Curiosity does not always kill the cat, sometimes it creates a god. Welcome to the world of “When the rain god sings, storm lions are born”. In this piece, Multimedia Composer/Sound Designer/ UTS-Dolby Spatial Audio researcher Yunyu leads you into a supernatural world of cats, thunder and new gods.
The old rain god has gone fishing, you see, so she leaves her drums for the next unsuspecting human to play, for this is how new gods are made. In this world, drums play tunes and cats must first be appeased and fed so they can grow up and make thunder for the new gods. It is all very hard work.
Commissioned by Australian performing group Taikoz and brought to life by the awe-inspiring talents of Ryuji Hamada (Taikoz), the electronic taiko drums transcend traditional playing techniques through interactive music structures mostly found in games.
This is a performance of a single electronic taiko mapped against orchestral layers with the goal of turning a single performer into a performer/conductor. It is also an exploration of musical composition and instrument-making, where traditional playing techniques of taiko drumming are considered and mapped onto their electronic counterparts, pushing the limits of what taiko playing can be.
A cautionary tale for the accidental gods amongst us.