Each week, World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.
Kodo: Akatsuki (Otodaiku, 1/11/11)
Kodo: “Stride”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Kodo_Stride.mp3|titles=Kodo: “Stride”]
In the Niigata prefecture, 32 miles west of Honshu in the Sea of Japan, is an island widely known as a place of exile. The remoteness of Sado Island made it a site for banishment until the 1700s, a punishment second only to death for those poets, dramatists, and even emperors who were seen as disgraces to their country. But its isolation has also made it one of Japan’s unspoiled beauties, an island of dramatic precipices and remarkable ravines crowned by two parallel mountain chains.
The island is where, 30 years ago, Kodo was established not only as a Japanese performing arts troupe, but as a village sharing a very distinct collective lifestyle. Preserving and revitalizing the art of the taiko (traditional Japanese drum), Kodo has been fusing high-energy percussion, elegance, and traditional dance for over three decades. Since debuting at the Berlin Festival in 1981, the collective has given thousands of performances on five continents. Kodo’s new album, Akatsuki, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with brand-new compositions and never-before-recorded stage pieces.
The Kodo collective is always constant, never stagnant. The almost 50-member collective lives in Sado Village, a 32-acre plot of land established in 1988. Including staff members, performers, seniors, and apprentices, the group shares the same lifestyle: living, eating, creating, and rehearsing. As the oldest members turn 60 and the youngest apprentices 20 this year, it’s an evolving cast of players, a natural transference not only skills and techniques, but also ideologies and culture.