Kodo’s drums in tune with heart of Maine

Kodo, the heartbeat drummers from Japan, exploded at the Maine Center for the Arts last night. Beating, tickling and wailing on a variety of percussion instruments, Kodo recreated the sounds of swarming bees, warring pistols, stampeding cattle and shaking thunderclaps. Combining ritualistic movements of symmetry and grace with the humorous excitement of improvisational performance, the group filled the evening with bombastic music that will echo in the hearts of Mainers for a good long while.

The show opened with more traditional pieces, such as the troupe singing a call-and-response fisherman’s song or two bamboo flutes joining in the birdsong melody of a harvesting tune.

During “Monochrome,” seven drummers sat before floor drums and began highly-controlled staccato tapping that evoked imagery of marching ants or trains rushing through the silence of the night. The crescendo intensified when three drummers lodged their feet around larger drums, grasped wooden clackers and, with every inch of their upper torsos, brought the drums to life.

The ethereal mood of the evening shifted with the introduction of the hand cymbal in “Ryogen-no-hi,” a fantasy piece with a funky, jazzy beat. The cymbalist played and danced while his hands seemed to juggle a magical, golden bird. Faces that had been reverently straight in the previous numbers gave way to youthful smiles as the percussionists shared rhythms in a looser, more contemporary style.

Cheers and whoops of appreciation met three drummers during a flamboyantly competitive number. So fast were the movements of sticks upon the three-foot drums which hung from straps around the drummers’ shoulders that hands and arms blurred into shields of constant movement. The drummers were filled with the spirit of their craft as they rocked with one another, kicked out their slippered feet and smiled broadly between themselves and at the audience. When the piece ended, the audience leapt into the air with appreciation for a potent and playful jam session.

While a flutist stood and played on a corner of the dark stage, the rest of the company prepared the drums for a final roaring number, which included the 900-pound, five-foot wide miyadaiko. Carved from a single tree trunk and played by two men wearing only white bands on their heads and wraps around their loins, the drum penetrated every atom in the concert hall. Throughout the evening, the drummers displayed breathtaking physical strength, the result of human bodies treated with optimal respect and care. But this piece showed how every muscle ripples as these drummers apply their entire bodies to their instruments. Waving sinewy arms in the air in ritualistic patterns, the miyadaiko drummers greeted their drums with torrential energy and stamina.

Kodo inspired, awed and disturbed. It took the beat we all live with, rearranged it, turned up the volume and marched it out of the heart and into the soul. These are ferocious musicians, crazed and contented by these drums, gongs, flutes and clackers that they transport around the world so that we all may share in the lovely elegance and fiery frenzy of their lifestyle. Think how much safer and peaceful the world would be if more people could express their joy and anger through drumming. Kodo brought this ancient dignity to drumming last night, proving their art form could lead a revolution or comfort a restless baby.