Improvised Music From Japan
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Improvised Music from Japan is a
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
and
record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
. The website was originally known as ''Japanese Free Improvisers''. As its name suggests, it concentrates on
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese and Japan-based improvisers, particularly free improvisers. In December 2001, a compilation box-set, also called ''Improvised Music from Japan'', was released to mark the fifth anniversary of the website. It was a 10 CD collection of previously unissued material from a variety of Japanese musicians (some of them collaborating with Europeans and Americans). The artists featured on the release are: *
Tetuzi Akiyama Tetuzi Akiyama (Akiyama Tetsuji) (born 13 April 1964) is a Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker. Akiyama formed the improvisation group Madhar in 1987, and the classical ensemble Hikyo String Quintet in 1994 (which also included T ...
* Big Picture (band) * Haco * Shoji Hano * Junji Hirose * Ryoji Hojito * Yoshimitsu Ichiraku *
Kazuo Imai is a Tokyo-based guitarist who plays in a rigorous and original free improvisation idiom. His music joins the rigour and texture of contemporary classical with the passion of free jazz. He has played with many Western and Japanese improvisers, inc ...
*
Incapacitants are a Japanese noise music group formed in 1981. Initially a solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, Fumio Kosakai joined upon the project's relocation to Tokyo. The duo's stated aim is to produce "pure" noise, uninfluenced by musical ideas or even huma ...
* Atsuhiro Ito *
Utah Kawasaki Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
*
Kyoko Kuroda is a former Japanese football player. She played for Japan national team. Club career Kuroda was born on May 8, 1969. She played for Prima Ham FC Kunoichi. She was selected Best Eleven in 1991 season. National team career On January 12, 1989 ...
* Brett Larner *
Sachiko M Sachiko Matsubara (Japanese: 松原 幸子; born 1973), better known by her stage name Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician. Her first solo album, ''Sine Wave Solo'', was released in 1999. Working in collaboration with Ami Yoshida under the name Cosmo ...
*
Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...
* Takehito Nakazato *
Mitsuru Nasuno Mitsuru (みつる, ミツル) is a unisex Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: Possible writings *, "full/fullness" *, "grow/raise" *, "light flow" People with the name *, Japanese manga author *, Japanese professional foot ...
*
Masahiko Okura Masahiko (written: 正彦, 雅彦, 誠彦, 昌彦, 允彦, 政彦, 真彦, 正比古 or まさ彦) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army imprisoned for his involvement ...
*
Aki Onda Aki or AKI may refer to: Places in Japan *Aki District, Hiroshima, a district in Hiroshima Prefecture *Aki, Kōchi, a city in Kochi Prefecture *Aki District, Kōchi, a district in Kochi Prefecture *Aki, Ōita, a town in Ōita Prefecture *Aki Provi ...
* Yasuhiro Otani *
Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in ...
* Tetsu Saitoh *
Michihiro Sato Michihiro Sato (wikt:佐藤, 佐藤wikt:通弘, 通弘, ''Satō Michihiro''; surname Sato; name sometimes listed as Sato Michihiro; (born 1957), is a prominent Japanese player of the ''Tsugaru-jamisen''. Born in Machida, Tokyo, Japan, his mother ...
* Skist *
Taku Sugimoto Taku Sugimoto, born December 20, 1965, in Tokyo, is a Japanese guitarist. He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Critic Bruce Russell describes this era o ...
* Tamaru *
Yumiko Tanaka Yumiko is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yumiko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *弓子, "bow, child". *由美子, "reason/cause, beauty, child". *結実子, "fruition, child". *夕実子, "evenin ...
* Tsuguto Tsunoda *
Kazuhisa Uchihashi Kazuhisa Uchihashi (内橋和久, ''Uchihashi Kazuhisa'') is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied j ...
*
Michiyo Yagi , a Japanese musician who studied koto under Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai and Satomi Kurauchi, and graduated from the NHK Professional Training School for Traditional Musicians. Between 1989 and 1990, during her tenure as visiting professor of musi ...
*
Seiichi Yamamoto is a Japanese musician. While perhaps most famous for his role as guitarist for the noise rock band Boredoms, he has released multitudes of records both as a solo artist and with several other musicians and bands, in addition to composing the so ...
* Tetsuro Yasunaga *
Ami Yoshida is a Japanese musician. Yoshida does not play instruments, instead making her music with her own voice. Rather than conventional singing she makes a variety of vocalisations of such a nature that it is often hard to tell that the sounds are bei ...
*
Yasuhiro Yoshigaki is a Japanese jazz drummer and percussionist. He is known as a founding member of the bands Altered States and Sights, as well as his work with composers Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn. Biography During his time as a university student, Yasuhir ...
The label has since released a number of other records featuring similar artists: *
Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...
,
Tetuzi Akiyama Tetuzi Akiyama (Akiyama Tetsuji) (born 13 April 1964) is a Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker. Akiyama formed the improvisation group Madhar in 1987, and the classical ensemble Hikyo String Quintet in 1994 (which also included T ...
and guests, ''Meeting at Off Site Vol. 1'' (IMJ-501, April 2002) *
Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in ...
, ''Ensemble Cathode'' (IMJ-502, July 2002) *
Kaffe Matthews Kaffe Matthews is a British electronic composer and sound artist. She collaborated on the work ''Weightless Animals'', which won a BAFTA Scotland award. Biography Matthews is from Good Easter in Essex, England.Andrea Neumann Andrea Neumann (1969 – 2020) was a German visual artist and educator. She is one of the most important artists of the Saarland region. She is known for her abstract paintings. Biography Andrea Neumann was born on June 5, 1969, in Stuttgart, G ...
and
Sachiko M Sachiko Matsubara (Japanese: 松原 幸子; born 1973), better known by her stage name Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician. Her first solo album, ''Sine Wave Solo'', was released in 1999. Working in collaboration with Ami Yoshida under the name Cosmo ...
, ''In Case of Fire Take the Stairs'' (IMJ-503, December 2002) *
Ami Yoshida is a Japanese musician. Yoshida does not play instruments, instead making her music with her own voice. Rather than conventional singing she makes a variety of vocalisations of such a nature that it is often hard to tell that the sounds are bei ...
, ''Tiger Thrush'' (IMJ-504, July 2003) * Shoji Hano, ''48'' (IMJ-505, May 2003) *
Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...
,
Tetuzi Akiyama Tetuzi Akiyama (Akiyama Tetsuji) (born 13 April 1964) is a Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker. Akiyama formed the improvisation group Madhar in 1987, and the classical ensemble Hikyo String Quintet in 1994 (which also included T ...
and guests, ''Meeting at Off Site Vol. 2'' (IMJ-506, May 2003) *
Yumiko Tanaka Yumiko is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yumiko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *弓子, "bow, child". *由美子, "reason/cause, beauty, child". *結実子, "fruition, child". *夕実子, "evenin ...
, ''Tayutauta'' (IMJ-507, due January 2004) * Raku Sugifatti (
Radu Malfatti Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone and harmonica player, and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. Malfatti is associated with the style of music known as reductionism and has been described as "a ...
and
Taku Sugimoto Taku Sugimoto, born December 20, 1965, in Tokyo, is a Japanese guitarist. He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Critic Bruce Russell describes this era o ...
), ''Futatsu'' (IMJ-508/9, December 2003) *
Aki Onda Aki or AKI may refer to: Places in Japan *Aki District, Hiroshima, a district in Hiroshima Prefecture *Aki, Kōchi, a city in Kochi Prefecture *Aki District, Kōchi, a district in Kochi Prefecture *Aki, Ōita, a town in Ōita Prefecture *Aki Provi ...
, ''Bon Voyage!'' (IMJ-510, October 2003) *
Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in ...
, Park Je Chun and Mi Yeon, ''Loose Community'' (IMJ-511, December 2003) *
Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...
and Shoji Hano, ''Funny Rat'' (IMJ-512, October 2003) *
Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...
, ''Side Guitar'' (IMJ-513, December 2003) *
Han Bennink Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal fig ...
and
Kazuo Imai is a Tokyo-based guitarist who plays in a rigorous and original free improvisation idiom. His music joins the rigour and texture of contemporary classical with the passion of free jazz. He has played with many Western and Japanese improvisers, inc ...
, ''Across the Desert'' (IMJ-514, December 2003) *
Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...
,
Tetuzi Akiyama Tetuzi Akiyama (Akiyama Tetsuji) (born 13 April 1964) is a Japanese guitarist, violinist, and instrument-maker. Akiyama formed the improvisation group Madhar in 1987, and the classical ensemble Hikyo String Quintet in 1994 (which also included T ...
and guests, ''Meeting at Off Site Vol. 3'' (IMJ-515, December 2003) Other Japanese artists which could be considered free improvisers include: *
Kaoru Abe (May 5, 1949 – September 9, 1978) was a Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist. Self-taught at a young age, Abe performed with notables such as Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves, although ...
*
Masayuki Takayanagi was a Japanese jazz / free improvisation / noise musician. He was active in the Japanese jazz scene from the late 1950s. In the 1960s he formed New Directions (later New Direction Unit), which recorded several albums throughout the 1970s. He also ...


See also

*
List of Japanoise artists This is an alphabetical list of Japanese noise, or "Japanoise" (ジャパノイズ) bands and solo projects that have articles on Wikipedia. See also *Improvised Music from Japan *Japanoise * List of experimental musicians * List of musicians ...


External links


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