La Place des Arts presents Kodo at salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on Saturday, March 7, 2015
KODO, the world’s most famous Japanese drumming group, presents Mystery at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The new show features 15 outstanding percussionist-dancer-actors who convey all the richness and power of the traditional giant drum called the taiko in this amazing one-night-only show. Mystery is the second production by KODO designed by legendary kabuki theatre actor Tamasaburô Bandô, declared a “living national treasure” by the Japanese government in 2012.
The absolutely spectacular Mystery will bring an air of mystique and wonder common to all sacred places onto the stage at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, featuring a dazzling array of athletic percussion, theatre, music and visual effects. Mystery transcends the real world to enter one where sacred beasts appear... and this mysterious and exciting experience will transport the audience to a place where enormous snakes, demons and lions move frenetically to the beat of reverberations from the depths of the Earth, emerging from the dark – powerful, imposing, enchanting!
Founded in 1981, KODO has given more than 3,600 performances on every continent. KODO is internationally renowned as the elite of Japanese drumming. In every performance, the famous troupe perpetuates and reinvents Japanese musical tradition, exploring all the expressive possibilities provided by the taiko, a skin drum stretched on wood and used on traditional holidays. KODO’s past visits to Place des Arts — in 2007 and 2011 — were huge successes, with packed or sold-out theatres!
THE SHOW MYSTERY BY KODO WILL BE PRESENTED FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY AT SALLE WILFRID-PELLETIER OF PLACE DES ARTS, ON SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2015, AT 8 P.M. TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. INFORMATION: PLACEDESARTS.COM
Yet with tense, angular postures, with stylized, frozen gestures and, in one playful piece, with animal-like scampering and slithering, Kodo reminds its audience that, above all, its music is a matter of flesh and blood, wood and stretched skin. Kodo can raise the roof, but the group can also show extraordinary finesse. THE NEW YORK TIMES/USA
Indeed, if there is such a thing as perfection in music, Kodo comes as near to it as any group in the world. BOSTON GLOBE/USA
Superlatives don't really exist to convey the primal power and bravura beauty of Kodo. CHICAGO TRIBUNE/USA
Musicians, theatre directors and all interested in the sheer power of sound to feed emotions should take note. THE GUARDIAN/UK
Dynamic, electrifying vision […] Nothing will prepare you for the 1,000-pound drum assault, the precise timing or the wall of sound. An essential experience. TIME OUT/UK
The Kodo Thrill - The streets of Athens vibrated to the beat of the Kodo drums last night... ATHENS NEWS/GREECE
SOURCE: PLACE DES ARTS
MEDIA RELATIONS: RUGICOMM, VALÉRIE GRIG, 514 759-0494/VALERIE@RUGICOMM.CA