News

The 2021 Sado Island Earth Celebration will stream its taiko drum shows online

Join the annual festival and watch the impressive taiko drum performances on August 21-22

Kasey Furutani
Kaila Imada
Written by
Kasey Furutani
Contributor:
Kaila Imada
Earth Celebration
Photo: Earth Celebration Committee
Advertising

Off the coast of Niigata lies Sado Island, one of the best off-the-beaten-path destinations in Japan. The island is locally famous for its distinctive taraibune tub boats, dramatic coastlines and its annual festival, Earth Celebration. Held every summer, Earth Celebration is a taiko drumming music festival that attracts domestic and international tourists to the island. Although Covid-19 has cancelled festivals throughout Tokyo and Japan, Earth Celebration has decided to take a different approach, streaming the festival online for everyone to watch.

Hosted by the taiko group Kodo, the two-day online festival will feature taiko drumming performances highlighting Sado Island’s distinctive culture. The first show will take place on August 21 at 4pm JST and will begin with a pre-concert talk and introduction to Earth Celebration and Kodo's activities. The Harbour Concert will then start at 5pm followed up by a post-concert interview with three taiko drumming stars.

The second concert will take place on August 22 at 4pm JST and will also begin with a pre-concert talk before the Kodo all-star special performance. The concert will be followed up by more interviews as well as a pre-recorded farewell video. 

Earth Celebration
Photo: Earth Celebration Committee

Live-stream tickets are ¥2,500 for one concert, but you can also purchase a ticket for both concerts for ¥4,000. If you miss the performance, don't worry. The archived recordings will be available immediately after the live-stream shows. To purchase your tickets, visit here.

To get you into the festive spirit, you can also watch last year's all star finale performance for free in the video above.

Earth Celebration
Photo: Earth Celebration Committee

The festival runs from Saturday August 21 to Sunday August 22. For more information on Earth Celebration, visit the website and YouTube channel.

More from Time Out Tokyo

The Mazekoze Island Tour is a free virtual festival celebrating diversity through art

The famous Nebuta Festival in Aomori will be live-streamed for the first time ever

This heritage townhouse in Kyoto is now an affordable boutique hotel

Here are the limited-edition Kaws merchandise on sale at the Kaws Tokyo First exhibition

Rebuild of Evangelion series finale now available on Amazon Prime in 11 languages

Want to be the first to know what’s cool in Tokyo? Sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates from Tokyo and Japan.

More on Time In
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising