Tag ‘Kodo One Earth Tour’
June 21-25: Five Performances at Asakusa Public Hall!
“Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery”
June 21-25: Five Back-to-Back Performances at Asakusa Public Hall
Our current tour began in Kagoshima and has been going really well. We are now at the halfway mark of this tour and this week we are back in Asakusa for the second year in a row. Last year we held four performances here and this year we’ve increased it to five. The Kodo members are strolling the streets of Asakusa to see what catches their eye this time. We hope you’ll all come to see our performances and enjoy sightseeing, shopping, and meals in Asakusa while you are here.
For ticket orders in English, please call Ticket 6 (Roku) Tel. 03-5826-0315
Not many seats left for June 21 & 22!
Exhibition Introducing Kodo’s Activities / Taiko Experience Corner
1F Exhibition Hall, Asakusa Public Hall
June 21 (Sat) – 25 (Wed) 10:00 – 18:00 (Finishes at 17:00 on final day)
Our exhibition will feature panels introducing Kodo’s activities, information about the Kodo Apprentice Centre, and a corner with Kodo-related video footage on display. We want to make this a space in Asakusa where you can feel the atmosphere of Sado Island. You may encounter sides of Kodo you never knew about before. There will be a corner with taiko on display and we’ll be holding some mini taiko experience sessions there, too!
2013 Live Asakusa Performance of “Legend” on DVD Available at Venue from June 21
The first 100 customers to buy DVD “Legend” at Asakusa Public Hall will receive a special gift: a postcard signed by the three featured O-daiko performers!
Kodo DVD “Legend” – On sale from June 21, 2014
Did somebody mention a surprise?
Come and see around 3pm on June 21 at Asakusa Public Hall!
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery” Asakusa Performances
June 21 (Sat) – 25 (Wed) at Asakusa Public Hall, Tokyo
June 21 (Sat) 16:00
June 22 (Sun) 15:00
June 23 (Mon) 15:00
June 24 (Tue) 18:00
June 25 (Wed) 14:00
Doors open 30 min. prior to each performance.
All seats reserved. General 7,000 yen, Students (aged 6-24) 3,000 yen
◆Ticket Outlets◆
tvk Ticket Counter Tel. 0570-00-3117
Asakusa Public Hall Tel. 03-3844-7491
Ticket Pia Tel. 0570-02-9999
Ticket 6 (Roku) Tel. 03-5826-0315 (English assistance available)
“Asakusa” by Shogo Komatsuzaki
Asakusa
The scent of Japanese traditions from the good old days and craftsmen at work never fades in Asakusa. Brimming with life, pumping with a never-ending flow of people, it’s like a festival every day in this town. Last year when I came to perform in Asakusa for the first time, I felt a kind of culture shock in this constantly-bustling downtown hub.
The main shopping street in Asakusa that leads up to Senso-ji Temple is jam-packed with people every day, so it made me wonder why this town is so lively and why it attracts so many people. I think it’s thanks to the strong, passionate hearts of the locals of Asakusa, who take pride in the town’s cultural heritage, traditional arts and local specialty goods and both uphold and hand down those traditions with versatility.
The people of Asakusa have tremendous confidence and pride in their town and they are constantly thinking and passionately talking about the future of Asakusa. By meeting these people, I reaffirmed that people’s hearts uphold traditions, connect people, and bring people together. I felt really grateful to learn that it’s people like this welcoming Kodo to Asakusa. I really want many others to feel those hopes for the future of Asakusa through Kodo’s performances here.
This year is the second time for Kodo to hold consecutive performances here, and I think that “Mystery,” with its nostalgic atmosphere, truly suits the feel of the Asakusa township. Our performance is live, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how Asakusa and “Mystery” will come together and how the performances will be received by our audiences. We will do our utmost to let you experience a “Mystery” that is unique to Asakusa, so please come along!
