Yoshimasa "Yoshi" Wada (11 November 1943 – 18 May 2021) was a Japanese

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

installation artist Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

and

new music New music may refer to: Musical styles and movements Pre-20th century * Ars nova, musical style in 14th-century France and the Low Countries * ''Le nuove musiche'', collection of monody by Giulio Caccini * New German School, music style in late 19 ...

musician who lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and then

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

Life

Born in

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 n ...

, after moving to

Wada joined the

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

movement in 1968 after meeting

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; lt, Jurgis Mačiūnas; November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was a Lithuanian American artist, born in Kaunas. A founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers ...

. Wada then studied music with

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

and the North Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath. His works often incorporated the use of

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

and were usually performed at a very high volume that allowed for the overtones within the sound to be heard clearly. Wada frequently performed his own compositions, which featured a certain freedom of

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, on Scottish highland bagpipe and with his voice. He also employed a number of homemade instruments, including "pipe horns" (very long horn-type instruments made from metal

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling (HVAC), waste removal, and potable water delive ...

piping Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one location to another. The engineering discipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid. Industrial process piping (and accompa ...

) that he performed, for example, in the ''Public Arts International/Free Speech'' series in 1979,
''Public Arts International/Free Speech'' catalogue at Princeton University Library as well as large reed instruments involving multiple

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

-like pipes connected to a large

air compressor An air compressor is a pneumatic device that converts power (using an electric motor, diesel or gasoline engine, etc.) into potential energy stored in pressurized air (i.e., compressed air). By one of several methods, an air compressor forces m ...

. Due to their appearance, Wada named these reef instruments the Alligator and the Elephantine Crocodile. Wada was also known for his mechanical and robotic installations. In

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in the mid-1990s, he performed a whimsically entitled piece, ''Lament for the Rise and Fall of Handy-Horn'', in which several compressed-air "auditory flare" signals used for nautical emergencies (the "Handy Horn" brand named in the title) were sounded for the duration of their usefulness, giving rise to an alarmingly high-decibel air-pressure environment and charged psychoacoustic environment.

Discography

* 1981: ''Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile'' (

India Navigation India Navigation was an American record company and independent record label that specialized in avant-garde jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded by Bob Cummins, a corporate lawyer who helped jazz musicians with legal matters. Its catalogu ...

) * 1985: ''Off the Wall'' (

Free Music Production Free Music Production (FMP) is a German record label that specialises in free jazz. Origins FMP originated from the New Artists Guild, which was an informal cooperative of musicians in the mid-1960s. In 1968, The New Artists Guild sponsored the T ...

) * 2008: ''The Appointed Cloud'' (EM/Omega Point) * 2009: ''Earth Horns with Electronic Drone'' CD/3LP (EM/Omega Point) * 2012: ''Singing in Unison'' 3LP (EM) * 2018: ''Frkwys 14 - Nue'' (With Tashi Wada & friends) (RVNG Intl.)

References

Sources

*Johnson, Tom (1989). ''The Voice of New Music: New York City 1972-1982 -- A Collection of Articles Originally Published by the

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

''. Eindhoven, Netherlands: Het Apollohuis. . Available for free download at

External links

Article from ''The New York Times''
1985
Yoshi Wada on BandcampObituary on Resident Advisor
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wada, Yoshi 1943 births 2021 deaths American installation artists Fluxus India Navigation artists Japanese artists Japanese musicians Japanese emigrants to the United States Minimalist composers Pupils of Pran Nath (musician) American male composers 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians