Taiko artist Eitetsu Hayashi to mark 50th anniversary with a universal beat
Eitetsu Hayashi, who is marking 50 years as a drummer this year, will perform two concerts to offer solace to those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiko group Kodo makes a plea for donations amid the COVID-19 crisis
With Japanese drumming group Kodo forced to cancel this year's tour, the group has made an appeal for donations and equipment.
Swinging swords and drumsticks: Personal fitness draws on tradition
Shindo and taikobics give personal fitness regimes a Japanese twist with kendo moves and taiko drumming.
Kabuki's Bando Tamasaburo V takes Kodo drum troupe in an artistic new direction with 'Spiral'
To celebrate its 35th anniversary, the internationally renowned Kodo drumming troupe staged three days of performances at Tokyo's Suntory Hall in mid-August, with a different theme for each show. On the first night, Kodo played together with the New Japan Philharmonic; on the second, the ...
A taiko drum ensemble of young performers from disaster-stricken Fukushima Prefecture are busy sharpening their thunderous drumbeats as they prepare for their upcoming performance scheduled for March 22 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Almost five years after the catastrophe, members of the Yamakiya Taiko group still ...
Tao takes an innovative approach to drum shows
The slogan goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Drum troupe Tao, however, thinks a successful show in Sin City could be the springboard to bigger things around the world. The globe-trotting wadaiko (Japanese drum) performance group has entertained some 6.5 million people in ...
'Taiko' pioneer Eitetsu Hayashi to mark 45 years of drumming to his own beat
It's the image that comes to most people when they think of a traditional taiko (Japanese drum) performance: A man standing in front of a giant drum, back to the crowd and furiously banging away to create a powerful rhythm. Surprisingly, though, this way of ...
The 'Punk' drummers of Tokyo Dageki Dan mark 20 years of bangin' tunes
The rehearsal space for drum group Tokyo Dageki Dan seems more like a football locker room than a spot to experience one of the country's most honored musical traditions. Seven drummers joke around while prepping their wadaiko, Japanese drums that can measure anywhere from 30 ...
As world leaders in the performing art of Japanese drumming, Kodo state on their website that their mission is: "To explore the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko (aka wadaiko), and to forge new directions for this vibrant living art form." Based ...
Playing to the beat of the gods
TAIKO BOOM: Japanese Drumming in Place and Motion, by Shawn Bender. University of California Press, 2012, 259?pp., $29.95 (paperback) No one can fail to be impressed by a live performance of Japanese drumming, the primal elements of stretched animal skin and wood striking a chord ...
Traditional Japanese musicians wow U.S. audience with tribute to disaster victims
The 38th annual Music From Japan Festival kicked off with a Japanese drum and flute concert in New York on Saturday, delighting the audience while paying tribute to residents of the area struck by the March 2011 disasters and ensuing nuclear crisis. Japanese-American musicians Kenny ...
Okitsuru: An island in the middle of Yokohama
At a 2009 concert, Seijin Noborikawa, the grand-daddy of Okinawan folk music, told the audience about where he felt most at home when he visited mainland Japan. He described a neighborhood where passersby chatted in uchinaaguchi language, where shops served pig-trotter noodles and island ...
