Kodo Brings Culture to UCLA
Kodo puts on a hell of a show. That's always true. But the truth is I was getting a little tired of Kodo shows in the '90s so I took a few years off. I'm not sure when I saw them last but it must've been at least 5 years ago. Maybe I forgot how good they really are… or more than likely they got better! The One World tour stop 2/9 at UCLA's Royce Hall was the best I remember Kodo ever sounding. The show wasn't as showy as previous years - in fact a lot of the pieces demonstrated more intricacies of rhythm than big drums and muscle. The most striking aspect of the show for me was simply how well they played as one. Despite the sometimes dizzyingly difficult patterns they played, they were so in sync that it sounded is if only one drum were being played. This is, of course, the goal of a Taiko group, but it's a goal rarely achieved by even professional groups playing basic rhythms. Kodo was playing some of the most difficult things someone could play on a drum.
While they performed several such striking pieces, the performance of Monochrome, the classic all shime piece, was the most perfect I have ever heard it performed. I've heard Kodo, Ondekoza and others play it in the past, but never has any group come near this Kodo performance. I'm lucky to have been there for that.
Interestingly Kodo performed in a variety of Wadaiko styles. I don't remember such an homage (was it an homage?) to other taiko disciplines performed by any group - including Kodo - in the past. They seemed to consciously be tipping their hats to Kyushu and Okinawa style in "Tobira", Hachijo or Shimane style in "Jingi-no-Taiko", and Miyake style in "Miyake" - the first three pieces they performed. Even "Monochrome" seems to pay homage to Kodo's mother group Ondekoza, and "Ajara" in the 2nd half of the show was certainly reminiscient of Oedo Sukeroku's flamboyant stick throwing and dancing style. The show closed with the quintessential Kodo piece O-Daiko/Yatai-Bayashi. Neither really is a Kodo original, both are firmly based in traditional Taiko, but still the two pieces together have become Kodo's trademark - maybe even more than the borrowed piece "Miyake".
Anyway, this is a pretty damn good line-up, so if Kodo is coming to your town, buy a ticket.
Labels: Kodo, Taiko
