It was the gentle piano music of French composers played by his mother that lulled Ian Cleworth to sleep as a boy in country South Australia … nothing like the percussionist future he ended up pursuing.
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Ian is the Artistic Director of Taikoz, the internationally acclaimed ensemble that introduces audiences to the dynamic world of Japanese drumming.
“Those memories are very strong and I still have a deep love of French composers like Debussy. I didn’t start playing with percussion until high school in Adelaide and then it became my obsession,” Ian said.
Indeed, as a 19-year-old in 1981 Ian spent a year studying Taiko and performing in Japan. It remained his passion and “musical hobby” when he returned to Australia, while working as a percussionist with the Queensland and then Sydney Symphony Orchestras.
I never believed we could really perform Taiko in Australia but I kept returning to Japan to keep my interest going.
- Ian Cleworth, Artistic Director, Taikoz
He did however seek other percussion outlets, joining the Synergy Percussion Ensemble, one of the mainstays of Australian contemporary classical music since 1974.
“Synergy was a great opportunity to explore my creative side and play a lot of contemporary music – we played pieces by lots of Australian composers including Nigel Westlake, Ross Edwards and Carl Vine … it was a very formative period.
“I suppose Taikoz grew out of Synergy in some ways … I really wanted to go deeper into the Taiko tradition and Riley* really encouraged me.
(* Riley Lee is an American-born Australian-based shakuhachi master and teacher).
“We co-founded Taikoz in 1997 and established ourselves as a serious ensemble, dedicating ourselves to the art of Taiko.
“The music, the techniques and the instruments are so different to Western instruments that it really requires serious study. It is a very immersive art – your entire body is involved in making the music.”
Asked if that is one reason that marathon running is one of his hobbies, Ian laughs and says it is part of his training regime.
“Yes, you do need to be fit – we are asking a lot of our bodies in our performances”.
Here is a taste of the dynamism that is Taikoz (Sydney, October 2017):
Ian then turns to the music itself:
“Taiko stems from Japan and has very rich cultural roots but as Australians and musicians, we do express ourselves differently.
“Over the last 20 years ensemble members have been writing music for the group and we have also commissioned pieces by Australian composers.
“Earlier this year we premiered a new work by young Australian composer Lachlan Skipworth that combined the Taiko drums and flutes with the symphony orchestra.”
Music lovers can catch Taikoz in their Quartet form, as part of the Bellingen Fine Music Festival next weekend, September 27-30.
“We started the quartet project about 18 months ago to allow us to play at smaller venues – it is a different context which is a challenge and we’ve had to compose new music to suit.
“In fact we will be premiering a new song, Oku Shirane, which Kerryn Joyce has written specially for Bellingen.”
Ian will be joined by Kerryn Joyce, Sophia Ang and Ryuji Hamada on stage at the Memorial Hall on Saturday, September 29 and will then join Seth Jordan in conversation up at the Little Red Kitchen. Don’t miss out.
Tickets are on sale at: http://www.bellingenmusicfestival.com.au/bookings/