Live at Acropolis, Athens, Greece

Kodo

album cover

Your Neighborhood Drum Circle Wishes It Sounded Like This

"Akabanar," the final selection on this live recording, begins with ordinary everyday pounding, like someone knocking on a front door. The crowd picks up the rhythm, and begins clapping along, only to be left in the dust by this troupe of expert Japanese drummers as they quicken the pace to a gallop. After that frenzy dies down, there's a duet between flute and the drums, each playing its own repetitive pattern. More drums enter, and pretty soon what had been a calming meditation balloons into another, equally thrilling chase.

Whether the members of this nine-piece troupe are maintaining a steady pulse or chopping it into bite-sized bits, they transform the taiko style of ceremonial drumming into riveting, and wholly complete, music. These pulses are overpowering not simply because they're loud (listen on good speakers to hear drums make an animalistic roar) but because the musicians are so thoroughly attentive to every attack. They're locked together in pursuit of a kind of groove ecstasy, and their sensitive interplay can lure a casual listener deep into the rhythm.

The group considers its mission to be at least partly spiritual—according to the group, Kodo can be translated as "heartbeat," but also as "children of the drum." That second meaning is an indication of the group's sensibility: Though the music is often complex, it is suffused with a spirit of childlike openness.

In the years since it began touring internationally, Kodo, which hails from the Japanese island of Sado, has engaged in cross-cultural experiments with electronica producers as well as drum luminaries like the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart. These collaborations are pleasant, but this crisp live recording, captured at one of the world's most hallowed ancient sites, is drumming on a whole different level.

Genre: World, Japan
Released: 1995, TriStar
Key Tracks: "Akabanar," "Zoku," "Miyake."
Catalog Choice: Ibuki
Next Stop: Mickey Hart: Planet Drum
After That: Mongo Santamaria: Drums and Chants
Book Pages: 430–431

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Comments:

#1 from Judith Martinez, USA - Los Angeles - 06/29/2010 2:38

Just an observation. The WORLD section has the name of the country of Colombia mispelled as Columbia, a sad and frequent error I find in many places. Would you kindly fix it? It’s so annoying to Colombians like me =) Thank you in advance.

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