Edo Bayashi

WELCOME TO OUR EDO BAYASHI BLOG

Edo Matsuri Bayashi, or Edo Bayashi for short, refers to the 300 year old traditional festival music of historic Tokyo. “Edo” is the name for Tokyo under rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 – 1868), “Matsuri” translates to festival and “Bayashi” refers to a musical ensemble. With its complex interlocking rhythms and festive quality, Edo Bayashi helps to inform much of the cultural and aesthetic foundation behind North American taiko. Over the next three months, we will be diving deep into this rich musical heritage and preparing the basic repertoire in advance of hosting an acclaimed master of the tradition, Kyosuke Suzuki, during a 6-day residency in Chicago with Ho Etsu. Throughout the process, we’ll be recording our progress, thoughts and insights here in this blog. We invite you to follow our journey!