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Big drums make concert
a titanic duel

ELATION and power are the best way to describe the association of master taiko drummer Kenny Endo and Hawaii's favorite timpanist, Stuart Chafetz. The two musicians' charismas have captured the support of music fans of all kinds.

"Thunder from the East!" Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall Time: 8 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $21, $33, $43, $51 or $64 each; 20 percent discount available to seniors, students and military Call: 792-2000 or Ticketmaster at 1-877-750-4400

This weekend, they'll join forces with the Honolulu Symphony, unleashing their thunderous passion in presenting the world premiere of composer Zhou Long's magnificent Concerto for Taiko and Timpani.

The new concerto can be affectionately nicknamed "Endo versus Chafetz, Part I." Maestro Samuel Wong will conduct this titanic duel, while providing drama throughout the program with extra spicy and tantalizing music by Mozart, Borodin and Bartok.

Taiko drumming has been an essential part of Japanese culture for centuries, serving distinct purposes for all social classes, from farming and fishing communities to court rituals.

Endo promotes the traditional drum, blending its colorful tones with his innovative melodies and rhythms. Much of his inspiration emanates from nature's rushing rivers, ocean waves, even the delicacy of snow falling. For this premiere, you'll find Endo on one side of the stage using a solo taiko set that is roughly comprised, from small to extra-large, of the Kotsuzumi, Shime, Sumo, Chu and Odaiko.

On the other side of the stage will be Honolulu Symphony's Chafetz on timpani (kettle drums). Concert regulars know he's a chameleon. Most of the time, he stands in the back of the orchestra, laying the foundation of a piece with his mallet expertise. He's also been in front of the orchestra, when, armed with just a baton, he becomes the conductor for such productions as Ballet Hawaii's "Nutcracker." He's also taken center stage as co-moderator of the symphony's "Concert Conversations" lecture series.

According to Zhou Long, the concerto "explores the energy and the spirit behind the unique duo form, in which organized rhythmic materials generate a dramatic and powerful music." Endo and Chafetz have rehearsed for months, finding the interaction between the two instruments invigorating.

Though the woodwinds and strings provide singing melodies, Endo and Chafetz reveal the rhythm of life as a primal universal language best expressed by their instruments.

If the introduction of taiko to an orchestra is a novelty to us today, the cymbals, bass drums and triangle were equally strangers to audiences before Mozart's time. In the 1700s, the Ottoman Empire was expanding and battling the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Legend has it that these unknown instruments were played with such fervor by Turkish bands on the military front that opposing soldiers would flee, frightened by the raucous clanging of cymbals and the thunder of bass drums. In this sense, Mozart might have discovered the first form of "weapons of mass evasion." Thankfully, under his hand, they became music to our ears, used carefully in the Overture to his opera, "The Abduction from the Seraglio," also featured on the program.

Th concert will be filled with "male fervor," but as is the case most of the time, women have the last word. Our final work, "Bartok's Suite" from the ballet "The Miraculous Mandarin," deals with a controversial subject matter: the consummation of sexual passion. The work was banned after its 1926 premiere, and revived 20 years later. Even without the visual portrayal by dancers, the Hungarian composer created music rich in graphic depiction. The plot can be best summarized as a story of innocent men falling prey to an alluring woman.

It's best for me to stop here, for I don't want to get into trouble!

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