The clamor of boisterous crowds celebrating Mardi Gras in the Gaslamp and Hillcrest had nothing on the high-decibel frenzy generated in Copley Hall Tuesday night (February 16) by TAO: Taiko Drummers of Japan. Thirteen members of this highly disciplined percussion ensemble, which is on the first leg of its inaugural North American tour, kept its substantial crowd enthralled with its athletic drumming, gymnastic choreography, raucous shouting (known as “kakegoe”), and constantly shifting tableaux that filled the ample Copley stage.

Local followers of Taiko who have followed the well-established Kodo ensemble, a more traditional strain of Japanese Taiko performance, no doubt raised an eyebrow or two at the Tao approach: lavish costumes, splashy lighting effects, humorous jostling, and a generally more playful demeanor in their slick routines. In their program descriptions of the Tao philosophy, the word “entertainment” is used profusely as both noun and adjective.

When it comes to the practice of Taiko drumming, however, there is little cause to sound a purist alarm. Unlike the revered Noh dramas or gagaku (Japanese court) music, which goes back many centuries, Taiko drumming is a post-World War II phenomenon. It was begun in 1951 by Daihachi Oguchi, a Japanese jazz drummer, no less. Although the drums themselves go back into antiquity, the ensemble drumming style that is popular today is recent. The Tao performers started in 1993 and first appeared outside of Japan—at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival—in 2004.

The massive “odaiko” drums with their deafening rumble, played in the horizontal position because they are too large to be struck from above, hearken back to the drum’s original military function and define this distinctly Japanese style. Two odaiko graced the rear of the Copley stage, and figured prominently in Tao’s ensemble and solo numbers.

In festive, animated ensemble pieces such as “Mugenkyo” and “Red Run,” there were as many as 30 drums in play on stage, with the odaiko providing the resounding bass tones. I was taken by the intensity of an extended unaccompanied duet on the two odaiko by ensemble founder Yoshinori Suito and Ryohei Taki, which took on the character of a virtuoso contest for speed and complexity. By the end of this vigorous exercise the drummers were drenched in sweat, and the audience was on its feet.

Tao’s four female performers—this tends to be a male-dominated musical activity—doubled on other traditional instruments, notably the transverse wooden flute (the “hayashi-bue”) and the koto. A slow, sinuous flute duet suffused “Maori,” accompanied only by deep, bass drums, deftly struck with soft mallets that yielded a mesmerizing, haunting effect. Suito and Taki are listed as Tao’s resident composers, along with the troupe’s co-founder Natsuko Kuroyanagi and drummers Arisa Nishi and Hiroaki Kishino.

Contrast and rapid change of pace is essential to Tao’s formula: A gentle duet for matching kotos led directly into the burly contest of the odaiko athletes. In “Souhi,” four drummers standing in front of nine drums moved in strictly choreographed leaps to engage all the drums in front of them, including flashy cross-over mallet techniques with adjacent players.

In “Festa,” the closing ensemble piece on the program’s first half, members of the Tao ensemble encouraged the audience to join in rhythmic clapping with their performance. Before the grand finale “Queen”—I regret there were no program notes in English to explain the titles—a member of the troupe encouraged audience members to visit the CD and DVD kiosk in the lobby on their way out.

Tao combines musical and martial discipline with showbiz flair and exuberance—clearly the ensemble for audiences with a YouTube curiosity and attention span.

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