On a more personal note, I love Asakusa’s Senso-ji Temple and shopping street by night. You might hear the sound of “Mystery” around here from this weekend…
“Looking Forward to the Asakusa Performances” by Tetsumi Hanaoka
This month, “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” will give five performances at Asakusa Public Hall, from June 21 through 25. Last year I performed in back-to-back concerts in Asakusa during my first tour, “Legend.” One year has passed and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to show an even more powerful Kodo performance here this year!
This time, the production incorporates the great serpent dance from Iwami Kagura*, upheld in the Iwami Region of Shimane Prefecture. We have been learning this folk art since April 2013 through visits to Shimane and we spent a year creating the stage piece featuring the dance, Jamai.
*Kagura: dance and music for the kami, or deities
Our Iwami Kagura teacher Mr. Taizo Kobayashi, who also made the serpent heads for us to use on stage, said, “No matter how simple thing the task, it’s important to do it everyday and do it properly.” I took this advice for my daily habits, both on and off stage. I am striving everyday to make each performance better than the last. Please look out for Jamai on stage when you come to see “Mystery”!
Also, “Mystery” is filled with scenes of darkness. I think that mysterious things and darkness have a deep relationship. I experienced this living on Sado Island, for example when I saw Kodo Village by moonlight, far away from the lights of the township, or at the climax of a festival in the pale light of paper lanterns.
Darkness conjures fear at first glance, but mysterious things are created in such darkness. I hope you will come and watch, hear, and experience that kind of magical world in our performance of “Mystery.”
Photos: Takashi Okamoto
Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery
June 21 (Sat) – 25 (Wed) at Asakusa Public Hall, Tokyo
June 21 (Sat) 16:00
June 22 (Sun) 15:00
June 23 (Mon) 15:00
June 24 (Tue) 18:00
June 25 (Wed) 14:00
Doors open 30 min. prior to each performance.
All seats reserved. General 7,000 yen, Students (aged 6-24) 3,000 yen
◆Ticket Outlets◆
tvk Ticket Counter Tel. 0570-00-3117
Asakusa Public Hall Tel. 03-3844-7491
Ticket Pia Tel. 0570-02-9999
Ticket 6 (Roku) Tel. 03-5826-0315 (English assistance available)
“Asakusa by Night” by Naomi Iseki
This year, there will be one evening performance during the “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” concerts in Asakusa, Tokyo. It’s on June 24th. It will commence at 6pm and conclude around 8pm.
The shops in Asakusa seem to shut earlier than they do in other areas. But even when it’s all closed up, it looks really beautiful here. Take some time after our evening performance to stroll through the streets and enjoy the echo of “Mystery” under the warm street lights.
Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery
June 21 (Sat) – 25 (Wed) at Asakusa Public Hall, Tokyo
June 21 (Sat) 16:00
June 22 (Sun) 15:00
June 23 (Mon) 15:00
June 24 (Tue) 18:00
June 25 (Wed) 14:00
Doors open 30 min. prior to each performance.
All seats reserved. General 7,000 yen, Students (aged 6-24) 3,000 yen
◆Ticket Outlets◆
tvk Ticket Counter Tel. 0570-00-3117
Asakusa Public Hall Tel. 03-3844-7491
Ticket Pia Tel. 0570-02-9999
Ticket 6 (Roku) Tel. 03-5826-0315 (English assistance available)
“Performance in Kashiwazaki, Niigata” by Mitsunaga Matsuura
June 8, 2014
Performance in Kashiwazaki, Niigata
I met up with the cast and crew of “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” at their Kashiwazaki performance. I hadn’t seen this team in a month, but they were all well and working hard. They received a lot of warm applause from the audience members there.
Their next performance is on June 9 in Uonuma. It’s the last performance of “Mystery” in Niigata Prefecture, so don’t miss it!
“Recording of New Piece at Kodo Village” by Narumi Matsuda
At Kodo Village, our performers recently recorded a new piece that will be used to promote the new production that debuts this November, “Kodo One Earth Tour: Eternity.” This music will accompany TV commercials for “Eternity” from fall this year. I didn’t see the recording in progress, as it was behind this firmly closed door. I hope you’re looking forward to this new production!
