Oh man, I love Kodo.
For those of you not familiar with taiko, it's ancient Japanese party (festival) music, and is physically rigorous to a ridiculous degree. Like sports, musicians usually start dropping out in their 30s because they can no longer keep up with the youngsters, and o-taiko (bass drums) take even more strength to play properly.
Unfortunately, recordings just don't do it justice. You really have to hear it live. The first time you hear taiko live you will have precisely the same reaction many people have upon hearing live bagpipes for the first time: "This instrument was never meant to be played indoors." Those things are freaking
loud and if you're close enough, you can actually feel the sound compress your chest.
Bagpipes are ridiculously loud because they were meant to be heard over the din of battle. Taiko is loud because the borders of your village were defined by how far away people could hear the taiko at festival time.
Kodo (born out of the ashes of Ondekoza) is an odd duck. They really piss of traditionalists because they do a lot of experimental stuff and push the boundaries instead of just keeping everything exactly as it used to be, but on the other hand they have done more to preserve and popularize taiko as an art form than anyone else. They were the first to let women into their group and the first to let foreigners into their group.
These guys are seriously hardcore about their art. They live on an island commune so that they can do nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe taiko all day long. Well, that and work out like maniacs. Every year, hopeful recruits train like mad to compete for one or two open slots in the group. For every tour, members must compete to get into the tour.
They tour a lot, and they tour all over the world, so no matter where you live, there is a chance you might be able to see them live. Do so. You won't regret it.
You can find documentaries about them on YouTube if you're curious.