Ayuo Takahashi (born October 19, 1960) is a Japanese-born American composer, poet, lyricist, singer and performer of plucked string instruments including guitar, bouzouki, Irish harp, Chinese zheng, Japanese koto, and medieval European psaltery. He is adept at adapting the ancient music of Japan, China, Persia, Greece and medieval Europe to create a new and original music without abandoning their strict forms, while simultaneously making them relevant to contemporary music styles. He has composed for classical ensembles including string quartets, piano, various chamber ensembles and orchestra, as well as composed, produced and performed with rock, jazz and musicians of various traditional music from around the world. He has also composed many music theater pieces, some of which has been released on CD in the United States and Japan.
Biography
Ayuo Takahashi was born in Tokyo, and spent his early childhood traveling in Germany, Sweden and France with his parents. His father,
Yuji Takahashi Yuji or Yu Ji may refer to:
* Yuji Naka, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer
* Yu Ji (painter), a Qing dynasty painter and calligrapher
* Yūji, a common masculine Japanese given name
* Consort Yu (Xiang Yu's wife) (虞姬; ...
, is a composer of contemporary classical music and a pianist known for premiering works by
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...
and
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
. Ayuo and his parents settled in New York City in 1966. Ayuo grew up listening to both the new avant-garde experimental and contemporary music and the psychedelic rock music of the 1960s. He often went to museums, art galleries and cinemas to see exhibitions of contemporary art and the new cinema. At the same time, he also saw Japanese traditional Noh plays, and heard ancient and medieval music from Japan and Europe. All these were to become important influences in Ayuo's music and music-theater pieces. Ayuo's parents divorced in 1969, and Ayuo's mother married an American of Iranian descent, who came from a family that performed traditional Persian music in the courts of the Iranian Shah. This gave Ayuo the opportunity to hear Persian traditional music, which was also to leave a lasting influence on his music.
In 1975, Ayuo's mother and step-father separated, while Ayuo was visiting his father in Japan, forcing him to live there. His first studio recording was in 1976 with his father,
Yuji Takahashi Yuji or Yu Ji may refer to:
* Yuji Naka, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer
* Yu Ji (painter), a Qing dynasty painter and calligrapher
* Yūji, a common masculine Japanese given name
* Consort Yu (Xiang Yu's wife) (虞姬; ...
,
Ryuichi Sakamoto
is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...
, and Masahiko Togashi on the CD "Twilight" released on Columbia Records in Japan.
Adjusting to life in Japan as a teenager was difficult, and Ayuo would later make that the main theme on his CD "What We Look Like In The Picture" released in 2006 from Zipangu in Japan.
Ayuo spent his high school years writing poetry and appearing in poetry reading competitions.
Ayuo joined
Keiji Haino
Keiji Haino ( ''Haino Keiji''; born May 3, 1952) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise music, percussion, psychedelic music, minimalism and drone music. He has been active since the ...
's group "
Fushitsusha" in 1979, and performed improvisation with many musicians in what was the final period of the "free music scene" in Japan of the 1970s.
Ayuo studied the traditional plucked string instrument, Biwa, with
Kinshi Tsuruta
was a Japanese musician.
As a Biwa player
Tsuruta specialized in the ancient pear-shaped plucked lute called biwa, and also sang. She developed her own form of the Satsuma biwa, which is sometimes referred to as Tsuruta biwa. This biwa differs ...
. He studied contemporary music composition with Minao Shibata and
Joji Yuasa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.Luciana Galliano, ''The Music of Joji Yuasa'' ed. Peter Burt. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
Early life and education
Joji Yuasa was born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, Kōriyama, Fukushi ...
.
His first solo record,"Carmina", was recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 from Epic-Sony. Since then, he has released over a dozen solo albums, collaborating with a diverse group of individuals, including
Peter Hammill
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...
,
Ryuichi Sakamoto
is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...
,
Danny Thompson
Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...
,
Maddy Prior
Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...
,
Takehisa Kosugi
was a Japanese composer, violinist and artist associated with the Fluxus movement.
Biography
Kosugi studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1962. He first became drawn to music listening to his father play har ...
,
Carlos Alomar
Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any musician other than pianist Mike Garso ...
,
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
,
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...
,
Dave Mattacks
David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he i ...
,
Yohji Yamamoto
is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics.
Yamamoto has won notable awards for ...
,
Jadranka Stojaković
Jadranka Stojaković ( sr-cyr, Јадранка Стојаковић, 24 July 1950 – 3 May 2016) was a Bosnian singer-songwriter popular in the former Yugoslavia, known for her unique voice. Her best known hits are "Sve smo mogli mi", "Što te n ...
,
Hiromi Ōta
Hiromi Ōta (太田 裕美 '' Ōta Hiromi'', born on January 20, 1955, in Kasukabe, Saitama Saitama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese female singer. She is a popular singer who is considered an idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and ...
