Kazuo UEHARA
“Early works” – Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol.16

“Seoul” (1982). This piece was composed using the recorded sounds as raw material. It was to reassemble the “historical” soundscape of the Korea’s capital city, Seoul, in the early 1980s. During this time, despite the political chaos and the tension in the city under the Korean military government, I felt the lively energy in its people’s life. The raw material comprised of wide range of different sounds includes the street cries in the downtown, cheerful voices of children in Namsang area, noise of arterial streets, and conversations of the students at the Seoul National University. “Music for Contemporary Dance – dedicate to Takao Kusuno” (1975). In 1970s, the art space “Jean-Jean“ in Shibuya served as a popular venue for experimental music, theatre, dance and others. In this movement, I did collaboration works with Takao Kusuno who performed as the artist and dance director. This piece for the dance was composed in collaboration with Kusuno to explore new approaches for dance. The work has two consecutive parts with the subtitles “Crows Habit” and “I am a Clown”. It was not merely a contemporary dance, nor Butoh, but it indicated the contemporary room for the dance scene of the time. “Science Technology Expo ’85 – Music for Cell Universe” (1985). The piece was specially composed for the Health and Sports Pavilion “Cell Universe“ at the International Exposition, Tsukuba, Japan, 1985. The space was comprised of twenty-seven-multiscreen film and stereophonic space. The uniquely designed space controller, the system for moving sound image, made it possible to control the electronic acoustic sound image to create virtual 3D space. “Homage to Xenakis” (1983). This piece was composed at a UPIC workshop held in Tokyo in 1980s where the composer Iannis Xenakis made remarks on each presented work. The musical composition tool, UPIC, was created by Xenakis. This unique sound synthesis system allows the user to create music by drawing lines on the board. Xenakis originally envisaged this tool to be used for pedagogical purpose. Other than musicians, the workshop drew participants from children to adults from the public. – from liner note by artist.