By Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Members of the Bonten group do a piece called 'Jungle' on barrel drums. The drums are made from Blue Mountain Coffee barrels and Japanese cow hide.
- WINSTON SILL/Freelance Photographer
THE SUN had already set when the taiko drums from the land of the rising sun rang out at Emancipation Park, New Kingston, on Monday evening. The words vibrant, energetic and thrilling, repeated twice, could adequately describe the performance.
The sound of the taiko drums, once used to chase away evil spirits, was being used to strengthen the spirit of friendship. Presented by the Embassy of Japan and The Jamaica Japan Society, in association with The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and The Ministry of Industry and Tourism, the Grand Taiko Drum Concert was presented to commemorate 40 years of friendship between Jamaica and Japan.
MAIN PERFORMERS
It was hosted by Michael Anthony Cuffe and Tonoko Yamaguchi, administrative officer of the Japanese Embassy. The night's main performers were Master Masataka Kobayashi and the Bonten group. A little Jamaican flavour was also mixed in with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. The two performed beside the Taiko drummers and featured Jamaican acts Forgiven, Blue Fox and Sasha. The night also featured two young boys who were allowed 'to give a little try' at the huge drums, when they explained how intrigued they were by them. Unknown to them, the group on-stage also got some help from a flautist in the audience who kept his own rhythm while they played.
Along with Master Kobayashi, the group featured five drummers, four of whom were female, a flautist, Rie Nakabayashi on the Shinobue, and keyboard player Masahiro Onizuka. The drummers, Momo Kobayashi, Takamasa Yamada, Hiroko Tanaka, Chieko Yamamoto and Eiko Kyusai interchanged the drums they played, and often used choreographed moves to accompany the playing. This was particularly evident in their penultimate piece Jungle. During this piece, the four female drummers strapped the barrel drums to themselves and moved with easy co-ordination across the stage, also pausing for flourishing drum solos. Master Kobayashi pointed out that two of the drums used represented a large part of the Jamaica/Japan union. Two of the barrel drums were made from Jamaican coffee barrels and Japanese cow hide. The performance featured a mix of traditional and modern influences that often blended so fluidly that as the beats bounced against each other it was hard to tell where the east ended and the west began. Most of the pieces were high energy pulsating rhythms tempered by the yells of the drummers, who demonstrated both skill and athleticism as they pounded the huge drums.
TRIBUTE
In tribute to the occasion, the piece Toriton was composed. Master Kobayashi explained that when he was composing the piece, he knew very little about Jamaica, other than that like Japan it is an island. As such he focused on the similarity of the sea for inspiration for the piece. When Master Kobayashi addressed the audience, Yamaguchi interpreted for him. However, when the group played, no interpretations were necessary. The music was exhilaratingly eloquent and the enthusiastic response of the audience declared that they understood the language of the drums whether they came from the land of the rising sun, or the land of wood and water. The night was a wonderful treatise to a growing friendship, built on commerce but nurtured through culture.
