This year brings a very busy summer for Gocoo, who's been performing in various locations in Japan on a rather tight schedule. Perhaps this is no coincidence since Gocoo was selected as one of the 100 most respected Japanese people in the world by Newsweek Japan, in their July 8, 2009 issue.

Below are some photos taken during their performances at the Tsuruoka Hachimangu Shrine during the Bonbori Festival and at the Yuigahama beach in Kamakura. (Click on the thumbnails for larger pictures.)

Gocoo's European Tour this year started with a performance at the Millenaris Teatrum in Budapest, Hungary. Rika and I planned to visit Budapest during this time so we could be at the performance. There was something about sharing the Taiko in a foreign country that felt very special, as if we were there as cultural ambassadors, and yet, as Gocoo struck their drums, their shamanistic rhythms united everyone in that hall in a universal beat.


Gocoo members preparing their drumsticks for the performance while Rika looks on
Gocoo testing the acoustics of the hall
Kaoly with young fan

Gocoo was invited to perform at the offering to the gods at the Tsuruoka Hachimangu this year. It was a magical night. A clear moon in the sky on a serene and calm night embraced us all as our hearts moved with the rhythm of the drums. Something divine was transmitted from the heavens and Gocoo was the medium.


From left: Tarow, Nori, Yumi, Haruna, Kaoly, Chiyo

More Gocoo members with their manager and friends

Gocoo testing the stage and sound system before the performance

It's been more than two months since I started learning to play the taiko with the Tawoo group with Kaoly Asano as our teacher. I experienced the therapeutic effect of playing the taiko the first time I came to one of their practice sessions, but it took me more than three months to write about my subsequent experiences with them. I had wondered what held me back, besides the usual busy-ness of a modern lifestyle, and it became clear that this experience has affected me so deeply in my core that I have been in the process of integrating it into my life on very many levels.

Some of the therapeutic benefits of taiko are quite obvious and perhaps ubiquitous to other forms of drumming as well, like the rhythmic energy that is stirred in the body and the coordination of body and mind. Because taiko is played together by a large number of people, the vibration and rhythm created by some forty people practicing together is so powerful and so direct that every cell in the body seems to be awaken, alive, and in sync with each beat.

But above all, I am most deeply moved by and filled with gratitude for the way that Kaoly teaches, for she teaches not only the skill and art of taiko drumming, but the art of living. True to all traditional Japanese art forms, especially those that end with "dou" (道), is the universality of its truths and its applicability to life. The character "dou" literally means path or way. Taiko's historical place in Japan lies in its inseparability from "matsuri" (Japanese festivals) and Shinto rites, and although its practice is not considered a "dou," Kaoly teaches it as one. In fact, the name of her taiko school, Tawoo, is Kaoly's choice of romanization of the word 道.

How can we play with ease? How do we allow sound and energy to flow through us? How can we be with our limitations? These are questions that Kaoly raises and strives to help each one of us find answers to through the taiko. She patiently watches over everyone and shares in our joy and laughter. I have a knowing that not only am I learning how to do these things with the taiko, but that this is the opportunity to practice how to live life with ease, how to stay open to experiences and allow them to flow through me, and how to unconditionally accept myself with gentle lovingness and kindness.

It's been 5 days since my Taiko "taiken" (tryout or trial) with the Tawoo group and I'm still left immersed in the energy of that experience. The group's founder, Kaoly Asano was teaching that night. As I walked into a group of mainly women preparing, moving, placing taikos of all sizes in the huge hall in the basement of the Akihabara Ward Center (Community Center), I was met by Nori's lovely smile who received me and showed me where to change and gave me a brief introduction to the group and their activities.

I started reading the literature on the group and realized that Kaoly Asano created it back in 1997. So I walked over to Nori and asked if Kaoly still plays with the group, and she pointed to a lady in the center of the room, who was still intent in moving the drums to their precise positions. To say the least, I was surprised that Kaoly is a very small-built, thin woman but with a great mane for hair. I looked on with great curiosity and anticipation.

But nothing was to bring me back so immediately into my body and senses as her first beat on the taiko. From that moment, I was mesmerized in body and soul as I watched and listened to her. I was seeing and in the presence of a shaman, a healer, an artist, a performer, a woman, all in one expression. My mind, when it did find a moment to interrupt the pure experience I was in, floundered in disbelief and a desperate attempt at a logical explanation for how such a sound could be produced by so small a person. The auditorium could easily seat 200 people and the ceiling is probably 30 feet high and yet the sound from Kaoly's drums wrapped around us as if we were all cuddled closely together. I watched and participated for 3 hours that night. It felt like I had come from a shamanic gathering and that I've been blessed with a transmission. It became clear that Kaoly was playing, not from her body, but from her soul, her spirit.

I will never forget this experience. I couldn't. It's in my body. Its expression was clear and direct. No interference of mind, space or time. I was in tears, touched deep in my soul and filled with joy to know that there are probably many people out there in this world, during this time when I am alive, living out their dreams, their destinies, their talents and gifts in such a beautiful and healing way. I was happy to be alive. Happy to be back in Japan.