“Kodo & Les Nuits de Fourvière” by Kodo PR Team

Kodo & “Les Nuits de Fourvière”

Melanie Taylor, who looks after Kodo’s translation and English public relations, toured internationally with Kodo from 2008 – 2012. She was one of the company managers on “Kodo One Earth Tour 2009: ekkyo – transborder,” which gave performances in ten countries around Europe from May through July 2009. Here are some of her memories from Kodo’s 2009 experience performing at Lyon’s long-running festival “Les Nuits de Fourvière,” where Kodo “DADAN” will perform later this month.

Article & photos by Melanie Taylor. Video by Les Nuits de Fourvière.

Kodo visited Lyon, France, in June 2009 during its rare overseas summer “One Earth Tour” to perform at festival “Les Nuits de Fourvière.” It was a little over halfway through our 9-week-long tour , and we had performed at a range of theaters, including magnificent concert halls in Rome, London, and Munich; a 5000-seat sports stadium in Zagreb, a 4000-seat outdoor amphitheater in Istanbul… so we were ready for anything. But the ancient Roman theater at Fourvière was unforgettable and the festival and its audiences stand out for me as a highlight of that tour.

It was the first time for Kodo to perform in Lyon and we arrived the day before our own performances. We were invited to watch “West Side Story” at the same theater that we would perform at for the next two nights. The summer heat and the late sunset meant that the performances, both theirs and ours at least, started at 9:30pm, which meant the sun would set during the performance. We entered the Roman amphitheater and I remember being amazed by the massive size of the arena and the history of the place. Coming from New Zealand, where we have trees older than any buildings, anything ancient and man-made really has an extra impact on me. We heard that it was the first time for the cast of “West Side Story” to perform outdoors, and this stage had three memorable features, or challenges: Roman relics on stage (which could not be covered up or moved or touched), wind, and a collaboration of stage lighting and natural lightning. As we watched, props and costumes moved in the breeze, which ranged from gentle to invigorating and actually moving small stage items about. The temperature changed as the sun went down and the moon rose during the performance. At the end of the performance, the audience was on its feet applauding the finale of six shows of the beloved musical and people threw cushions, borrowed for comfort on the stone seating, at the stage and performers in a whirlwind of color. It was like the sumo in Japan, but from such steep seating, the cushions flew at great speed as they hurtled towards the cast and it created even more excitement as they hit the stage and people in the VIP seating.

Les Nuits de Fourvière has been an annual event since 1946, so we were not only impressed by the history of the venue but also the history of the festival. The hospitality and the professionalism of all the staff and technical crew were just superb and we felt instantly at home, almost as if we were at our own festival “Earth Celebration.” It was a wonderful feeling to find in France, in a foreign city halfway around the world from Japan.

The next day, we arrived at the theater to set up for our own performances. The path from the stage to the lighting booth was very steep, and the performers had to really look up rather than out at the audience. They shared the stage with the ancient stone relics, our wooden drums looking smaller than usual beside the massive columns, but there was more than enough space for our large cast and instruments, including our biggest drum and cart. ▶ read more