World-Renowned Japanese Taiko Drumming Troupe Kodo Takes Stage at Lafayette

The Japanese taiko drumming troupe Kodo will perform on Wednesday, March 20 at Lafayette College’s Williams Center for the Arts, 317 Hamilton Street.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. performance are $35 and can be purchased by calling the box office at (610) 330-5009 weekdays between noon and 2 p.m., 4 to 5 p.m. and one hour before the show. Ticket availability is extremely limited. Stand-by tickets will be sold at 7 p.m. the evening of the performance.

A pre-concert talk about Kodo and Japanese music will be given at 7 p.m. in Williams Center room 108 by J. Larry Stockton, professor of music and department head.

Often referred to as “samurai percussionists,” Kodo transforms the concert experience into a thrill ride while striving to preserve traditional Japanese drumming and reinterpret it in new and exciting ways.

Formed on Japan’s Sado Island as a collective of musicians devoted to the athleticism of taiko drumming, Kodo exploded onto the world stage at the Berlin Festival in 1981. Influenced by Sado Island’s rich performing arts tradition, Kodo combines dance, song and stagecraft with drumming.

Here’s how The New York Times described Kodo, “It’s a balletic ritual, with the men stripped to the waist and poised to strike, then assaulting the big drums with battle cries as their sticks make circles over their heads.”

Kodo is an Albert Seip Concert.

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Higher resolution images available

Kathleen Parrish
Associate Director of Media Relations
Lafayette College
Communications Division
Easton, PA 18042
parrishk@lafayette.edu
www.lafayette.edu