Kodo Village Concert

In 1988, Earth Celebration opened its curtains with Kodo Village Memorial Concert. Almost 30 years have passed since then. This year, we go back to our roots by inviting special guests from Vietnam and invite you to experience the sounds and the feeling born out of their interactions with Kodo in an intimate setting. We first met percussionist Min Chi, who leads the traditional music arts ensemble Bac Ha when we went to Hanoi in February. Please join us for this one-night only festival, under the guidance of first-time director Kenta Nakagome.

Bac Ha, Traditional Music and Performing Arts Ensemble (Vietnam)

Bac Ha is an eight-person ensemble led by Minh Chi, a percussionist who was born into a family with a long lineage in traditional music. The ensemble name “Bac Ha” is taken from Vietnam’s northwestern region, which, since the 16^th Century, was so called by artists and scholars deeply influenced by the ideologies of Confucius. The ensemble’s music reflects everything from the colonization by the French, the Vietnam War, huge social change, respect for traditional Vietnamese culture and values, and the group members’ deep commitment to traditional music arts, and its preservation and evolution. The group will also be participating in a lecture & demonstration and a special Fringe performance.

Exploring the limitless possibilities of the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko, Kodo are forging new directions for a vibrant living art-form. The taiko is something you experience viscerally as the sound of the drum travels from the player and reverberates in the body of the listener. Since the group’s debut at the Berlin Festival in 1981, Kodo’s ongoing “One Earth Tour” has brought the experience of the taiko to 47 countries around the world for over 5,500 total performances. Spending about a third of the year overseas, a third touring in Japan and a third resting and preparing new material on Sado Island, Kodo strives to both preserve and reinterpret traditional Japanese performing arts as they develop new styles that transcend all genres and borders. Since 1988, Kodo has had the pleasure of inviting artists they have met in their travels back to their home of Sado Island to engage in unprecedented musical collaborations at their annual music festival “Earth Celebration.”

Rules regarding photography, video and audio recordings Photography, recording and broadcasting（including video or audio recording via Ustream or other live broadcasting）during performances is strictly prohibited. Anyone found to be using recording equipment of any kind, including cameras, mobile phones, smartphones, audio recorders and computers, will be asked to hand over their equipment until the end of the concert and to delete any recordings. Please note that audience members who refuse to follow these rules or ignore staff instructions may be asked to leave the venue.