Ondekoza
Encyclopedia
sometimes referred to as "Za Ondekoza", is a Japan
ese troupe specializing in taiko
drumming.
Founded in 1969 by Den Tagayasu, in Sado island
, Japan. Ondekoza was influential in the rise of the kumi-daiko (group taiko) style of taiko. Not a taiko player himself, Tagayasu helped transform taiko from a festival-based music form to a virtuosic performance art performed on stage. Ondekoza's performances in North America in 1975 was the first exposure for many and helped spread interest in taiko through North America.
The now widely recognized style of wearing only a 'shimekomi' ('fundoshi loincloth) was originally started by Ondekoza when Pierre Cardin suggested that the physique of the drummer be exposed. (The traditional Japanese drummers don't play only with underwear.)
Part of a larger movement to rediscover Japanese folk art
, Tagayasu brought together a group of young men and women to Sado Island to study and live. Largely without formal musical training, the original members lived communally in an old school house while studying taiko, shamisen
, koto
, minyo
(folk music), and traditional dance
. The lifestyle was austere and rigorous with most days beginning with a run before breakfast and filled with study and practice.
One of the keys to the groups success was the arrangement of traditional melodies and styles into stylized, artistic musical pieces. Examples of these are their songs yataibayashi, based on the Chichibu
festival and hachijo and miyake based on the drum patterns from Hachijo Island
and Miyake Island
. Also groundbreaking was the Odaiko (Large Drum) solo
, a musical piece focused largely on one performer with only minimal background drumming and percussion. Den Tagayasu and Ondekoza's arrangements of these pieces, and their associated playing styles, have been popularized by their widespread use by other taiko groups throughout Japan and the United States.
. The group toured America, Europe and Japan to critical acclaim.
In 1981, largely in response to the difference of opinion between Tagayasu and Ondekoza members, Tagayasu and members broke off. Tagayasu left Sado island and kept the name Ondekoza and most of the drums. All of Ondekoza members (except Tagayasu) formed the group Kodo in Sado island.
Tagayasu gathered new members and formed Ondekoza again in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. In 1986 the new members of Ondekoza performed at the 1986 World's Fair
in Vancouver
, British Columbia
, Canada
.
The group spent 3 years (1990–1993) running and performing around the United States, beginning and ending their journey with performances at Carnegie Hall
in New York
. At the end of the journey the members had run approximately 9,200 miles (roughly 14,900 kilometers).
Similarly, in 1998, the group began a marathon tour of China, performing in various cities throughout the country while running a distance of 12,500 km.
2005 marked the completion of their "Taiwan Marathon Tour", in which they ran the outer border of Taiwan, again while performing at various venues along the way.
Through 2006-2008, the group toured and performed mainly throughout Japan, Asia and Europe.
The group continues to tour internationally, including performances in Africa and the Middle East in 2010.
Ondekoza's founder, Den Tagayasu died in an automobile accident in April, 2001. Since then, the group has been headed by shakuhachi (bamboo end-blown flute) artist, Seizan Matsuda.
The project is typically carried out in a number of steps, from instrument building, to musical experimentation, and eventually to a collaborative performance involving Ondekoza and other musicians of varying world genres. The project aims to promote the development of expressive ability amongst children through the use of construction, creativity, music and dance.
Music & Rhythms was originally launched in Korea in 2005, and has since involved children and communities in various locations around the globe including Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Japan.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese troupe specializing in taiko
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
drumming.
Founded in 1969 by Den Tagayasu, in Sado island
Sado, Niigata
is a city located on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, in the Chūbu region of Japan. Since 2004, the city has comprised the entire island, although not all of its total area of 855.26 km2 is urbanized...
, Japan. Ondekoza was influential in the rise of the kumi-daiko (group taiko) style of taiko. Not a taiko player himself, Tagayasu helped transform taiko from a festival-based music form to a virtuosic performance art performed on stage. Ondekoza's performances in North America in 1975 was the first exposure for many and helped spread interest in taiko through North America.
The now widely recognized style of wearing only a 'shimekomi' ('fundoshi loincloth) was originally started by Ondekoza when Pierre Cardin suggested that the physique of the drummer be exposed. (The traditional Japanese drummers don't play only with underwear.)
Part of a larger movement to rediscover Japanese folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
, Tagayasu brought together a group of young men and women to Sado Island to study and live. Largely without formal musical training, the original members lived communally in an old school house while studying taiko, shamisen
Shamisen
The , also called is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" when used as a suffix . -Construction:The shamisen is a plucked stringed instrument...
, koto
Koto (musical instrument)
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
, minyo
Minyo
Minyo is Korean and Japanese for folk song.* Min'yō , a style of Japanese accompanied folk singing* Minyo , a style of Korean accompanied folk singing. See: Music of Korea...
(folk music), and traditional dance
Japanese traditional dance
There are two types of Japanese traditional dance: Odori, which originated in the Edo period, and Mai, which originated in the western part of Japan. Odori grew out of Kabuki drama and is more oriented toward male sentiments. Mai is traditionally performed in Japanese rooms instead of on the stage...
. The lifestyle was austere and rigorous with most days beginning with a run before breakfast and filled with study and practice.
