EC - The Concerts

The Shiroyama Concerts are the highlight of Earth Celebration and are almost an all day event in themselves.
The setting is absolutely stunning. A big stage set in a park surrounded by trees full of chirping cicadas. It's all open seating so the plan is to get the best (ie front row) spot!
Here's how....

First you have to line up very very early in the morning (ie 4am) by the shrine. Then when it opens they will hand out colour coded tickets. Red is the best and we got red everyday!!

RED!

Then an hour or more before the concert your red ticket and line up according to your number behind the appropriately coloured and numbered signpost. It is best to use this time to apply insect repellant too.

Then finally the gates are opened and you are let through in groups - red 1 - 40 first etc. Up the very steep road to the park. The road is lined with beautiful paper lanterns which are lit up at afterwards. Each one is painted with a different picture.

Then you line up in order again. And are let into the park line by line....
Then you rush to get the best spot you can!
You put out your tarp, place your shoes neatly by the side, and stake your position. And eat your bentou :)

dinner!

the audience is ready....

the stage is set...

The atmosphere is intense....this is so incredible I can't even believe it myself.

Then KODO arrive!!! They are sooooooooo mindblowingly, incredibly, fantastically, supremely, wonderfully amazing to watch. So vibrant and full of life, you can feel the joy in their playing and the rhythms and movement are mesmerising. This is taiko. It is beautiful.

This year they performed with Blof - a dutch rock band. I have to confess I wasn't really sure how that would go....but it was awesome! It was so funny sitting with all the japanese people and none of us knowing what they were singing about (since its all dutch), but you can still feel the emotion in the song and want to dance along. In fact a couple of times I did go over to the designated dancing area and have a boogie :)

The best part was when the drummer from Blof got given a happi and hachimaki by the Kodo guys and he joined in on the taiko for Zoku. So cool!

the gang

But the best best best part was Kodo.

I have to come back here.

EC - The Workshops

There is a range of different workshops available at Earth Celebration - all run by megaprofessional amazing people. You can do drumming, dance, singing, flute....and when you read about them you just want to do everything! Because of this, it's all chosen by a lottery - so you put your name in the hat and see what comes out....
I was able to do three workshops - dance, drum and flute. They were all really really good.
The first was the Ogi Okesa - a traditional dance that they do at a special festival on Sado Island. We all learnt the moves very slowly then repeated the dance many times to try and get it right. By the end I mostly had it, but when you see the proper ladies dancing you realise that we had just been taught the very simple version! :)
They had people doing the live music with singing, drums and instrumental (shamisen and flute) which was awesome too.

with the ogi okesa dancers

I was so inspired afterwards I had to buy a hat for myself.

And one night after the concerts there was a special Ogi Okesa in the streets where they had the musicians set up and everyone dancing in a big circle around them. It was really fun, but goes for so long!

On the morning of the last day I did a flute workshop with Kano Yasukazu - he is a well renowned Japanese flute player and was really incredible. He showed how it can sound like a recorder or a western flute, and then how it is supposed to sound - it gives you shivers and you can't help but imagine flying over bamboo groves shrouded in the mists of time....so ethereal.
I must confess that my playing is not so ethereal....yet. But I learnt a lot from the class and will Ganbarimasu!

On the last day I was soooo tired - taiko heaven is a very full on place with so many things happening. I wasn't sure how well I could really last for the hardest workshop of all. Miyake daiko. For those who haven't seen it - this is an extremely physical traditional song, and the drum is horizontal and low (traditionally it is actually sitting right on the ground) so you have to be in a low lunge to play it. It can be painful! But I was also really excited because - this was my first trip to the Kodo taiko room!

hello Kodo!

and I was going to be taught by the actual Miyake family! They are the traditional players of the song, and live on Miyake Island (although presently they are in Tokyo because Miyake Island is a volcano and everyone has been evacuated at the moment). They are hot!

Mathias, Grete and Me with the Miyake guys

We went hard, everyone got blisters, but it was so much fun. We learnt the main rhythm and the backing and how to change positions - and the traditional arm movements. Then we took turns going around the drums playing each part. It's hard to keep everything in your head and get it all right, but it was so much fun!

Sado Island

Sado is beautiful and we had gorgeous sunny weather the whole time we were here. I didn't really do much sightseeing because I was just TAIKO all the time! but we did head over to Sobama beach one morning and had a swim. The water was so warm, it was gorgeous!

Sobama beach

There's also the kisaki shrine - this is the gateway to shiroyama park - where it all happens! The shrine had different signposts for us to line up behind for the concert - more about how all that works later....

Kisaki Shrine

And there's the Sado "tub boats" in the port with the ladies in their hats rowing them.

