Music Heard in Mitsubishi Eclipse Commercial (2006)

I kinda dig being able to uncover information about music used in TV commercials. Here is a recent comment:

Does any one know who the drummers are on the new Mitsubishi Eclipse commerical? thanks Karen

Yes, Karen. I do!

The music (as best as I can tell) was composed exclusively for the 2006 Eclipse commercial by Stewart Copeland (this is not confirmed however). You may know him from his film soundtracks, or less recently, as a member of music group "The Police." The dums you see in the spot are called "Taiko," which word means "heavy drum." I do not think the music is available for download or purchase. But there are many, many CD at Amazon with Taiko dums. This CD might be a good starting point.

The drummers (mostly girls) in the commercial are a combination of different members of Taiko performance groups. According to the TAIKOPROJECT and other sources the commercial featires "Julia and Yuri from the TAIKOPROJECT" plus members of UCLA Kyodo Taiko (school page) (student page has a song to download) and Venice Koshin Taiko.

Be sure to visit the "Taiko Project" web site and take a peek at their "Media" section for performance videos and preview of their DVD.

The commercial is titled "Kodo" and exists in a :30 & :60 version. Want to see it? You can view it here (windows media) or here (Quicktime). The agency responsible is BBDO. One meaning of "Kodo," by the way, is Japanese for "heartbeat."

One thing I can't understand though. The spot is called "Kodo" and many assume that "kodo" is the name of the drums used. That is not the case. The drums are a Japanese drum called Taiko. "Kodo" is a performance group which uses "Taiko" drums (and just to confuse things further, there is another group called "Taiko"). As best as I can tell the group "Kodo" is not in the commercial named "Kodo." Either the agency named the spot incorrectly after the drums, or they chose Kodo for the meaning of the word. Either way, it is a confusing choice.

To see some behind-the-scenes photos from the commercial shoot, you can visit Taiko Project's photo gallery. They also performed for dealers in Las Vegas, don't you wish you could have been there?

Further Reading:
Cincinatti Post - Kodo Drummers bring their sound to town
Drivers' Edge - Mitsu Driven to Thrill
International Taiko Webring
Ad Campaign press release

file this under TV & Movies
Posted by on July 27, 2005 @ July 27, 2005 10:41 AM    
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