One of the keys to the groups success was the arrangement of traditional melodies and styles into stylized, artistic musical pieces. Examples of these are their songs yataibayashi, based on the Chichibu
Chichibu
can refer to:*Chichibu, Saitama - a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan*Prince Chichibu - a member of the Japanese imperial family...
festival and hachijo and miyake based on the drum patterns from Hachijo Island
Hachijojima
is a volcanic Japanese island in the Philippine Sea, administered by Tōkyō and located approximately south of the Special Wards of Tōkyō. It is the southernmost and most isolated of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago...
and Miyake Island
Miyakejima
is an island in the Izu group, southeast of Honshū, Japan, administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government, with an area of 55.50 km². The island, 180 km south of Tokyo, is located at 34.5N and 139.34E. As of January 1, 2006, the population of the island is 2884...
. Also groundbreaking was the Odaiko (Large Drum) solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
, a musical piece focused largely on one performer with only minimal background drumming and percussion. Den Tagayasu and Ondekoza's arrangements of these pieces, and their associated playing styles, have been popularized by their widespread use by other taiko groups throughout Japan and the United States.
History
In 1975, Ondekoza made their American debut. In one noteworthy performance, the members performed a full set after completing the Boston MarathonBoston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
. The group toured America, Europe and Japan to critical acclaim.
In 1981, largely in response to the difference of opinion between Tagayasu and Ondekoza members, Tagayasu and members broke off. Tagayasu left Sado island and kept the name Ondekoza and most of the drums. All of Ondekoza members (except Tagayasu) formed the group Kodo in Sado island.
Tagayasu gathered new members and formed Ondekoza again in Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. In 1986 the new members of Ondekoza performed at the 1986 World's Fair
Expo 86
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo '86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from Friday, May 2 until Monday, October 13, 1986...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The group spent 3 years (1990–1993) running and performing around the United States, beginning and ending their journey with performances at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. At the end of the journey the members had run approximately 9,200 miles (roughly 14,900 kilometers).
Similarly, in 1998, the group began a marathon tour of China, performing in various cities throughout the country while running a distance of 12,500 km.
2005 marked the completion of their "Taiwan Marathon Tour", in which they ran the outer border of Taiwan, again while performing at various venues along the way.
Through 2006-2008, the group toured and performed mainly throughout Japan, Asia and Europe.
The group continues to tour internationally, including performances in Africa and the Middle East in 2010.
Ondekoza's founder, Den Tagayasu died in an automobile accident in April, 2001. Since then, the group has been headed by shakuhachi (bamboo end-blown flute) artist, Seizan Matsuda.
Music & Rhythms
"Music & Rhythms" is the title of a musical outreach project launched by Ondekoza in 2005. The project is aimed at children and their communities, and involves workshops in which participants build musical instruments out of bamboo and other items occurring in nature.The project is typically carried out in a number of steps, from instrument building, to musical experimentation, and eventually to a collaborative performance involving Ondekoza and other musicians of varying world genres. The project aims to promote the development of expressive ability amongst children through the use of construction, creativity, music and dance.
Music & Rhythms was originally launched in Korea in 2005, and has since involved children and communities in various locations around the globe including Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Japan.
Ondekoza Members
Members of Ondekoza reside together in a living facility in the city of Fuji, in Shizuoka, Japan. Based on Den Tagayasu's principle of "running and drumming as one", running is a central part of the lifestyle of Ondekoza members. As a means of physical and mental training, members run twice a day, once in the early morning, and again in the afternoon. Since the founding years of the group, Ondekoza members have competed in various marathons in Japan and the United States.Albums
| Year | Album Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Ondekoza I | Second Release |
| 1995 | Ondekoza II | Second Release |
| 1994 (1986) | Tatake Gendai-no-Ibuki/Ondekoza III | Second Release |
| 1990 | BEST ONE | Greatest Hits Compilation |
| 1993 | Ondekoza NEW | |
| 1993 | Ondekoza | Special Edition |
| 1994 | Ondekoza Legend | |
| 1994 | Shisso | "Sprint" |
| 1995 | Sentaifu TYPHOON | |
| 1995 | Ondekoza TWIN BEST | Greatest Hits Compilation |
| 1997 | Fugaku-Hyakkei | "Fuji Yama" |
| 1999 | Doto Banri | |
| 2001 | N-Kyo Densetsu-no Live | "N-Kyo Legendary Live" |
| 2004 | Kyoten-Dochi | |
| 2005 | COLEZO! Ondekoza Best | Greatest Hits Compilation |
| 2005 | COLEZO!TWIN Ondekoza | Greatest Hits Compilation |
DVD
| Year | DVD Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Fugaku Hyakkei | "Fuji Yama" |
| 2006 | Ondekoza Live '95 |
See also
- KodoKodo (taiko group)is a professional taiko drumming troupe. Based on Sado Island, Japan, they have had a role in popularizing taiko drumming, both in Japan and abroad...
- a professional taiko group based in Sado - GocooGOCOOGocoo, or GOCOO are seven female and four male Taiko drummers from Tokyo . Gocoo performed at major Blues & Roots, Rock & Pop and alternative Rock festivals, in live clubs, classic theatres and concert halls or at techno events. Lead drummer, Kaoly Asano , attracts much attention as a female Taiko...
- a seven female and 3 male Taiko drumming band from Tokyo