EITETSU HAYASHI

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Hiroshima in 1952, Eitetsu began playing Western-style drums while in high school. At the age of 19 he moved to Tokyo to attend a fine arts school. He became a founding member of the traditional drumming group ONDEKOZA, a unique group living an ascetic and cult-like communal lifestyle. After international touring, including performances with Boston Symphony Orchestra, he was seeking the new challenges with the taiko drum group KODO.

He created a new method using a unique combination of Taiko drums, touring worldwide with HI-TEN-YU since 1993, a collaboration with the Scharoun Ensemble (members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) and with Sen Nen-no Kamoku (The quiet ages, 1998), being the first Japanese "Taiko" soloist ever to perform at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall
His activities in recent years include performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in Lisbon.

Eitetsu Hayashi has performed in jazz, rock and world traditional ethnic music, collaborated in performances, dance and has had enthusiastic exchanges with a wide variety of international artists transcending any genre. His compositions include numerous original works for films, drama and for teaching.