,
Yoko Ueno
is a Japanese recording artist. She has performed in the bands, Oranges & Lemons, Vita Nova, Marsh-Mallow, and Zabadak.
Discography
CDs
* "Voices" (December 5, 1993 Biosphere Records)
* "Nursery Chimes" (ナーサリーチャイム ...
,
Clive Deamer
Get the Blessing (previously known as the Blessing) are a jazz rock quartet based in Bristol, England. The band formed in 2000 when Jim Barr (bass guitar) and Clive Deamer (drums), who had played with Portishead, joined Jake McMurchie (saxopho ...
,
Mikigami Koichi, Wataru Ohkuma,
Aki Takahashi
is a Japanese pianist specializing in contemporary classical music.
Biography
Born in Kamakura, she began studying piano at the age of five and received her M.A. degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her teachers inc ...
,
Mie Miki
Mie Miki is a classical accordion musician. She took up the accordion at age 4 and has been dubbed "Queen of the Classical Accordion". She is a professor of accordion as well as Vice President at Folkwang University of the Arts
The Folkwang Uni ...
,
Kazue Sawai is a Japanese ''koto'' player noted for her performance of contemporary classical music and free improvisation.
She began studying, at the age of eight, with Michio Miyagi. She later graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and M ...
and many Japanese traditional musicians. Three CDs of his music have been released in the United States from the TZADIK label in the 21st century.
Ayuo has composed music for films, ballet, contemporary dance, and theater. ''
Border Line'', directed by the Japanese film director
Lee Sang-il in 2002, features music mostly performed alone by Ayuo.
Music
Ayuo has a unique distinctive style in his music. He can create music which balances on traditions of world music, improvisation, new age, psychedelic, avant-pop, electronica and classical composition, without losing his distinctive voice in the music he creates.
For the first Tzadik CD, he was introduced as the "one of the most enigmatic figures in Japan".
He has also made unique arrangements of compositions by
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
,
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
,
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
,
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
,
Toru Takemitsu TORU or Toru may refer to:
*TORU, spacecraft system
*Toru (given name), Japanese male given name
*Toru, Pakistan, village in Mardan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
*Tõru
Tõru is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County in western Est ...
and other classical composers
Lyrics
Ayuo's lyrics are often about difficulties in human relationship, especially between different cultures, and between men and women. His lyrics often include scientific, literary or historical references. He often uses texts by philosophers from Japan, Middle East, and Europe, such as
Dogen,
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
,
Kazantzakis, and others. Two of his music-theater compositions are based on a medieval Japanese Noh play by
Zeami
(c. 1363 – c. 1443), also called , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright.
His father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan'ami was also skil ...
. Another music-theater composition is based on the story "Blue Eyes, Black Hair" by
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...
. There are also compositions based on mythic themes, such as the story of Pele and Hi'iaka from Hawaii, and story of the Sun god from ancient India. Ayuo often writes on the liner notes of his CDs that he was influenced by the scholar of world myths and comparative religion,
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
.
Discography
Albums released in Japan
*''Carmina'' (1984)
*''Silent Film'' (1985)
*''
Shizukani Okitegoran'' (1985)
*''Memory Theatre'' (1985)
*''
Nova Carmina'' (1986)
*''Blue Eyes, Black Hair'' (1995)
*''
Heavenly Garden Orchestra'' (1995)
*''
Songs from a Eurasian Journey'' (1997)
*''
Earth Guitar'' (2000)
*''Stoned'' (2002)
*''
E No Naka No Sugata (What We Look Like In The Picture)'' (2006)
*''dna'' (2009)
Albums released in the US
*''Izutsu'' (2000)
*''Red Moon'' (2004)
*''AOI'' (2005)
Albums released in South Korea
*''
Songs from a Eurasian Journey'' (1998)
Albums produced by Ayuo
*''
Kazue Sawai/ Me to Me (Eye to Eye)''(1988)
External links
*
https://www.youtube.com/user/NovaCarmina?feature=mheewww.allmusic.com/artist/ayuo-q70718
{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Ayuo
1960 births
20th-century American composers
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century classical composers
20th-century Japanese composers
20th-century Japanese guitarists
20th-century Japanese male musicians
21st-century American composers
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century classical composers
21st-century Japanese composers
21st-century Japanese guitarists
21st-century Japanese male musicians
American classical composers
American classical guitarists
American experimental musicians
American film score composers
American lyricists
American male classical composers
American male film score composers
American male guitarists
American male singers
American male songwriters
American record producers
Artists from New York (state)
Classical musicians from New York (state)
Japanese classical composers
Japanese classical guitarists
Japanese experimental musicians
Japanese film score composers
Japanese lyricists
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese male film score composers
Japanese male singers
Japanese record producers
Japanese songwriters
Living people
Singers from Tokyo
Tzadik Records artists