A Good Death is released in partnership with Hospiscare, is a UK-registered charity servicing Exeter, Mid and East Devon. Hospiscare value dying as an important part of living, and believe that every day matters to people approaching the end of their lives. The charity provides care for over 700 patients and their families every year, and to do this has to raise over £5 million annually. £1 from the sale of each CD will be donated to Hospiscare. In itself, this will make only a tiny financial contribution, but through this partnership we hope to raise awareness and encourage more conversation about the finite nature of our lives.
A Good Death – Jonathan Kirby explains…
“The inspiration for A Good Death came from hearing a BBC radio interview on end-of-life care. The interviewee said that a good death had to involve three things: dignity, love and legacy. This response was elegant, simple and yet also seemed profoundly true. I knew immediately that I had to compose something for taiko on that theme.The idea, however, took several years to bear fruit. It did so in the summer and autumn of 2016. Once it started, the composition process was relatively quick. It was as if the rhythms, choreography and melodies had been developing somehow unconsciously until they finally found the right moment to come through. Three new taiko pieces emerged in rapid succession, crossing a range of moods and flowing from one to another: Dignity, Love, and Legacy.
Without compositions, there would be nothing to play on taiko drums. But taiko is not so much about the drums or the rhythms as about the people who play them. When an audience is enthused by a taiko
performance it’s because they sense the genuine enthusiasm, energy and joy of the taiko players. You might say that taiko drumming is a way of expressing what it is to be human, what it is to live, and what it is to value every moment of life.
And yet it is impossible truly to respect life without also respecting death. Death is a natural part of life. We may not relish the idea of death, but the finite nature of our lives is what makes each moment of life so precious.
Respecting death means talking about it, and preparing for it – a good death is unlikely to happen entirely by accident. So, whilst I felt that taiko was an appropriate medium for expressing the dignity, love and legacy involved in a good death, I also felt that in creating these new pieces we would be able to promote conversations about death.”
The audio CD, “A Good Death” is now out of stock, but new versions of (1) Dignity, (2) Love, and (3) Legacy can be found on the the 2024 album: taiko without borders.
A Good Death
This video is taken from the performance by Kagemusha Taiko Group at the 12th UK Taiko Festival, with special guests Shogo Yoshii and Shoji Kameda.
Other performances of note include the 2nd European Taiko Concert Night in Dusseldorf in 2016, and to a congregation of 1,400 people at the Light Up A Life service in Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 17th December 2017.