Shidara

On April 3, 2008 I attended Shidara’s “Heart of the Immortal Mountain”.  The event was held a CSU, Chico’s Laxon Auditorium.  To begin, Shidara is a group of eleven Japanese Taiko Drummers who perform ancient dances from their culture.  High energy was definitely a good way to describe this performance.  To be honest I had never been so captivated by a cultural performance before in my life.  In total they performed eight songs, Murasamenone, Kazenomichi, Otodama, Niebuchi, Tonbi, Koganenokaze, Hono Kuni, and Hana Matsuri.  Each song was some sort of representation of their culture and lifestyle from back home. 

The group started off the evening with “Murasamenone”, and the performers were seated in a line and each of them had a drum in front of them.  It captured my attention from the very beginning and it did until the very end of the performance.  What really impressed me during all their songs was their accuracy.  Each drummer was really fast, they used their whole body, and every beat was on time.  From my perspective I could say they did not make one mistake.  You can tell that these performers have dedicated a big part of their life to this art because of their technicality, accuracy, and presentation.  It was obvious that in every aspect of their performance that their heart was in it. 

Shidara, ended the night with “Hana Matsuri” and it was introduced as a traditional harvest festival for their village, basically a religious ceremony where the villagers dance and play music all throughout the night.  Before the performers started, a member gave us information about the ceremony and how it’s been a part of their culture for the last seven hundred and thirty two years.  I personally enjoyed this performance the most because they invited a few audience members up onto the stage so they could dance and clap.  When performers give their audience an opportunity to get involved I feel it makes the performance even better. 

I would recommend anyone to watch this performance.  Like I mentioned no other performance has captivated me the way this performance did.  It was unique from our culture and I think it’s good to watch performances like these because it makes us aware of diversity.