Catch the Beat: Sado Island's Kodo Drummers

At the festival (not a Kodo drummer)

This is the first time in my Japan travels that I wished I could rent a car and drive comfortably on the left side of the road.  Sado Island, off the western coast of Japan, is gorgeous.  As I crossed the island by bus, I saw hamlets of well-maintained traditional style homes with tiled roofs, some with lovely gardens and pruned trees, and acres of rice growing golden in the summer heat.  The towns I visited had many old-style wooden shops, still very much in use.  If I had had a car, I could have driven all over the island and maybe seen a crested ibis, a rare Japanese bird with a pink breast; found an old gold mine; or visited a traditional Noh theatre.

I came to Sado to see the world-famous Kodo Drummers perform at the 25^th annual Earth Celebration.  Kodo is a group that lives on the island, training drummers from other parts of Japan when they are not traveling around the world to give concerts.  Their performances combine traditional and contemporary drumming, virtuosity and showmanship.  They use traditional Japanese drums, deep-throated and resonant, ranging in size from 18” in diameter to 4-5 feet.  For the biggest drum, which sits vertically, there often will be a drummer (or two) on each side, drumming in unison or with different rhythms. 

Trying to beat the heat

The Earth Celebration was a classic summertime festival, complete with heat in the high 80’s to low 90’s and humidity near 100%.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot and sweaty for so long.   People wore hats, wiped themselves with their ever-present washcloths, and had towels draped around their necks.   Children stuck their heads under the water faucet to cool off and a few adults went over the fence to swim in the harbor.  There were food stalls around the public park with both Japanese and American food (Wisconsin-style bratwurst, “yummy hamburgers”), though I think the most popular was the little stall that sold various sherbets (the grapefruit was luscious).  And there were a number of people selling clothing: lightweight skirts and tops in a somewhat hippy style, hats, and a bit of jewelry.

Waiting in line

Seafood dinner on the concert lawn

I was quite impressed with the organization and crowd control for the sold-out Kodo performances, which were in a park on a hill behind a shrine.  Since there were no seats – everyone sat on the grass – people could pick up “distribution cards” during the day to get a seat close to the stage.  The cards were numbered and came in four different colors.  An hour before the concert, you lined up behind signs according to the color and number of your card in rows four people wide.  There was also a line (first come, first served) of “no cards”, people who had tickets but who didn’t get there early enough to get one of the limited-number distribution cards.  The groups were successively led up a steep hill into the venue, then directed where to sit.  A couple of times on the way the staff made sure you stayed in line according to your number and that people couldn’t cut ahead.  Because the concert started at 6:30, people brought dinner, sometimes in coolers, sometimes food they bought from the vendors near the harbor.  People had a great time, but being Japanese they were quieter than would be the case at an American festival.

The concert crowd

Japanese male at the concert

I went to see two Kodo performances.  The crowd was a mix of young and old, teens and children. The concerts were wonderful and completely engrossing.  The first was the more festive of the two, with lots of rhythm that practically begged people to dance (in the areas to the side of the crowd so everyone else could see).  There were guest artists, a riff on Bruce Springsteen, and a lot of virtuosity and humor.  The second was more of a “listening concert” and included marimbas that looked like they were made of bamboo.  One deep-voiced marimba had bamboo that was 6” or more in diameter.  Maybe because this was the second performance, I concentrated more on Kodo’s artistry:  how they could get both music and beat out of the drums, how each drummer had different parts that formed a cohesive whole, and how they managed to move smoothly from one piece to the next without stopping for two solid hours.  The only time Kodo seemed a bit too commercial was when they played a phrase or two from “Someone to Watch Over Me” and what sounded like “The Flight of the Bumble Bees”.  It was a great experience, and much fun.