The programme includes:

Onsen

For over a thousand years Taiko drumming has been used in Japan to celebrate the village festival, sound the rice planting season, drum up a storm in a call for rain, beat off famine and plague, and call the attention of the gods at religious ceremonies. This style of performance which developed at the Onsen hot spring resorts in Ishikawa prefecture, is based on the ancient tradition of Mushiokuri – playing the barrel drum with bamboo beaters in order to chase the crop-eating insects out of the rice paddies.

Hana-no-mai

This piece was inspired by the female taiko players of Hachijo Island. On this island taiko developed as a form of music, played for enjoyment rather than for ceremony, and for this reason, this is one of the few areas of Japan where women were allowed to play the taiko drums in ancient times. Times have changed, and these days in Japan there are actually more female taiko players than male! The Nihon Buyoh dance in the Yukata (cotton Kimono) leads into a feminine and graceful style of taiko.

Gojinjo Taiko

The origins of Gojinjo Taiko, roughly translated as “war song drumming”, are known as a 400 year old legend from the turbulent Age of Unification, during which many areas of Japan were in civil war. In the 16th century, an invading army from the south led by samurai warlord Uesugi Kenshin was sweeping across Japan. When the troops approached Nabune on the Noto Hanto peninsula, the brave villagers who were but farmers and fishermen, scared them off by playing their taiko drums wearing demon masks and seaweed in their hair. This is our own version of Gojinjo Taiko, to demonstrate this style of playing.

Miyake

This traditional festival song and taiko piece comes from Kamitsuki Kiyari Daiko of Miyake Island, one of the seven volcanic islands off of the Izu Peninsula. The “Kiyari” song and driving rhythms accompany the rough wave-like motions of the shrines carried upon the shoulders of the villagers, carried through the streets to pray for the well-being of the village.

Mawari Uchi

This is a traditional style of playing from the Fukui area, where the players take turn to play improvised solos over the Mitsu-uchi base rhythm which is typical of the west coast of Japan.

Yatai Bayashi

The Chichibu Festival is one of the most famous festivals in Japan, held yearly in December. Huge festival carts are pulled through the narrow streets of Chichibu by hundreds of people, each cart ornately carved and decorated with gold. Inside the carts, there are teams of taiko drummers who keep the beat going all through the night. The low driving sounds of the Nagado drums encourage the people pulling the carts, and the high pitched Shime rolls accompany the turning of the carts. As the space inside each cart is limited, a unique and challenging way of playing the taiko drums while sitting down and leaning back, has been developed.

Hachijo

This piece comes from Hachijo Island, where exiles during the feudal era played out their frustrations on the taiko drums, improvising solos, and singing of their loss. The drum is placed horizontally at shoulder height, and played by two people, one person who plays the “lower” base rhythm, and the other who plays the “higher” improvised solo.