The sound of the drum

Japan has a long relationship with percussion instruments. Probably the most famous outside of Japan is taiko, but inside, at the traditional ceremonies and celebrations, you will realize there are many more drums and percussion instruments that make up traditional Japanese music. Taiko itself just means drum. The music associated with it is actually called kumi-daiko, or set of drums.

It was at one of these set of drums performances, as the pounding and thumping made its way from my ears to my chest to my soul that I realized something - every culture has drums. They are almost as old as civilization itself. From taiko to bodhran, to a collection of mom's pots and pans on the kitchen floor when you are only a year old, drums are integral to our lives. They stir us in was no other instrument can. With a single tone they can inspire us to bravery, speak our deepest sorrows, and lure our toes into tapping and our bodies to dancing. Drums are primal. Primitive. They set fire to our souls and take us back in time to when we were barely walking upright and the nights were dark and full of monsters. Drums are simple instruments, but they remind us of the first sound we ever heard - the beat of our mother's heart.

Drums are humanity's heartbeat.