With the collaboration of the Fundación Japón, the wadaiko YAMATO group will offer five concerts in as many cities during its visit to the Community of Madrid invited by the Festival de otoño in its 42nd edition.
After his successful passage through the Veranos de la Villa 2023 Yamato brings his show Tenmei, in which they make use of up to forty different drums. You can enjoy their performances between 15 and 30 November in Torrejón de Ardoz (15 November at 20 hours in the Municipal Theatre José María Rodero), Alcorcón (16 November at 20 hours in the Municipal Theatre Buero Vallejo), Madrid (17 November at 18.30 in the Green Room of the Theatres of the Canal), Móstoles (29 November at 20 hours in the Theatre of the Forest) and San Sebastián de los Reyes (30 November at 20 hours in the Teatro Auditorio Adolfo Marsillach – Small Theatre).
Tenmei’s function begins with the beating of a wadaiko drum, which weighs half a ton and measures two metres in diameter, made from a single piece of wood from a 400-year-old tree.
The rhythmic sound of the drum, like the heartbeat, is “the very pulse of life and the epitome of the Japanese spirit,” according to Masa Ogawa, founder and artistic director of the Yamato company. So we are in Japan. In a Japan sound and visual, linked to the tradition of percussion, which is the dedication for more than three decades of this company created in the Japanese prefecture of Nara, although its current headquarters is located in the village of Asuka, considered the birthplace of Japanese culture.
Some data helps to understand the impact of Yamato’s artistic work: he has performed in 54 countries and has performed 4,000 performances for nearly eight million people. He travels with about 40 taiko drums, built from animal skins and ancient tree trunks and whose weight varies between 10 and 500 kilos, which his interpreters handle with some agility, thanks to the daily strength training they carry out. Concentrated in Asuka, they create their own musical and theatrical compositions, and even make their own bachi sticks, which they use to play traditional Japanese instruments. Although his commitment to preserving and respecting the taiko tradition is total, Yamato has broken with one aspect of this tradition by including women in the company, something that was forbidden.
