Joji YUASA
“Background sound in textile pavillion of Expo’70” – Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol.14

At the EXPO ’70 in Osaka, many avant-garde artists contributed architectural, space, environmental design and sound works. In the Textile Pavillion (“Sen-i Kan” in Japanese), Japanese composer Joji Yuasa and filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto presented a remarkable experimental event, “Space Projection ’Ako’“ for multi-channel tape music and image projection. Also included in the presentation at the Pavillion was background sound for several spaces and objects, composed by Joji Yuasa, mainly. This original master tape was provided by Yoshimasa Matsumoto, the sound operator at the Pavillion, who was also a sound engineer for ’60s film and television which included “Ultra Q,“ “Ultraman“ and others. For the first track, “Music For ’Pattern-Slide ’Mon’yoh’,“ abstract textile images were projected on the walls of a corridor (“Mon’yoh“ means graphical patterns). This concrete sound was composed specially for this space. “Music For ’Colourful World’“ (by unknown mixer) was played and recorded by three electric guitar players. “White World“ involved the same interior space as “Colourful World,“ except it was painted white, in contrast to “Colourful World.“ Music for this room was made out of sound material from “Projection Esemplastic“ and “Icon For White Noise,“ both important electronic works from Yuasa’s early years. “Voices Of Dolls“ featured a group of tall, gentleman-like dolls set in a lobby space, accompanied by meaningless text in Japanese, English and Portuguese coming out of them. The Japanese version is a part of Yuasa’s concrete work, “Voices Coming.“ An English version (by Joseph Love) and a Portuguese version (by Joaquim M. Benoetez) were recorded for this project. For “Voice Of ’Raven’ Objects“ (by unknown mixer) the artist Masunobu Yoshimura created ravens and arranged them here and there on the Pavillion. The accompanying sound was made from modulated Noh chant and lines from a story coming out of the mouths of the ravens. “Background Sound Of Central Dome“ was taken from events such as “Space Projection ’Ako’” that took place in the dome space of the Pavillion. This background sound was prepared from marimba modulated by a square wave. Premiere recordings on disc, housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve in an original design. Includes newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English. Limited edition of 500 copies.