"A collection of live recordings from 1998-1999"

Riley Kōho Lee
Taikoz - Taikoz1
2001

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Yataibayashi		10'44	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	Festival drumming from the town of Chichibu, in Saitama Prefecture, Yataibayashi represents a kind of rite of passage for taiko drummers. Extraordinarily difficult to play, this piece demands the utmost in physical and mental strength. Traditionally performed continuously for hours over one night in every year (December 3), the three chudaiko players beat their set patterns in various combinations of solos, duos and trios. Perched atop the giant, decorated yatai floats, they hold their drums between their legs, leaning back for maximum force, pounding their rhythms in joyful celebration. Making up the hayashi ensemble are the bamboo takebue flute, bell-like atarigane and the high-pitched shimedaiko. Their intricate double-time improvisations give respite to the three solo players as the float is raised and balanced on wooden poles allowing the unwieldy chassis to be maneuvered around the tight corners. Encouraged by the drummers and their thunderous sound, the men slowly make their way through the narrow streets of Chichi bu. An extreme test of endurance and power, Yataibayashi draws both player and listener alike into a frenzied vortex of rhythm and feeling. This piece was taught to us by Riley who performed it many times (with Eitetsu Hayashi) as a member of Ondekoza. For TaikOz "the Yatai" is the musical and technical base upon which everything else is built.
2	Chi		07'41	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	This piece transmits a joyful energy through the purity of one rhythm and one melody. It represents the power of taiko and, through unity and simplicity, delivers a feeling of intense complexity and full intention. Taking a lilting triple-metre rhythm, this piece is reminiscent of some of the music of the south of Japan. As reflected in the title, the music fuses the energy of the body with rhythmic and melodic energy. To this end the middle section features two drummers pounding variations on both sides of the chudaiko in a style unique to the southern island of Miyake. With their dance-like movements, flamboyant in the extreme, the players seem to trace silent rhythms in the air with each alternate stroke. Clever use of polyrhythm - a device not usually encountered in Japanese music - reflects Ben's interest in African music.
3	Asobibachi		15'49	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	Upon an invitation for Riley, Matthew and I to visit Japan in June 1998 to present a series of concerts in Nagano Prefecture, we each set about the task of writing and arranging for our most unusual combination of instruments. Through a process of improvisation it soon became apparent that each of us offered a distinctive voice and character that, if maintained, could work as a unified ensemble. Taking a typical sixteen beat taiko rhythm and phrasing in the rather odd combination of 7s, 5s and 4s, I was able to extend the material over a large percussion set-up of tuned gongs, cymbals, slit drum and shimedaiko. Hearing the didgeridoo as an earthy fundamental tone, almost subterranean in its intensity, I could then place the delicately traced lines of the shakuhachi above this foundation of rhythm and colour. Each performance, however, developed differently from the other as we extended the ideas through improvisation. Taking from that experience, I have composed a new piece incorporating a second percussion part and subtle use of low taiko and gongs. In the spirit of Wadaiko, the title means "stick play”.
4	Kenjo		13'17	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	In this piece I have taken several taiko instrumental forms and styles and fused them in a way that is true to the spirit of each tradition, but which extends them rhythmically and contrapuntally. The opening, for instance, introduces thematic material played by the middle voice chudaiko accompanied by the higher double-time rhythms of the shimedaiko. The joyful tones of the bamboo flute join the drums and reflect the celebratory nature of the taiko, harking back to their festival origins. After a solo from the chappa cymbals, the shakuhachi and percussion improvise together to create a kind of "night music': This section pays homage to the Kabuki theatre hayashi ensemble - the musicians playing behind the bamboo curtain at the side of the stage who use their wide array of sounds to evoke certain moods, places and times of the day specific to the on-stage drama. A quick change of one trio of drummers for another fresher one heralds the entrance of the giant O-Daiko. Weighing in at 250 kilograms, this drum is the most physically demanding to play. Though the volume of its sound is immense, the O-Daiko is said to be able to lull a baby to sleep, for the rhythms represent the heartbeat in the womb. Certainly over time, the concentrated power and inventiveness of the player transcends its physical presence and becomes a meditative experience for performer and listener alike. Calling all the players into its voluminous embrace, the O-Daiko leads the ensemble in a complex web of rhythms and counter-rhythms culminating in a climax of almost frightening intensity.
5	Adrift on the Sea of Tranquility		04'26	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	This piece was composed and first performed by Riley Lee in 1996 as a 'sister piece' to "Raft Song at Sunrise" by Ross Edwards. Both pieces were used as part of an installation by Ross Mellick in the New South Wales Art Gallery, called Raft #3, a sculpture made mostly of bamboo and fiber.
6	Dyu-Ha		11'59	Shakuhachi: Riley Kōho Lee
	Shimedaiko & taiko set solos: Ben Walsh "Dyu-Ha" is a term employed in Gagaku (the ancient court music of 8th Century Imperial Japan) meaning, “to enter a new sphere': Although in this context it refers to a mode of variation, Ishii has taken it to describe the development and exploration of a new sound world for taiko. The piece opens with the sound of hiyoshigi, the wooden clappers used in the Kabuki theatre to herald the beginning of a performance. Hiyoshigi tell the audience that something is about to happen and are inviting us into a special place - a different world where stories are told, emotions shared, and characters explored. However, the maniacal chattering of Ishii's massed hiyoshigi creates confusion and from this discordance he pits a soloist - one who represents the voice of coherence and reason against three duos of warring drummers. A tightly structured work, Dyu-Ha explores themes of light and darkness, chaos and order, evil and goodness. Drawing on his deep knowledge of traditional Japanese music, Ishii uses the folk drumming style of Sado Island to give shape to his ideas. This ancient form has the players wearing the mask of "oni", a demon, playing out a ritualistic drum dance of aggression and submission. In our piece we hear and see the protagonist solo taiko player triumph over the crazed cacophony of these "demon drummers”.