The National Centre For Early Music, York, UK26th June 2026
Papillon De Nuit & Support: Tengu Taiko Drummers
Tonight’s musical and spiritual entertainment comes from PAPILLON DE NUIT and the TENGU TAIKO DRUMMERS and it’s performed at the National Centre For Early Music in York. It is situated in a quiet street not far from the rivers Ouse and Foss and a short walk from central York and the Jorvik Viking Centre.
The building itself is a restored 11th Century Medieval Church which I like, its big enough to pull in a crowd of around 70 people whilst keeping things intimate and the acoustics are very good, it’s a church so what does one expect? And also, the thick church walls keep the venue at a cool and bearable temperature that’s in contrast to the 30° heat outside. The purpose of the gig is to showcase the new PAPILLON DE NUIT album called ‘Musetta’ which was released on the same day. And what a venue to perform in...
Tengu Taiko Drummers
The York based TENGU TAIKO DRUMMERS formed in 2018 by Jared Hardwick who also founded the Tengu School of Taiko in 2014 to share the love performing art to more people. But a core group of individuals with a desire to better their skills were invited to move to the next level and given more intense training. TENGU TAIKO DRUMMERS was the result of that extra training.
They are now a registered charity and perform all over the country and abroad at festivals, private parties and community events. “Taiko” means “Big Drum” and this form of drumming has been a part of Japanese culture for centuries. It has its origins in temples and shrines and is played during ceremonies and festivals as well as Kabuki and Noh Theatre. It’s also been used in Samurai warfare. Taiko Drumming has been classified as an art form since the 1950s and currently there are between 10,000 to 15,000 Taiko groups in Japan performing various styles.
Music & Performance
TENGU TAIKO DRUMMERS were an energetic troupe, they got the juices flowing and were better than coffee at sharpening the senses. maybe for some they were too energetic because in the interval many people did not return for the main act. The physical exertions of the drumming were of an energy sapping intensity that would negate any need to go to the gym and it could come across as too intense for the uninitiated, but you would definitely go away from the show remembering that you are alive, no doubt about that.
Although they could do a UK tour of gyms instead of music venues. This style of drumming is very visual and ritualistic in execution, given that Japan is a very codified culture it does not surprise me in the slightest. Every arm movement, every beat has a meaning of its own that combined together creates a magnificent whole full of symmetry and individuality.
I was instantly fascinated and hooked by the physicality because it was very freeing and cathartic. Many people in the audience were late 50’s upwards age bracket, the vast majority of which stayed for PAPILLON DE NUIT. However, I noticed about 10 empty seats when we all came back after the interval. For them I think the stimulation was too much and they had zero stamina left for the less bombastic act that came after. But they will remember TENGU TAIKO DRUMMERS, I am sure.
Papillon De Nuit
I have written many reviews about PAPILLON DE NUIT over the past year. For those who haven’t read them I recommend that you do so because this project deserves to be heard by a wider audience. It is the brainchild of Stephen Kennedy who was collating the individual pieces of the project months before it was birthed to the world just over 18 months ago. I said in another review that the birthing was not a painful one but one that took thought to get going.
But once motion was achieved it was bam-bam-bam with a succession of singles all fully formed and thought out. The orchestrations and cadences mulled over and included for reason not frippery. Tonight’s showing was the very first live show from the band and it was to showcase the magnificence of their new album ‘Musetta’ inspired by a character in Puccini’s opera ‘La Boheme’. You can find more information at this link: https://papillondenuit.bandcamp.com/
Music & Performance
Although there are thirteen performers listed on the album only six performers inhabited the stage this evening right in front of the Arcade pillars that hold up the roof. The seating was affront and behind these pillars but arranged so that everyone could see. The performers enter the stage, the audience hushes, the lights dim, and the performance begins.
Stephen Kennedy wears black and white striped jeans and what looks like a distressed denim top replete with wide brimmed hat. He looks like a post-apocalyptic Jester Seer. It was like he’s wearing the rustic wear and tear of life with an undercurrent of joke / farce / hilarity at what it throws at you. Good choice. And for everyone else, their best frocks replete with lace, embroidery and fan pleats, and a Pork Pie hat with a feather.
I found the sound was good for the play through, it was played with feeling and received very well by the assembled crowd. The set was also played in album order apart from ‘Ariadne’ which closed out the set. That brings me on to my one and only issue. And that was the sound when Megan Richardson sang her cavernous operatic throat out on ‘Ariadne’.
It was slightly drowned out by the Tengu drums. But what could be done? Turn up Megan’s mike so my ear drums burst or dial back the drums so that their impact was dulled? But anyway, if one treats this performance as a trial run for future live performances then it did its job of bringing life to the individual tracks and getting feedback from a live audience.
The whole performance was befitting of the venue, no other would have done it justice, just think of it as a mini York Cathedral where PAPILLON DE NUIT tested themselves and where the building just up the road bedecked with bigger Arcade pillars could be a future venture.
This music has to be performed in an old building with character and presence, not some music venue with poor acoustics or some other such impediment. No-no-no, the music, the word, the orchestrations and the performers were all included for particular reasons and the elements were thought out. Having a venue that undoes all that would be heresy.
To close all I will say is that no particular track stood out tonight. Until ‘Ariadne’. Everything in the set did not disappoint, it told a story of loss and loves and painted a picture of life’s great tapestry. ‘Ariadne’ had that issue with vocal vs. drum for a moment but the energy in the voice, its cavernous delivery reminded that life is a bull and you should take that bull firmly by the horns a ride it until you can’t ride it any more. Amen!
Setlist
01. Jude
02. The Pilgrims Arc
03. Sister, Dear
04. Sea Within An Ocean
05. Amber
06. Bathsheba
07. Scarlet
08. The Future Is Ours
09. Frozen Charlotte
10. Ariadne
All Pictures by Claudia Black
