale for the fall Workshop Performance Tour was on Miyakojima, an island in Okinawa.
It was our first performance there in 12 years, which meant it was the first visit there for most of the cast on this tour.
We had the opportunity to meet people who have been cheering on Kodo since the ensemble first came to Miyako Island in the eighties.
I know Sado is also an island far from mainland Japan… but I was so happy to see people on this far-away island who were so passionate about our group. I played taiko for them, already hoping for the chance to come back here again.
The beautiful sea around Miyakojima was breathtaking!
Our long tour had clocked up twice the length of Japan in mileage. When we got to Miyakojima, everyone we met was so kind, so it was such a feel-good place for us to conclude our performances.
Kodo Photo Gallery [UPDATE]
We have added pages to our Photo Gallery for performers Masayuki Sakamoto, Kenta Nakagome, and Tsuyoshi Maeda. Please click on the photos below to visit each Gallery page.
Masayuki Sakamoto
Kenta Nakagome
Tsuyoshi Maeda
“What I Focus on When I Create New Pieces” by Yuta Sumiyoshi
Oct. 12, 2014
I am writing this blog post on my day off in Saitama Prefecture. On our days off, we all go about our normal daily lives.
Me? Well, I went for a bit of a run this morning and right now I am at laundromat, watching the tumble-dryer do its thing. Our tours always get so hectic, so times like this to chill and stare off into space are unexpectedly precious. Ideas for new taiko pieces often come to me at times like this.
So, today I would like to talk about what I think is most important when I compose pieces.
When I create a new piece, I always make it thinking about incorporating a moment that will move the audience listening or watching and give them goosebumps. I do not know if “goosebumps” is the best expression, but hope you can kind of get what I mean by that…
I think this sensation of goosebumps, or chills, is something that everyone feels, regardless of their own personal preferences or cultural background.
Such different music, impossible to list, is scattered around the world, and to me good music always has a moment somewhere that gives people goosebumps. I think there are various things that move us in music, like the distinct characteristics of the musical instruments, development throughout the piece leading up to that moment, phrasing, and so on. On the other hand, sometimes I think these moments are related to the certain charms of the performers who bring the music to life.
To create music, I think it is also very important to study musical elements and their cultural background. Then, we can recreate new pieces by filtering those elements through our own sensibilities.
“Be Prepared & Have No Regrets” by Tetsumi Hanaoka
On Oct. 5, we gave a performance of “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki. We also came here with “Legend” two years ago and we were happy to be back.
Let me tell you about one type of drum we use on stage. Shimedaiko (the small drums shown above) have drum heads that are bound together by either bolts or one long rope. Kodo always uses roped shimedaiko so we can create an unconstrained, mellow yet clear, shrill sound. But because we tune our shimedaiko before every performance, the ropes wear out and eventually snap. We need to keep replacing them.
So, we always have extra ropes on hand, just in case. The ropes are made of hemp and they are very stiff, so we pull them and beat them every day to make them just the right softness. By doing this, if one of the ropes snaps during our daily tuning, we always have rope on hand that is ready to replace it right there and then.
As the saying goes, “Be prepared & have no regrets.”
Everyday, we all do our best to be in top condition for our performances!
Radio Appearances in Hakata & Osaka
Kodo members appeared on these radio programmes recently: “Hawks Hana no Oendan” on RKB Radio in Hakata on Oct. 22 and “Wakako Takeda’s Pitatto” on ABC Radio in Osaka on Oct. 23.
Masayuki Sakamoto, Mariko Omi, Shogo Komatsuzaki & Kosuke Urushikubo appeared on “Hawks Hana no Oendan” on RKB Radio. They all enjoyed talking with the hosts about our brand new production, “Eternity.”
Masayuki Sakamoto, Yosuke Kusa and Jun Jidai appeared on “Wakako Takeda’s Pitatto” on ABC Radio and gave a live performance. It featured a collaboration with the radio show hosts. They all had so much fun together that the producers let it run over time!
“Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity”
http://www.kodo.or.jp/news/20141120oet_en.html
Nov. 20 (Thu) Amusement Sado, Sado Is., Niigata
Nov. 30 (Sun) City Hall Plaza “Aore Nagaoka,” Nagaoka, Niigata
– “Heartbeat Project” Special Version –
Dec. 2 (Tue) Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Dec. 4 (Thu) Aichi Prefectural Arts Theater Concert Hall, Nagoya, Aichi
Dec. 6 (Sat) & 7 (Sun) NHK Osaka Hall, Osaka City
Dec. 10 (Wed) Okayama Civic Hall, Okayama City
Dec. 12 (Fri) Ueno Gakuen Hall, Hiroshima City
Dec. 15 (Mon) & 16 (Tue) Hakataza Theater, Fukuoka City
Dec. 19 (Fri) – 23 (Tue/Public Hol.) Bunkyo Civic Hall, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo
Dec. 25 (Thu) Niigata Prefectural Civic Center, Niigata City