Amaterasu

"This recording is from the Ferrara International Buskers Festival 2023. This is one of the biggest events in global street music. The performance happening in this recording is a troupe of masked Japanese drummers using large plastic oil containers as their instruments. As the microphone turns we can hear how a large castle wall behind us is reflecting the sound. The drumming sounds like traditional taiko drumming to me which was often used to motivate troops, call out orders or announcements, and set a marching pace. Additionally, taiko drumming is a very old tradition that has origins in Japanese mythology. 

"For this composition, I wanted to take this very old style of drumming and put it in a more modern Japanese music genre which is Japanese city pop. In the second half of this composition, I wanted it to transition into a more ambient piece that to me sounds like the church environment because of the airy synths and lots of revered vocal samples from the recording that reflect the voices bouncing off the church walls."

Taiko drumming in Ferrara reimagined by Calla Richardson.

———————

This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.

Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage