Soh Daiko – 3/29/14

As part of the Carnegie Neighborhood Concert Series, I attended a World Music concert at a new venue for me—LPAC at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. The hall was very comfortable, seated 750 people, and was pretty much full even on a rainy Saturday afternoon. A bit of housekeeping, first. The concert started late, ushers seated patrons during the performances, and (even though the executive director took out his cell phone and instructed everyone to turn them off (not just to vibrate) and even though there were signs in the hall warning against photos and videos) I counted five cell phones and TABLETS being held up for taking photos. Plus a bright light behind me. Yes, it was an exciting performance. But we’re there for the performance, not for documenting the performance. That’s what ConcertMeister
is for.

Sorry, off my soapbox now.

Soh Daiko is a Japanese collective drumming ensemble. But oh so much more. As their minimal program notes included, there was also choreography, flute, bells, cymbals, etc. And there was energy. Energy in abundance!

The first piece (sorry, I had to take notes in the dark) had three large drums, supported on stands, played by five performers. Each of the large drums had a drumhead at each end, so two drummers could play each drum, as necessary. As explained later, it was an example of traditional drumming. The second piece was more modern, composed in 1985, involved a few more drums and drummers, and represented an example of what might be experienced listening to Asian street drummers.

One of the major set pieces involved the telling of a folk tale about a country bumpkin and a lion. This was brilliant. The country bumpkin appeared with what looked like a hobo’s stick. Eventually, the bumpkin used the stick as a fishing pole. In true folk tale tradition, after miming fishing, a two-foot stuffed clown fish was tossed onto the stage to the delight of the audience. Oh, did I mention that there were lots of kids in the audience, some of whom had attended an origami workshop earlier? Well, the fish was the equivalent of the bumpkin finding Nemo. After supper, the bumpkin settled down for a snooze. Enter the lion. (As an aside, we were told from the stage that in this particular folk tale, if the lion bites you, that brings good luck. Yeah, right!) When the lion spotted the fish, it attacked. After dining on fish, the lion broke the fourth wall and spotted the audience. In a tour-de-force performance, the lion made a circular tour of the audience, biting certain patrons (and scaring a few children) before returning to the stage, spotting the bumpkin and being thwarted by the human, eventually. Mind you, there was only drumming, bells, and cymbals accompanying this wordless storytelling. Did I mention tour de force?

Throughout, rearranging drums and instruments from piece to piece was achieved smoothly and seamlessly by the twelve or so performers. Dressed in their red, white, and black tunics with black leggings and white shoes, the performers were not interchangeable, yet “of one” onstage.

The final set piece was Soh Daiko’s version of Festival Drumming, and had (I think) the entire cast involved. This piece, as some of the others did, had the drummers moving from drum to drum. But this one also had drummers moving in circular patterns around each other from drum to from while each drummer had beaters in each hand—not an easy task, though they made it look so.

Was it noisy? Yes and no. The shading of dynamics created by drums, cymbals, bells, and conch shells ranged from sepulchral to very loud—yet never as loud as the overmiked singers and instrumentalists of the recent “Heathers” performance I attended.

I was hesitant about attending a World Music concert. Would it be weird? Would it bother my more classical-music-oriented sensibilities? I’m glad I went. Maybe it will make me explore even more. There’s a wealth of opportunities out there, in all five boroughs—or in your neighborhood, if you’re not in NYC. Explore and enjoy.

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