The Spirit Drums Of Kodo

We were in London yesterday.  I had to do some work and in the evening we had tickets to see Kodo, the Japanese drummers, at the Royal Festival Hall.

I had seen a snippet of Taiko drummers before on DVD and been impressed at the compelling nature of the sound they made, but nothing prepared me for the evening we had.  The show opened with two of the drummers walking through the auditorium, revving up the audience with small drum riffs that we then clapped.  The main show started with an intense piece that vibrated me through to my core and then it just kept getting better and better.

The audience was so swept up in the energy and joy of this event that we were mostly suffering from sore hands from clapping before the end of the event, but it did not get in the way of a standing ovation and enough thunderous applause to bring the drummers back for an encore.

As well as being an incredibly spiritual experience, the sheer joy that the drummers felt communicated itself to us, the audience.  In the last number, several of the drummers where laughing with the sheer delight that they must have felt flowing back from us.  If you have never seen Taiko drummers, I can't recommend a trip to see Kodo highly enough.  They don't tour very often and then only to one part of the world; it is Europe's turn at the moment for the One Earth Tour and I am so happy that I managed to see them. If you can get a ticket for the forthcoming dates, they are playing in Birmingham, Gateshead, Dublin, Manchester and a few other cities (last night was the first night of the tour), don't miss the chance!