The Japanese taiko drumming ensemble Kodõ is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, but, unlike the 1983 Todd Rundgren song, banging on the drum all day is exactly what this 50-member group has done for work in the last three decades.
Although the number of performing members is pared down to about 15 while touring internationally, their musical institution is stronger than ever and will perform to a sold-out audience at the Balboa Theatre on Friday night as part of an anniversary tour. Yet, the celebration of its current milestone might actually be shortchanging the troupe a bit.
“Kodõ started in 1981, but we had a different name for the group during the 10 years before that,” recently said longtime member Jun Akimoto from Sado Island. “We even have a member that is still with us from 1971, and there are quite a few of the 1981 original members still active in our group. Some are performers and some have become staff. But those two groups are basically the same, as far as members, so, including that period, we have nearly 40 years of history.”
Kodõ translates roughly as both heartbeat and children of the drum, appropriate monikers for an outfit that has an apprenticeship program and a dormitory where newer members live. The entire group resides and operates out of Sado, the sixth largest island in Japan, which has less than 70,000 residents.
“We’re all in the same district, on the same island,” Akimoto said. “Most of the younger members all live together at the headquarters, but there’s a limitation of rooms available, so senior members have to find housing outside the village. We have an apprentice center on Sado Island as well. We offer a two-year-program, so potential Kodõ performers are required to pass an audition to become apprentices. They apprentice for one year and are required to join the actual tours. Then, there is a final audition to become a regular member of Kodõ. It’s a three-year process.”
It’s a good thing there are so many members, as their signature giant drum -- the 900-pound o-daiko -- takes at least eight people to carry onstage. Akimoto said they routinely have difficulty getting it through smaller loading-dock doors at some theaters and concert halls. Many times, the hallmark instrument has to be carried in through the patron entrance and auditorium.
This year, the young Kenta Nakagome will play the gigantic instrument after learning from, and watching, the elder members. But such is the way of Kodõ.
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“It works,” Akimoto said. “Even though we have a lot of different generations in the group, we really enjoy communicating with one another. And I think the older members are happy to teach the younger ones. It’s a great thing to have that range in age and experience. Everyone learns from each other.”
Akimoto also points out that the audiences away from home seem to be learning more and more as well.
“It’s unusual for Japanese people to objectively study their own history,” he said. “Yet, when we tour in the U.S., Canada and Europe, we are astonished to find so many people who know the Japanese history of drumming. And we’re finding that more people are enthusiastic about knowing more about Japan in general. We meet so many who have an exceptional knowledge of the music and traditional culture. It’s a very good thing.”
Regardless if an audience member is a taiko scholar or experiencing the music for the first time, Akimoto and the ensemble make sure that the focus always remains on inclusion.
“If Kodõ can bring drums, and travel around the world and deliver the sound of drums there, we can unite the people who hear the sound and make them part of a community,” Akimoto said.
