Fire, flourish and frenzy

The Bachi Atari concert, showcasing the Japanese wadaiko drum, drew thundering applause from the audience

November 21, 2014 09:15 pm | Updated 09:15 pm IST

MESMERISING BEATS: The Bachi Atari band

MESMERISING BEATS: The Bachi Atari band

There’s an unusually eclectic crowd gathered at the Music Academy. They’re here to watch Bachi Atari drum on the traditional wadaiko, honouring an age-old Japanese tradition, while bringing a new spark to an ancient art form. From young children, excited to meet their friends after a long day at school, to older paati s, decked out in their best Kancheepuram silks, no one knows what to expect. But having been promised a drum performance that will completely mesmerise them, the crowd is ready and eager, insisting on being seated well before the performance begins.

The first act is slow to start but picks up pace as the performers beat three different wadaiko drums with vigour. Tetsu Minegishi, the ultimate showman, leads the group as they open, pausing only to speak to the crowd via an interpreter. Full of life, he is intent on showing the crowd the essence of this beautiful art through his performance.

As the group progresses into the second segment they introduce two other percussion instruments, a cymbal-like device and another resembling the primitive cowbell. Complemented by Minegishi’s wadaiko drumming, the cymbals, played by Masashi Okawa, and the ‘cowbell’ used by Yuhei Motoyama complement each other, creating a rhythmic pattern so similar to the thaka dhimi tha of the mridangam playing that it is disarming. With korvais of their own rounding out each line expressed, the drum performance begins to sound like its own tani avartanam . Soon, the pace picks up and the energy begins to rise in the hall, with each drum beat accompanied by the audience clapping and whistling along. Surprisingly, the absence of a melody isn’t even missed!

The performance first showcases the group’s use of the damaru-looking tsuzumi drum, widely used in kabuki street theatre shows. It then moves on to what  Bachi Atari refers to as “its interpretation of fire”, with the first few drum beats representing the initial stoking of the fire, which culminates in a tall flame, licking at every corner of the stage. To conclude, Minegishi pulls out all the stops by playing the largest drum of them all: the odaiko. Accompanied by Okawa and Motoyama on the smaller wadaiko, it is the perfect finish, punctuated by thundering applause.

Although the drums render the audience awestruck from the beginning, the true star of the performance is clearly the group’s showmanship. Between theatrical flourishes to meaningful gestures that accompany many of the beat sequences, it is like watching a play: each member aware of his body at all times while trying to convey his message just through the beat of a drum. They maintain the tempo through chants reminiscent of Aamir Khan’s iconic chants in Lagaan ’s ‘Chale Chalo’, motivating group members to keep going.

In the end, the audience realise it’s impossible to forget the energy of the wadaiko and its powerful timbre. Because it stirs something inside your soul that you didn’t know existed until this very moment.

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