Since its earth celebration everywhere is bustling with people from all over the world. It's so multicultural it doesn't even feel like you're in Japan! My dutch friend Wendel speaks to my Japanese coach in their common language - Spanish! It's awesome.

Earth Celebration!

I am at Earth Celebration!
This is beyond my wildest taiko dreams, and I can't even begin to explain how awesome it is. There is a market place selling all the things most market places sell, and lots of yummy food. There are people everywhere from all over the world, all taiko enthusiasts gathered in one place. There are workshops happening during the day and fringe performances of different drum / music groups going on. There are tours of Sado, boat rides and sightseeing. And there is Kodo. Live. In concert.
This is taiko heaven.

EC - here we come!

The long haul to Sado Island Earth Celebration begins at 5am...with a ride into town to catch the bus to Nagano. At Nagano we grab a snack at a little cafe, then onto the train to Naoetsu.
Boarding trains and stuff is kind of stressful - is this the right platform? does this train stop at my station? how much is the ticket? ...etc. But once you're on then its pretty nice. You can just watch the scenery and have a nap :)
We get to Naoetsu and luckily find there is a bus to the port....
I met my coach (Kitamura-sensei) and the other students I will be staying with there. It is so funny, both of us were worried we wouldn't be able to recognise each other after so long...but of course it was fine!

The ferry to Ogi is incredible. It is more like a cruise liner! There are 1st class compartments which are like a hotel suite!, 2nd class gives you a lazyboy chair to sleep in, 3rd class gives you a futon on the floor, and cattle class - you just find a space on the carpet to sit / lie down.

on my way...

It takes a couple of hours to get across to the Ogi port on Sado, and from there we headed into the main village where our ryokan was.

I have to admit that the ryokan is much older and not as flash as misaka in Nagano. But it is sooo close to the action! We are literally less than 5 minutes walk from the shiroyama park. We could hear Kodo practicing their songs for the concert!
Being a port town, seafood is a specialty of the place, so for dinner we went to a little restaurant that does seafood - they all ate sashimi (ie raw) but I had cooked, because unfortunately raw meat doesn't really gel with me.
A good night sleep on the futon and tomorrow it all begins....

Last day of Bootcamp!

This is the last day of bootcamp.
Today we are performing the song we have been learning as part of the Tokara performance in the afternoon. We have only just learnt the ending and are all very nervous!
We learnt all 7 levels of the taiko stairmaster. I love it. I am going to practice it at home and hopefully next time I see Art Lee I can play it well enough to graduate ;) I will be the master of the taiko stairs.
Learning up to level 7 has cost me. I have to send over cookies. It's worth it.

The concert:

We performed in the second song. I was soooo nervous. I don't want to be the one that makes a mistake or hits the extra beat! The mind is doing crazy things. It pretends it has forgotten how the song begins, or starts singing other similar songs instead. It is not behaving.

It is time. I turn off my mind and let my body go instead. My body can only do what it knows, it doesn't think. I just let myself get lost in the power of the song.
It was perfect!
I am so glad it went well.....and so glad it is over :)

Afterwards we head down for the last summer festival in the village. Tonight Art Lee is performing with the taiko group at the festival, they are awesome! Then we head up the hill for dinner together at the ryokan. It was such a fun week, and I have at least 6 blisters to prove it ;)

matsuri performance

Apple trees....

On our fourth day of bootcamp we went to stay at a beautiful farm stay house way out in the country of apple orchards. They are really famous for their apples here - apparently apples are more delicious when grown at higher altitudes.....and judging from the homemade apple juice I had, they are right!

We had a feast of all kinds of delicious foods for dinner (many thanks to Yukari and her parents!) and enjoyed some time relaxing with each other. It was beautiful surrounds, so green and lush (this is what I miss when I'm in the cities).

dinner!

In the evening there was a bit of drumming :) although even in Japan you can't drum ALL day long! Afterwards we went outside and could even see stars! and Dean did some 'light painting' with his fire staff and slow exposure camera....(sorry photos are coming later...)

A very good sleep (except for the very loud furin "windchime" outside) and in the morning I went for a wander along a couple of the country lanes. We got to see the apples in the making - they put bags around the good ones to protect them from blemishes / birds and insects. Some are left for the animals as a 'peace offering' :)

green :)

apple bag trees

An absolutely delicious breakfast, although it was decided that as part of bootcamp we must all try natto. In a restaurant I was at recently natto was described as 'slimy fermented soybeans' and that is pretty accurate. Its very ...slimy. and bitter. Some enjoyed it, others...not so much.

mmmmm......slimy....

After the fun....back to drumming!