TaikOz and Kodo in Concert

TaikOz and Kodo in concert: 16 taiko players generate high octane thunderous might!

TaikOz, Australia’s premier taiko ensemble, joins Kodo, one of Japan’s most internationally renowned performing arts groups for a once in a lifetime national Australian concert tour, performing Wednesday 19 September, and Thursday 20 September at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide for the OzAsia Festival.

In this thrilling collaboration Kodo and TaikOz forge cultural ties, perform together again and acknowledge a pivotal historical point: Grand Master shakuhachi player Riley Lee was an original member in the 1970s, of Sado no Kuni Ondekoza, the precursor to Kodo.

Full of contrasts and surprises, the concert program features Kodo and TaikOz presenting their own repertoire and culminates with both groups coming together in a huge, celebratory grand finale, which consists of two pieces played back to back.

“Taiko is revered as something beyond music…. The sound of the great taiko drum is said to resemble a mother’s heartbeat as felt in the womb so with 16 drummers onstage at once, this will be a highly charged visceral experience, far more than one pair of ears can entertain at any one point... you need the whole body to listen.” says Ian Cleworth, Artistic Director, TaikOz.

With 16 taiko players on stage at one time, this will be a vivid and complex performance of riveting drumming and beautiful song: not to be missed!