The Japanese percussion group returns to the London stage for the first time in 2019, presenting a new show featuring a combination of music renditions, visual stunts and audience interaction. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the production, to let us know if this oriental beat-themed piece is worth banging the drum.
We are Yamatoooooo! Ohhhh, yessss, honey! Say it loud! Louder! Give me that beat! Beat it harder…! Yeah, I know – I may have gone a bit Nigella Lawson there… Well, in my defence, you really can’t go soft when it comes to a bombastic drumming show. And you certainly can’t go micro when surfing the waves of Eastern culture. Come on, that last one was good load of fun… And here I go again!
Enter Yam—… Wait a minute, I’ve already said it. Doesn’t matter – you’ll take it as I shoot it (sorry, Sundays are anything but a holy day to me). For the first time since 2019, the percussion group returns to the West End to bring back the fire-spitting cadences and pentatonic melodies of the Pacific dawn. Until the end of the month, the troupe will be presenting Hinotori – The Wings of the Phoenix, a new show featuring the roaring sounds of the Old Empire, combined with the delicate strokes of its exotic melodiousness.
A perfect blend of skill, showmanship and, above all, artistic sensitivity, the piece is an blazing ball of musical voltage – putting together an impressive display of talent and creativity, in what results in a thrilling, enticing and most entertaining journey to and throughout the rhythms of the Nipponic country. Delivered with inexhaustible flair and magnetism, the performance manages to connect with its audience almost instantly – incessantly regaling us with awe-striking renditions that evenly mix the beauty and spiritual power of their ancestry with gentle touches of a more comical flavour; moving the viewer from gasp to laughter in an almost constant flow, and culminating in a thunderous (and well deserved) applause as the closing chord of every final roll.
A practically flawless syncopation of history and spectacle, the only issue lies on some parts of its structure throughout the first act. Though all the numbers are polished and boast impressive accomplishment, it’s the way they come into concatenation that falters their emotional effectiveness. Despite the opening still looking quite solid to some extent, there’s other snippets scattered through the middle that flaunt a more compelling force for the start of the show. In addition, its sentimental evolution seems constrained (with the quieter parts seeming slightly misplaced: sometimes, needing to be played earlier; some others, later) – a problem that, however, does not affect any of the structure in Act Two, with all those errors solved by thumping to a pinpoint pulsation of stunts, giggles and audience-involved jams.
A window into the ear-soaring legacy of one the most fascinating backgrounds in the world, Yamato has returned to the London scene with timpanous sway, crafting a truly superb and highly memorable montage where sounds and visuals come together in an explosive whirl of uptempo pizzazz. The title of its new production evokes rebirth, yet you won’t find any traces of novelty in their interpretation – but instead, of long-term endurance.
Yamato’s Hinotori – The Wings of the Phoenix plays at London’s Peacock Theatre until 22 June. Tickets are available on the following link.