Kodo & Taikoz
In Concert
Featuring Riley Lee shakuhachi
National Tour
Melbourne, Presented by Taikoz and Arts Centre Melbourne
Hamer Hall – 24 September 7.30
Kodo & Taikoz In Concert is a generous rousing and very
powerful experience. Vigorous and
energetic drummers engage fully with the Taiko (drums) and joyfully with each
other to wholesomely entertain. There is
not one beat out of place.
Very enthusiastically received by the audience this amazing
concert is the amalgam of many years of cultural exchange and development
between the Japanese Taiko playing ensemble Kodo and Australian ensemble Taikoz.
Surprisingly approximately a third of
each of these cohorts of musicians is female.
Like the ambient heat of a log fire the drumming penetrates
ones whole body through to the bones and marrow and can be experienced as
purging and spiritual. This, at times thunderous,
drumming is complemented by beautiful ethereal bamboo flute, harp, marimba and
most particularly the haunting shakuhachi.
There is much variety through out the evening. And amongst other things it is a wonderful
chance to catch Reilly Lee’s masterful shakuhachi playing.
After interval is a haunting song by Riley Lee called Passing through Tears of Nectar that is
exquisitely arranged by Lee and Ian Cleworth, to memorable effect.
Through out the evening I closed my eyes several to be able
to really listen and was amazed by the complexity of the percussive compositions.
One suggestion although looking very like a glossy marketing
tool programs are probably a must to buy a the beginning of the performance to
be versed in what to expect and have an awareness of the cultural and spiritual
dimensions implicit in the individual pieces.
My appreciation at the time would have been enhanced by having the
program I procured at the end of the evening with me from the beginning of the
evening.
A rich, fascinating and rewarding evening.
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
(For Stage Whispers)
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