In a hall on Japan's Sado island, 71-year-old Yoshikazu Fujimoto strikes the enormous, imposing drum mounted before him, producing a boom so powerful that it reverberates through the floorboards. Fujimoto is a veteran performer of Japanese taiko drumming, a musical form with roots in religious rituals, traditional theatre and the joyous abandon of Japan's seasonal matsuri or festivals. But for all its ancient pedigree, taiko drumming as a performance is a fairly modern invention, developed by a