Despite being separated by the vast Asian continent, the people of Greece and Japan share a great deal in common. For one, they both have a passion for epicurean indulgence, especially seafood and fresh produce.
There is also the rich history and mythology of both countries. High school students in Australia are just as likely to learn about Odysseus and the Trojan War as they are about samurai battles of the Japanese feudal era.
It is no understatement to say that both Greece and Japan have very distinctive cultures, and music plays a significant part of that. The sounds of Greek and Japanese instruments are highly evocative, and can easily take the listener away to a breezy Aegean village or to an ancient shrine in a bamboo forest.
However, one form of Japanese music steadily gaining popularity throughout the world is taiko drumming, a physically demanding form of ensemble percussion played on instruments ranging from the size of a snare drum to enormous ‘odaiko’ drums, spanning five feet across and sometimes larger.
Performances are not simply heard, but are also quite literally felt, with the vibration of the drums rattling audiences to the bone.
One of the world’s most renowned taiko groups is Kodo, whose performance in Athens in 1995 at the Herod Atticus Odeon became one of their most prominent recordings in the form of Kodo Live at the Acropolis.
Based on the Japanese island of Sado, their auditions and training regimens are physically gruelling affairs involving 10-kilometre runs every morning before breakfast, toiling in the rice and vegetable fields, and spartan communal living. Ondekoza, an earlier incarnation of Kodo, earned a reputation as notorious fitness fanatics when they ran the 1975 Boston Marathon and then played a concert at the finish line.
Community taiko groups are now springing up throughout the world, including Australia and Greece. Fortunately, for those wishing to join up and beat out some rhythms, the physical demands are nowhere near as rigorous as the professional groups. Wadaiko Rindo is Melbourne’s largest group, consisting of over 130 students taught by founder Toshi Sakamoto.
One of Wadaiko Rindo’s most active members is Mia-Alexandra Sky, who has been playing since 2004 and also handles the group’s PR and online presence. As a Greek Australian with a zeal for music and performing arts – and the daughter of actor, director, and former Neos Kosmos journalist Nikos Skiadopoulos, no less – she is certainly qualified to speculate as to why Wadaiko Rindo has played at a number of Greek festivals throughout Melbourne in recent years.
“I think the fact that we perform at Greek events is a testament to how truly engaged with Melbourne’s multicultural essence the Greek community is,” she says. “Music is also a very uniting art that crosses borders and cultures.”
Mia-Alexandra delves further into the appeal of taiko drumming to Greeks, noting the prevalence of percussion instruments in Greek music from ancient times, such as the rhoptron, crotalum and tambourine.
“Both ancient Greece and Japan used percussion during festivals to revere the gods in the pantheon. But in Japan there is a solemnity associated with gods hearing our prayers through percussion and noise, which is different to Greece, where we used pyres of sacrificial offerings to please them.”
When asked as to whether there are any other similarities in the broader performing arts of Greece and Japan, Mia-Alexandra is undeniably astute in her observations. “No other geographically disparate cultures so closely resemble each other theatrically. Both noh and kabuki have structural similarities to ancient Greek tragedy. Not only in the shapes of the stages and theatres, but also in the form of the plays.”
Despite these parallels, it was only recently that Greece’s first taiko group was formed. Nikos Souliotis, an experienced and multitalented percussionist, organised an Athens taiko drumming seminar in May 2013. He invited Liz Walters, a Londoner with two decades of experience at an international level, to teach the group. A second seminar the following year laid the foundations for what was to become Atena Daiko, consisting of Nikos and the other students in attendance.
Led by Nikos, the group has been conducting regular performances and workshops in Athens over the past year. “We have quite a few performances on our resume now, and we are especially enjoying the bond that is constantly growing between our members,” he says.
“I have studied and experienced many kinds of drums from different places across the world – eastern, Mediterranean, Brazilian, Indian, Latin American, African – but Japanese drums made me shiver with excitement from the first moment I saw them at Kodo’s gig at the Acropolis in 1995,” Nikos enthuses. “I still feel this shiver to this day!”
With a shared heritage and common musical interest, it is perhaps unsurprising that Mia-Alexandra and Nikos eventually made contact through a mutual friend on Facebook. In what proved to be a particularly serendipitous turn of events, a member of Wadaiko Rindo holidaying in Greece last September filled in at the last moment for an Atena Daiko member who was unable to perform a gig, thanks to the quick facilitations of Mia-Alexandra and Nikos.
Whilst the dream of a Wadaiko Rindo tour to Greece – or for that matter, an Atena Daiko tour to Australia – is a long way off, it’s clear that music is capable of transcending the barriers of culture and language, and can bring people together in a way that nothing else can.
The world may not yet be ready for a souvlaki filled with raw tuna and wasabi, but there is plenty in common for Greeks and Japanese to discover and celebrate in each other’s art, music, food and history.