Water Drumming

When I was 20, I went to see Eiko and Koma performing "River" in the Delaware river in Easton, Pennsylvania. It was my first experience with art that uses nature as not just a backgroung but as an integral component. There was a speaker playing soft shamisen music off to the side and the dancers just drifted down the river out of sight as the sun set- that was the end of the performance. The next performance of "River" was with the Kronos Quartet with music composed my Somei Satoh. They tried to recreate the natural setting on stage and it just didn't have the same impact.

DANCE; Two Dancers Who Never Step in the Same 'River' Twice
By JENNIFER DUNNING
Published: November 30, 1997

TWO DANCERS, A MAN AND A woman, were immersed in the Delaware River, moving almost as slowly as the flotsam of tree branches that wound around them on a late summer night in 1995. Boats slowed so that fisherman, and one barking dog, could watch. Then, suddenly, a heavy night sky broke over Easton, Pa., and poured more water down on the performers.

I
know that Satoh created at least one other enviromental work but I can't seem to find any details on it. I also read of another composer who enacted opera on a lake with two large boats that lasted until the sunset.
There is also the Baka People of South-Eastern Cameroon who do this amazing thing with the river water drumming. I practiced this a lot with my son over the summer.



Baka Girls Waterdrumming