Tag ‘Kodo One Earth Tour’
Eri Uchida and “Mystery”: An Interview by Johnny Wales
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery”
An Interview with Eri Uchida by Johnny Wales
Eri Uchida, Kodo Rehearsal Hall
Eri Uchida was born in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan and is in her sixth year with Kodo. She specializes in taiko but also sings, plays shinobue (bamboo flute) and dances. Here she discusses with Johnny Wales Kodo’s newest production “Mystery” and working with Tamasaburo Bando.
Our new main stage performance is called “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery.” It is directed by Tamasaburo Bando. The pieces were written by Kodo members and are almost all new. For me, the principal difference between his first One Earth Tour production “Legend” and the new Mystery is that in Mystery the women are featured more than ever before. In traditional Kodo performances the programme usually builds up to Yataibayashi and O-daiko so the audience leaves the theatre with a lasting impression of the male performers. I think this performance leaves an equally feminine impression. In the early stages of production we worked out a lot of the business for ourselves. At first we thought, ‘Is this going to work on stage?’ I think there is more theatricality in this performance than usual.
I have two pieces in Mystery, Harewataru (meaning “clearing skies”) which is a piece with mainly flute and taiko, and opening up the second act is a piece I composed called Chit Chat. I wanted to express the feeling of girls just having a good chin wag, so the curtain opens to a scene of the women playing and laughing together.
Chit Chat
(From left: Maya Minowa, Mariko Omi, Eri Uchida, Akiko Ando)
About a year ago Tamasaburo asked us all to submit ideas and compositions for consideration on the theme of ‘mystery’. I had never composed anything before but submitted some pieces anyway and what do you know? They made the cut! It has really made me want to compose more in the future. I discovered that in order to create something that expresses yourself, you don’t have to over think it. However to make something really good I have a lot of studying to do.
Kodo Featured in “Dance Magazine”
There is a 10-page special feature on “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” in the March 26 Issue of Japan’s “Dance Magazine” (by Shinshokan). If you are in Japan, we hope you will pick up a copy.
Contents: Interviews with artistic director Tamasaburo Bando and Kodo performers Masayuki Sakamoto & Yuta Sumiyoshi
Shinshokan | Dance Magazine (Contents in Japanese)
From Hekireki, “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery” (Photo: Takashi Okamoto)
“On Tour in Europe” by Jun Akimoto
Now the time has come for our final performance of “Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Legend” in Europe, which will be held in Moscow, Russia.
I’d like to share a selection of photographs from our tour through Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Estonia.
We gave drumsticks to one of the company’s that looks after us in Europe as a special present for their 30th anniversary. Performer Yosuke Kusa drew a scene from “Mystery” on them in beautiful detail.
The end of our tour in Germany! Here we are gathered around our tour manager Friederike (pictured center). ▶ read more
“From Berlin, Germany” by Jun Akimoto
Here is a picture of our sold-out audience at Berliner Philharmonie on March 5.
They say that this concert hall has the best sound in the world and it is mainly used for classical music, so it is a great honor for Kodo to perform regularly at this hall.
“From Munich, Germany” by Jun Akimoto
The “Kodo One Earth Tour: Legend” team are in Germany now.
This is a picture of Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich with a full house. On both March 3rd and 4th, we welcomed nearly sold-out audiences. Thank you to everyone who came to our performances.
Full-Length Preview for “Mystery”!
We have just released the preview on YouTube for “Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery,” the second work directed by artistic director Tamasaburo Bando. This production will tour throughout Japan from May 2014.
Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery
http://www.kodo.or.jp/news/20140510oet_en.html
See here for the May-July Japan tour schedule:
http://www.kodo.or.jp/oet/index_en.html#schedule05a
“From the UK” by Jun Akimoto
The “Kodo One Earth Tour: Legend” team are in the United Kingdom.
Here are some photos from Liverpool on Feb. 19 and
Manchester on Feb. 20.
Behind our hotel in Liverpool, there was an art school bearing the name of a famous man from this city: John Lennon!
Apparently this school was attended by members of “The Beatles.”
Philharmonic Hall, our venue in Liverpool. This picture was taken before the performance.
“From Dublin, Ireland” by Jun Akimoto
National Concert Hall, Dublin.
We were welcomed by a sold-out audience. Our performance was passionate and we received a standing ovation from the full house.
The Ambassador of Japan, His Excellency Mr. Chihiro Atsumi, and his wife came to our performance. The day before, we were invited to their residence. Performers Masaru, Yosuke, Kenzo, Masayuki and Mariko went along with the tour managers.
“Performances at Theatre du Chatelet” by Yosuke Inoue
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Legend” Performances
We had five performances in a week at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France. On the day before the first concert there, we had a full dress rehearsal. At this performance, the press, staff, their families saw us perform, and it was mainly an audience of people who are familiar with Japanese drums.
They really liked our performance!
Thanks to their reaction, the papers and word of mouth that resulted led to our five performances being almost full-houses. We received a lot of applause and the performances were really fulfilling.
The staff at the Chatelet were very good humoured, took an interest in Kodo, and we are grateful that they enjoyed having us there to perform.
“O-daiko Ura-uchi” by Jun Jidai
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Legend” O-daiko Ura-uchi
In the second act of the performance, there are three O-daiko soloists who perform one after the other, and the third one is Yosuke Oda.
Wild, free, like he is beating the drum instinctively: he plays that kind of “O-daiko.” On this tour, I am playing the back of the drum, which is the bass rhythm part called “ura-uchi.”*
There is something great about standing on either side of the odaiko, the atmosphere and the air of tension. At first, the harder I tried, the more I’d lose the plot, or collide, or get ahead of where I was meant to be, and I couldn’t get my energy to accompany Yosuke’s energy properly. It was frustrating and it troubled me for ages.
n Milan, I was rehearsing with Yosuke before the performance and he said, “Relax, and be calm.” So I made a clean break and tried to play really calmly.
And when I did that, Yosuke said “Yes, that’s the way! When you play calmly, you could see all kinds of things, right? You need to face me with the exact opposite to my energy. Then our energy will meet in just the right spot.”
I felt like new things had popped up in my senses for sure. “So that’s what he meant!,” I thought to myself. I learned how good it feels when the two of us are in sync.
Playing the back of the odaiko teaches you a lot.
I’ll do my best behind the big drum again today!
*”Ura-uchi” is the person who plays the bass rhythm on the back of the odaiko (big drum), with their body and soul in unity with the soloist on the front of the drum.