Nanafushi / Nobi / Akabanah / ZOKU-6/8version / A-SON-JA-O / The HUNTED / Toki no Koe / Ibuki / ZOKU-Wave / JANG-GWARA
CDFSRCL-3729
This album consists principally of Kodo original compositions with two re-arrangements. Producer Bill Laswell and recording engineer Bob Musso joined us from New York.
Until now Kodo has created their original music based on the Japanese taiko using fundamentally their own resourses. Broadening their field of activity has opened up whole new areas of possibilities. To this end I joined Kodo on this project with Bill Laswell with his impressive record of original productions in many genres including hip-hop, ambient and world music. Mr. Laswell took great care with the mix and choosing just the right sounds while respecting Kodo's compositions and their construction.
This album has more numbers with the human voice in the form of 'kakegoe' (shouts of encouragement) making it more natural and colourful than previous works. It is my hope that the listener, so as to really experience the power of the taiko, will sit back, relax and enjoy listening to 'Ibuki' at as loud a volume as possible.Keiichi Nakamura
Sony Records
Director
NANAFUSHI, Tetsuro Naito, 1994
This piece, which I wrote about two years ago, was only performed once. Since then it has been slumbering quietly in some dark corner of my head. There is such a thing as oversleeping however and recently the alarm clock went off. During hibernation 'Nanfushi' appears to have grown stronger so this more strapping version appears here. See what you think of the strange world of seven beat rhythm.
NOBI, (Fires on the Plain), Ryutaro Kaneko, 1992
In the early spring last year's dried grass is burned away bringing fresh energy to the earth. When watching these massive fires on the plain I can't stand by idly and watch. I feel shaken to my very cells by some half buried instinct. Something rises from the pit of my stomach to my breast. It feels just the same as when the sound of the taiko penetrates our bodies. This is the fascination of fire.
AKABANAR, Ryutaro Kaneko, 1992
Listening to the sound of the ocean's waves, in the daylight while resting under an old tree staring at the horizon, or by night gazing at the stars, what goes through your mind? I sense my incredible puniness and at the same time feel relief and joy. Even as somewhere, perhaps nearby, something unpleasant happens, the tides continue to ebb and flow, the stars still shine. If humankind is indeed a part of nature, then there must be hope for me to share this same bounty of the heart.
ZOKU, 6/8 time version, Leonard Eto, 1989. Arranged by Tetsuro Naito 1996
It is no small challenge to put something of yourself into the already completed work of another. How do you express yourself while retaining the best of the original composition? In cooking you can taste something delicious and still wonder what spice could be added to make it better. Will the spice of 6/8 time improve the flavour of 'Zoku'?
A-SON-JA-O, Words and Music by Yasukazu Kano, 1994
'A-son-ja-o' means 'Let's really cut loose once in a while'. Nothing more profound than that.
THE HUNTED, Motofumi Yamaguchi, 1994
This piece was one of a number I composed for J.F. Lawton's feature film 'the Hunted' (1995). The movie is about a clash between the descendants of traditional Japanese samurai and ninja so while working on it I kept the words 'darkness', 'conflict' and 'suffering' in my mind. It was my intention to create a score that stands alone for listeners, even without the benefit of their having seen the film.
TOKI NO KOE, Eiichi Saito, 1996
'I want to beat the taiko with all my might, no holds barred'! People with this kind of enthusiasm gather for Kodo Juku. This cut is an arrangement of the piece we play during these workshops. 'Toki no Koe': 'Let's pull together for another day of all-out drumming'!
IBUKI, by Motofumi Yamaguchi, 1996
Standing alone in a field under the blue sky I resign myself to the wind that blows from who knows where. I feel both the fear and joy of life, also the need to celebrate it and all that lives.
'Ibuki' is not only the breathing of animals but also the wind. I cannot help but feel that it is the breath of this being we call earth.
I composed this piece by way of small homage to any and all things which grant me this gift of life.
ZOKU-WAVE-, Leonard Eto, 1989, Arranged by Ryutaro Kaneko, 1996
Undulating waves. You speed through the water when plunging from the crest of a wave into its trough but move ever so gradually when rising from its depths to the peak. Rather than playing the 'rat-a-tat-tat' just as written in the score, we follow the laws of nature and the natural undulations of the drummer's body. My aim was not to make merely a new arrangement of the form of this piece, but rather to address the basic quality of its form so as to emphasize its power.
JANG GWARA, Ryutaro Kaneko, 1992
It seems strange indeed to answer to a sound or a 'ma' (space) that holds no meaning. What then do beasts feel who have no language or even those who reportedly do?
Enough navel gazing. 'Luck comes to a happy home'. Laugh if it amuses you, and if not... my apologies.
Translated by Johnny Wales
