Urban Soundscapes
Matsuri Taiko @ Nexus Cabaret
3:00pm, Sun 27 Feb 2011
It’s pretty rare that I go to a show that didn’t make The Shortlist; but, having just seen Unsupervised (and with some time to kill before Take Me Back To Paris), I fired up the Fringe Guide app on the iPhone to check out what was on offer.
Urban Soundscapes, eh? What’s that, then? Taiko? But I love taiko! Why wasn’t this on The Shortlist?
So off I scooted to the Nexus. There’s a decent crowd gathered: so much so that I have to make do with sitting at one of the cocktail tables at the edge of the room. But, once the three women behind Matsuri Taiko started up, position didn’t matter… because every beat of every drum reverberated through my chest.
I’d forgotten just how powerful taiko could be. And I’d forgotten how much I enjoy music that you can physically feel.
Urban Soundscapes was, apparently, inspired by different environments, and as their multimedia screen changed to show soft images within a forest, the drums soften in tempo and power; other instruments play bit parts, too. The screen starts rolling short scenes of dirty urban buildings, and a sense of desperation and menace thumps forth. The correlation between image and sound is handled amazingly well, and it made the performance one of giddy intoxication.
In fact, the only negative – and it’s certainly not a massive downer – was that Matsuri’s collaboration with hard rock outfit 4 Kings Loud didn’t really work – constrained by the rigours of a rock song, the power of taiko was somehow diminished. But that was the tiniest blemish on an otherwise brilliant performance; Masturi’s three performers displayed such poise, strength, and dignity that they’ve almost convinced me to start taking some of their classes…