EMS Proceedings and Other Publications
Japanese Composers in GRM before 1970 – What did they bring to the Japanese Contemporary Music?
Mikako Mizuno
Mikako Mizuno, Nagoya City University, Japan
mikakom@sda.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
Article
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Abstract
This presentation focused on two Japanese composers who created pieces of electroacoustic music in Europe before 1970. Their pieces have not introduced in Japan until they came back to Japan. Even though the first Japanese musique concrète had been created in 1953 and the NHK studio for electronic music inaugurated in 1955 was one of the first electroacoustic music studios in the world, the two composers had started their work of electroacoustic music in foreign countries and their creating method were much different from that of Japanese studio.
The two are Akira Tamba and Makoto Shinohara, both of whom are still actively composing. Tamba worked in GRM (Paris) and Shinohara worked in Studio Voor Elektronische Muziek (Utrecht). This time my presentation is based on GRM archive research which provided several new information concerning the history of Japanese electroacoustic music the sources (sound and text). Comparison the GRM sources with those of Japanese historical text clarified and some alternative phases of the history of Japanese electroacoustic music.
In GRM Tamba had created Neuf pièces, Interlude, Morphogrammes 0 and others for television and film in 1964 and 1965.
Three works of Tamba are found in GRM sources. The pieces are not known in Japan. I certified their sounds in cooperation of GRM. Enrichissement Sono Drama and Le Nô Mus. Orient. Plac 30 are thought to be the radio programs. Synergies was created with François-Bernard Mâche for the concert collectif. Shinohara had created one piece in GRM with some cups and bowls, but no information about the piece is found in GRM. The direct interviews with the composers also testified the atmosphere how they accepted electroacoustic.
International cooperation to compare such kind of sources in different countries is now necessary for historical research of electroacoustic music.