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ON EITETSU'S STYLES by PETER BARAKAN

It is easy enough to preserve tradition; and it is equally easy to turn your back on it. But to work within the framework of tradition and add to that tradition at the same time is a much stiffer task, and one that not many musicians can claim to have taken on with success.
According to EITETSU HAYASHI , Taiko (Japanese drum) music has no set tradition, and he should know, since he has been playing Takio for nearly 30 years, since the age of nineteen. Over the past several years HAYASHI's performances, mainly on his own, but also in other quite varied formats ranging from Taiko based quartets to improvised duets with avant-garde pianist Yosuke YAMASHITA , have consistently provided some of the most stimulating musical entertainment that Tokyo has to offer. Tradition or no tradition, he has taken a purely Japanese instrument and sound, and built out of it a music that knows no boundaries.

Having moved to Tokyo from his native Hiroshima and started in art school with a view to becoming a graphic designer, EITETSU happened to make the acquaintance of the members of what was to become "SADO-ONDEKOZA" , the internationally renowned but now defunct drumming group. The year was 1971, when hippy ideals had still to give way to seventies cynicism. The aim of "SADO-ONDEKOZA" participants was to create a new type of school for artists on the island of Sado, off Niigata in northern Japan. In order to accumulate funds for this a seven year program was conceived: two years training followed by five years of international tours. Each member, none of whom had any Taiko experience, would sign a contract for the seven year period, for the duration of which all living costs would be borne out of funds loaned by sponsors. The training itself concentrated less on drumming technique than on the daily running of full length marathons, the objective behind this being not only the obvious building up of stamina but rather the development of a unity between the runner and his environment.

However, with the exception of EITETSU, who had played western drums prior to his involvement with the group, and had a feel for rhythm, no one else in "SADO-ONDEKOZA" necessarily had any particular aptitude for the task at hand, and the intended two years set aside for initial training were eventually doubled. When at last they began performing, their showmanship and sheer energy were awarded glowing reviews, especially in Europe, and the smell of the greasepaint, combined with the more mundane obligation to raise money to repay the group's sponsors, began to assume dominance over the original school-building dream.
On the other hand life in "SADO-ONDEKOZA" was no bed of roses. The training was arduous in the extreme, and the stoic daily life in Sado under a dictatorial leader persuaded several that the society they had dropped out of still had its charms. Replacements were inevitably found, maintaining an average membership of about 15, but with the tough touring schedule sufficient training was never possible, and the performances, in EITETSU's memory 'gradually became a pale imitation of an imitation of what we originally set out to achieve.' EITETSU managed to stifle his dissatisfaction for some time, considering that to quit before the first seven years were up would be a personal failure on his part. He ended up staying with "SADO-ONDEKOZA" for 11 years, until the project ground to a halt, at that time already 30 years old.
From the ashes of "SADO-ONDEKOZA" rose a smaller splinter group called "KODO". Since they were unable to perform without EITETSU, who had been the lead drummer with "SADO-ONDEKOZA", he was persuaded to join the group in a consultant capacity for the first six months, before finally going out on his own as a solo performer.
EITETSU's specialty is the vast booming 'O-daiko', from which he extracts an astounding array of sonic nuances. He also performs on a wide variety of other Takio, which he arranges before him somewhat as a western drummer would set up a drum kit.
EITETSU has not played western drums since he first joined "SADO-ONDEKOZA", but his playing still reveals the presence of non-Japanese rhythms. He admits an interest for African music, 'though it's so far from my own experience that I can't feel a real involvement with it.' EITETSU considers his own rhythms to be more Korean than anything else, although his first exposure to Korean music came only a few years ago. ' I feel a proximity to the Korean people, and the music evokes a sort of nostalgia in me, though I can't really explain it. Its rhythms are unique, quite different from both Japanese and Chinese, and almost exclusively based on 3/4 time. I remember when I was running marathons in Sado, your breathing is supposed to go in-in, out -out, but mine naturally lapsed into a kind of syncopated 3/4 pattern, until the coach corrected it. That improved my stamina, but I still feel very natural with 3/4 rhythms in my drumming.'
EITETSU on the respective merits of improvisation and composed music:
'The two are quite similar in some ways, but there's perhaps less tension on stage with rehearsed material. You know that you can play it unless you make a mistake. With improvisation the excitement is fantastic when it works, but on a bad night it can be awful! I quite often work improvised parts into a structured piece anyway, or sometimes just work out a start and finish. It's a question on finding the right balance.
The easiest style of performing is to play a composition that someone else has written--you just have to learn the score. The only trouble is that I very rarely like the music that has been written! It's very difficult for a composer to write for Taiko. A piece might be very well structured, but you never achieve the tension of improvisation. And usually with that kind of piece you only get to perform it once. If I was able to perform a piece over and over , I would be able to work an improvised feel into it, but that's very rarely the case.'
And EITETSU on traditional aspects of his music.
'There isn't really a strong tradition in Taiko compared with most Japanese music. When I first joined "SADO-ONDEKOZA" we had to learn Shakuhachi (vertical flute), Fue (horizontal flute), Koto, Shamisen, and both Japanese dancing and western ballet. I learned a lot about the basics of Japanese music, although I never developed any real proficiency on any of the instruments, as we only studied for two years. Occasionally we came into contact with traditional arts preservation societies, which I found interesting, though that approach didn't appeal to me. We wanted to make music that excited us.I suppose that was the rock fan in me. I used to think we were just as progressive as Pink Floyd!! I don't try to negate tradition, and I'm aware that what I am now depends on the whole body of history that has gone before me. I am attracted by certain aspects of that whole traditional world too, the concept of manners and all that, but on the other hand I was brought up and educated in the post-war American system, and there are times when I can't help feeling a conflict between the two. I don't really think that what I'm doing is traditional. Perhaps it has the potential to become a kind of new tradition, but only if it can be kept free from the institutionalisation that would stifle its growth. What it needs is a whole load of weirdos like me!'
As Japan enters a new century, unfortunately weirdos like EITETSU are still not in abundant supply, but he continues to develop his music to the delight of ever-growing audiences both at home and in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Australia, an independent voice of originality able to communicate on equal terms with his peers worldwide. If only the world of politics could boast such an able ambassador . . .
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