Taiko Boom by Bender Shawn

Author:Bender, Shawn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2012-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

HIERARCHIES OF PERFORMANCE: KODO AND ITS “FOLK”

Although apprentices spent a great deal of time in the aforementioned activities, the bulk of program time is understandably reserved for training in Kodo’s performance repertoire. That said, apprentices do not practice the complete repertoire—only a subset of older pieces derived from the folk performing arts.16 This is not because these pieces are easier than newer ones. Rather, by practicing pieces derived from the folk performing arts, apprentices affirm the logic of localization upon which the apprentice program functions: the movements of farming and rural labor find expression in the folk performing arts; the folk performing arts provide an artistic foundation for much of Kodo’s repertoire. At the same time, the nature of these pieces as essentially part folk–part Kodo creates an opposition between Kodo’s cosmopolitanism and the parochialism of folk performance. Kodo’s desire to venerate the folk arts as authentic expressions of local culture implies that modifications of folk performances must necessarily remain inferior to the original. In contrast to the racial distinction outlined earlier between Japanese and foreigners, where the stereotypical Japanese body is believed to be the foundation of taiko performance, this discourse of localism distinguishes between local and nonlocal Japanese bodies based on the belief that authentic performance accrues from birth in a particular place.

Kodo strives to remain engaged with inheritors of the folk performing arts that originally provided artistic inspiration for many of its pieces. Apprentices and other members of the group often travel to the local areas where selected varieties of folk drumming are maintained by preservation societies and performed in festivals. During my time with Kodo, members of the group visited two locations, Miyake Island and Chichibu City, to observe performances of folk drumming. While contact with local folk performers proves edifying for most members, these interactions also seem to confirm the pervasiveness of a belief in the connection between local bodies and local places, a belief that ultimately alienates Kodo members from folk performance even as it attempts to bring them closer to it.

After Kodo members returned from observing festival drumming on Miyake Island, for example, Kodo held a meeting where returning members demonstrated differences in technique between Kodo’s version of this drumming (in a piece called “Miyake”) and the “original” version performed on the island.17 The presenters also played a video of local people performing the rhythmic pattern during the festival. As the group watched their original teacher, Mr. Kimura, on screen, a young presenter remarked in awe at how powerfully and smoothly he hit the drum and commented, to the general agreement of those watching, on how robust he looked for a middle-aged man. Mr. Kimura’s seemingly effortless display of drumming prowess not only affirmed a belief in the vigor of rural individuals but also illustrated how local people embody folk performance to a degree that Kodo can approximate but never quite equal. What’s more, the enthusiasm of other individuals featured in the video affirmed the challenge of communicating the energy of Japanese festivity in a stage performance divorced from a festival context.

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