KODO: One Earth Tour

I longed to see a world beyond this one, so I searched for the door that would take me there. Until I open the door, I have no idea what awaits me on the other side. For now I simply dream about the unknown.

I just got back from Kodo's One Earth Tour, it was, in a word, AWESOME! I've been a fan of Kodo ever since I picked up a couple of their CDs a few years ago after Mystère piqued my interest in Taiko drumming.

Having only heard the music on CD I was surprised at how visual the show was, it really is a blend of both music and dance and I loved watching the troupe's precise movements when playing synchronously. I was amazed at the sheer physicality of the performance, the drummers' stances and the movements that they use to play exude grace and power. The performance ran the gamut between intricate, densely layered pieces involving dozens of drums to simple but masterful solos.

In between the major pieces when they were setting up the drums they had little interludes, during one they were playing these Japanese chimes and bells and it sounded exactly like the Mystère opening. I was sitting there waiting to hear the crying babies! Three of the drummers also do these little subtle comedic interludes while performing percussion and choreography, they reminded me a lot of the Blue Man Group or Les Cons from La Nouba the audience loved them and it really served to show that the group doesn't take itself too seriously. At the beginning of the first encore these guys even lead the audience in a call and response banging out rhythm patterns that the audience would clap back (Stomp does this for audience-participation at the end of their show as well).

My favourite piece was O-Daiko. It's a huge two-sided drum (pictured above) and the drummer on one side beats out a basic rhythm and the soloist on the other side freely improvises. It was amazing the soloist was giving it hard for about ten minutes non-stop. It was intense.

I'm glad they chose to perform in the Opera House because the acoustics were awesome, these drums are huge and when they play the bigger ones you can feel the sound resonate in your chest cavity. It also meant that the quieter drum pieces and the vocal solos could be performed un-amplified. There was one song performed by an amazing female vocalist who would modulate and trill the notes brilliantly, she was accompanied by wood flute and Chinese violin it sounded gorgeous.

Anyway, I highly recommend catching the show if you're a fan of music, dance or performance art, it's a thrilling night of theatre.