This book proposes an immersion in taiko percussion. The author, through his experience in the Hibiki Wadaiko group, reflects on what he calls the “taikoist body”, investigating his own corporeality and that of other artists in the practice of the instrument, through observations recorded in work diaries and interviews. Such an approach, which is anchored, but not exhausted, in the Brazilian reality, is permeated by the dialogue with the history of the Japanese drum and its interpreters. It is a study of the present crossed by the tradition of eras, from Prehistoric to Pre-modern, and which encompasses the use of taiko in communicating with the sacred, drums in wars and in traditional and folkloric arts, as well as its recreation in the Modern Era, after the Second World War, in which the collective performance became known as kumi-daiko. Therefore, uniting solid academic research, bibliography and personal report, this reading also speaks of the meeting of cultures in the interaction of the Brazilian body with the Japanese drum, which is made, concomitantly, in the universality and individuality of artistic expression.

"The dance of a Goddess on a barrel synthesizes myth, history, culture, art, and spirituality. In this confluence of forces, Mariano Garcia's studies are sustained - which, I assert without fear of being wrong, from this book onwards, position him as one of the Brazilian references in studies about Japan, especially concerning its percussive art".

Eduardo Okamoto (first preface)​

"This work represents a welcome generation of scholars who spontaneously cultivate a process of flexibilization of national art boundaries, valuing cultural exchange that has long been disseminated with effort and dedication".

Michiko Okano (second preface)

PUBLISHER: Annablume
ISBN-10: ‎ 6556840734
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-6556840734
BOOK COVER: Rafael Mariano Garcia
PAGES: 242
RELEASE YEAR: 2022
DIMENSIONS: 6 x 1.3 x 23 cm