“Release of Promotional Video for Kodo ‘Legend'” by Kodo PR Team
A promotional video for new DVD Kodo “Legend” has just been created! This DVD is the recording of “Kodo One Earth Tour: Legend” at Asakusa Public Hall in 2013 and will go on sale on June 21.
Kodo Website | Kodo DVD “Legend” to go on sale June 21, 2014
Here is the video:
YouTube Link▼
http://youtu.be/VNBKj1Xxur0
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery” is currently on tour in Japan, so we hope you will enjoy “Mystery” live at a theater near you and “Legend” at home on DVD.
This DVD will go on sale on the first day of our performances in Asakusa this month, June 21, and will be available exclusively at Kodo performance venues and from the Kodo Online Store.
“Thank You for Joining Us in Kyoto City!” by Kodo PR Team
“Mystery” Performances at Minami-za Kabuki Theater, Kyoto
For three days, from May 30 through June 1, we held back-to-back performances of “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” at Minami-za Kabuki Theater in Kyoto. Thank you very much to everyone who came along!
The audience applauded for 5 encores! During the final one, the cast performed on the hanamichi, the long runway-like section of the stage found in Kabuki theaters.
Before the performances at Minami-za, we held special taiko workshops. Eiichi Saito was the instructor and so many people wanted to take part. The participants and the audience all got really excited by the games they played with taiko during the on-stage, pre-concert workshops.
Tomorrow, on June 4, we have a performance in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture. We look forward to seeing everyone there, too!
Mystery Performance at Chutan Bunka Kaikan, Ayabe, Kyoto (June 4)
http://www.kodo.or.jp/oet/20140604a_en.html
“Performance in my Hometown Area, Kagawa” by Yuta Sumiyoshi
I was still a junior member the last time I came to Takamatsu in Kagawa on the “One Earth Tour.” In those early days, I was just frantically playing taiko, clinging tight to every lesson the Kodo members were teaching me. So coming back to Kagawa to perform again, about two years on, made me wonder deep down how much I have grown as a performer since last time.
I had the opportunity to write some of the music for the production we are presenting this time, “Mystery.” I write songs using fragments of pieces I composed when I lived in Kagawa and mixing them with new inspiration that came to me after I moved to Sado Island. Through this production, featuring these pieces, I hope that others can see how much I have grown and how much change I have been able to embody. I also hope people can sense something constant in me, a base within me that doesn’t change.
Before I went to Sado Island (to become a Kodo apprentice), I played taiko every day with my childhood friends, somewhat uncertain about the right way to play. I left my childhood friends, went to Sado Island alone to join Kodo, and now I’m playing taiko professionally.
After the performance in Takamatsu, a teacher, who has watched over me growing up since I was really young, said to me, “No matter how great of a pro taiko player you’ve become, your songs still haven’t changed since you were a junior high school student. Even if the melodies and rhythms are different, your taste remains throughout the composition. It’s nostalgic and I’m happy about that.” To have someone who had worked on polishing my musicianship for over 10 years say those words to me, I was so happy I could cry and at the same time I felt determined to aim even higher and work to become a person that everyone to whom I am indebted would be proud of.
Our performance in Kagawa was a chance for me to feel the warmth of my home region, and to take a new look at my own hopes and intentions.
Keikei, composed by Yuta Sumiyoshi
Photos: Takashi Okamoto
“Vocalization Practise on the One Earth Tour ” by Narumi Matsuda
On performance days, time is set aside after rehearsals for the performers to have vocalization practise together.
Since Tamasaburo Bando became Kodo’s artistic director, extra effort is going into singing instruction for the performers. The voice is easily affected by your age and the daily condition of your body, so taking the time for everyone to check their voice and focus on practising vocalization is now part of their daily routine.
Naturally the members do this each day when they have rehearsals on Sado Island, but they also have this time allocated for vocalization on tour.