Slaves to THe rhythm

I'M LOOKING at a line of sweating, semi-naked warrior types beating drums like you wouldn't believe. It's an extraordinary sight - and an even more extraordinary sound: their maniacally flailing arms are producing the most incredible barrage of percussion I've ever experienced. My own heart is pounding, my eyes are straining, I feel like I'm about to faint . . .

Staring out from the depths of a Zen-like trance as they play, these intense-looking loin-clad figures embody the ancient art of Japanese "taiko" drumming, bringing the old religious significance of percussion - and its power to produce altered states of consciousness - right up to (if not yet quite into) the 3rd millennium AD. Their name , Kodo, translates as both "heartbeat" and "children of the drum", which seems entirely appropriate. These guys look and sound as if they were born to drum.

Kodo are amazing for the almost death-defying skill and virtuosity of the twenty or so players who make up the troop. Their strength and discipline remind me of the story of the Spartan boy, who was so self-controlled that he could hold a biting fox under his tunic without emitting so much as a yelp of pain. No wonder the good burghers of Zürich are being stunned into submission watching them!

Some of the band's drums are enormous, and they pound them with drum-sticks the size of baseball bats. The sheer muscle-power required to switch from the booming freneticism of Kodo in full swing to the almost inaudible whisper they produce a split-second later, whirring and soft as a hummingbird's wings, staggers the imagination. No wonder these guys spend two years training at a special school before they can even be considered as possible members of the touring troupe.

The training takes place on Sado, an island off the Japanese coast where Kodo have set up their own village. Here apprentices learn to live communally, and do things like running 10 km before sitting down to an hour and half of solid drumming. And that's just the early morning session! You can tell from the looks of extreme focus and concentration on their faces as they play that they practice mental and spiritual discipline, as well as all the physical stuff. This really is like percussive martial arts.

GRIMACING WILDLY

When Kodo formally lift their drumsticks - or clubs, rather - at the top of their next number, it looks like they're drawing energy down from the sky. They start a sound wave reverberating around the room, passing the beat along the line of drummers with the split-second precision of an athlete passing the baton. Using all sorts of distancing and foreshortening techniques, Kodo make this enormous cyclical sound, like a giant coin spinning. I close my eyes and see a massive horde of buzzing dragonflies approach and pass overhead out of earshot, only to be replaced by the pitter-patter of gentle raindrops on a tin roof, a sound which breathtakingly increases into the crescendo of a tropical downpour. Just as the group reach the zenith of their drum-frenzy, they suddenly drop the audience into a silent abyss, and then head off on a different track altogether.

Kodo's piece de resistance involves playing a gargantuan double-ended drum called the "o-daiko". Weighing 1,000 lbs, this instrument is so big that it has to be wheeled around on a specially made cart, and must travel overland because it won't fit on airplanes. The chief drummer takes his place at this monstrosity, surrounded by lesser souls in semi-bondage gear. He then proceeds to beat it like a man possessed, grunting manfully with the exertion of it all, and presenting us with excellent views of his loin-clad backside.

This is the most physically demanding piece of the show - only two out of the twenty are strong enough for it. As soon as it's over, the drummer leaps down from the cart and amazingly takes his place in another incredibly strenuous drum routine, grimacing wildly at the sheer agony and ecstasy of it all. I just hope those feelings of super-manliness are worth the strain!

There are times when the whole spectacle makes me feel somewhat ambivalent. There's only three women in Kodo, for example, and their performance consists of doing a little dance, singing in little voices, and tapping on little drums with - get this - fluffy little drumsticks. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! There's a suggestion, in other words, that Kodo may be getting carried away by their own super-hero fantasies, as they continually indulge in unabashed warrior posturing. Me, I think they could do with a few more babes in the ranks to keep a check on those rampaging testosterone levels.

Kodo's last piece is a jolly, less stylised, more shambolic number. Some taiko rhythms are very similar to what you find in Irish trad, and I'm not surprised to discover that Kodo are big fans of our own musical culture. In fact, they're playing at the Guinness Global Gathering with Donal Lunny and his band, who've taken part in the internationally renowned "Earth Celebrations" that Kodo put on every year at their island home.

It may be the ideal setting in which to catch them. Lunny's smiling presence on stage always lightens up other musicians, even disciplined muso-warriors like Kodo. At the very least, the gig will be an amazing chance to hear Ireland's first-ever Irish/Japanese trad fusion.

We may never see its like here again! n

• The Kodo Drummers play the Guinness Global Gathering at the RDS, Main Hall, Dublin on 14th July. Donal Lunny and his band and the Jungle Bros will also be appearing.