Kerama Daiko
Drumming up a Storm
Kerama Daiko is a Tokashiki-based drum troupe founded in 1985 by a Tokashiki native who was keen to establish a drumming tradition on the island. The group takes a slightly unorthodox approach to this traditional form of music. The members take pride in its flexibility and happily share the stage with other instruments such as electric guitars and Western percussion, as well as other performers, from stick-fighters and practitioners of karate to shishi-mai lion dancers, and hula dancers. Kerama Daiko’s signature performance piece is a composition in five parts inspired by the landscape, weather, and customs of the Keramas.
The troupe has around 40 members. It is said that achieving the proper performance standard takes around five years of practice. The troupe uses a variety of drums with bass, middle, and high notes; the pitch rises, of course, as the drums get smaller.
Kerama Daiko has a repertoire of over 20 compositions ranging from two and a half to ten minutes in length. The troupe performs at the summer festivals on Tokashiki Island, and offers workshops for local schoolchildren and children on school trips from elsewhere in Japan. Kerama Daiko sometimes plays for ferry arrivals and departures.
Intensely exciting though the music is, what really counts in Japanese drum-playing is the sound of the drums. The drummers’ whole bodies come into play, as they stand with their legs firmly planted, gazing forward intently, even occasionally adding dramatic jumps, sideways lunges, arm sweeps, and shouts to their performance.