Its sounds penetrate the heart, stop the flow of thoughts and cause the blood to move in some kind of magical rhythm. It's a roll of thunder. It gives the shivers. It's a secret. Japanese drums in their homeland are elevated to the rank of cult. Without them, not a single official event is possible, their melodies delight the hearing during joy and help to experience sadness.
In Japan, musicians who have achieved mastery of the game are secretly revered as heroes. After all, they not only knock out a rhythm tapping on the strained skin, but also sing and dance. Their movements are hypnotized and, it seems, there is nothing else in the world, only the rhythm and the voice that calls into the unknown. To the status of the stars, Japanese drummers are not one year old, suffer hardships, observe a diet, a regime, relax a little and always spend time in rehearsals. Modern musicians learn the composition exclusively by ear. Notes are not written down fundamentally. The training of young musicians takes place in closed communities under harsh conditions. Therefore, such training centers are more like monasteries. At the same time, each of the artists undergoes additional physical training, as playing the game secretly requires great physical strength. Groups that reached popularity, give a hundred, and even two hundred concerts a year. This is hard work for professionals.
Photo taiko.org
According to the legend, the first drums, dated back to about fourteen centuries ago, were brought to the Japanese islands by neighbors. History does not say where they came from, however, it is assumed they were originated from Korea or China. Initially, percussion instruments were not listening for pleasure. They were beaten with all their might, when there was trouble, it was necessary to call the people to the meeting, notify the others about the beginning of seasonal work, scare off the enemy on the battlefield or even put fear into agricultural pests. In addition, the taiko had a ritual purpose. Under their sounds called the forces of nature to help a man and saw off the dead. Later they began to appear on the stage of the theaters of No and Kabuki. Already at the beginning of the last century, Japanese drums had grown into a separate art. Now almost every enterprise and department, educational institutions have their own ensemble, the craftsmen of which masterly pound on the instrument so popular in the country of the rising sun. In modern Japan there about five thousand professional groups that play taiko.
Photo flickr.com
According to the manufacturing method, everything can be divided into two groups. In some, the lamb skin on the sides tightly nailed to the wood with nails. In others, it is pulled with lacing. This is how it becomes possible to adjust the sound of the instrument. They disclose the secret of making such a skin, the master is not very willing. But the requirements for the tool body do not hide - it must be a single piece of wood.
Classical type of taiko is oblong drums. They are used for services in Shinto and Buddhist temples. The small drums Nagado-Taiko with high sounding prefer the artists of the theater No. Kakko-taiko got accustomed to the Imperial Palace. They were originally richly decorated, and they performed music in the style of the Gagaku. Among modern musicians, Hira-taiko is popular. These are the orgy drums, which are sometimes taped by two musicians.
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The giant among similar, weighing three and a half tons and a diameter of more than four meters is stored in the town of Tsudzreko. It was made it during the rivalry of the upper and lower city. Initially, the teams competed in the ritual of increasing yields in the fields tapping on drums. Over time, carried away and their game grew into a real military historical festival, to look at which every year attracts a lot of tourists. That's when the tsudzurek people got the biggest percussion instrument in the world. Between the holidays it is kept in the local museum.
Photo cetre.ru
The effect of sounds is tacit, Japanese music experts are compared to hypnosis. They also say that they are able to relieve stress, inspire confidence in a person and help him to open new opportunities in his mental and physical body. For the healing effect, they also recommend that you listen to it for at least half an hour a day.
Cover photo jasc-chicago.org
