A musician who spent his youth in New York City in the hot late 60s, made his debut in Tokyo in the 80s, and since then has been tirelessly active and progressive, and continues to struggle outside the society of Japan. (Outside Society)
Appearing in the book: Yokoo Tadanori, Shuji Terayama, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Kishin Shinoyama, Seiji Ozawa, Yukio Mishima, Miles Davis, Andy Warhol, Yuji Takahashi, Takehisa Kosugi, Steve Lacy, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Bruford, Keiji Haino, Mutsuro Takahashi, John Zorn, Peter Hammill, Maddy Prior, Dave Mattacks, Horace Silver, John Cage, Terry Riley, Kazue Sawai, Hiromi Ohta, EPO, John Cale...
This book describes Ayuo Takahashis growing up during the socially turbulent 1960s in New York City. The book will be most appreciated by individuals who are interested in Asian culture and the problems that Western-educated Asians confront when they return to their ancestral homelands.
Part I.
1. My first memory/Age 3, plane trip to Berlin/Kennedy
Assassination/New York.
2. The Beatles/Rhythm and sound.
3. New York in the
late 1960s/My mothers artist friends (Yokoo Tadanori, Shuji Terayama,
Hiroshi Teshigahara, Kishin Shinoyama, Mutsuo Takahashi, etc.)/The Filmore
East/Electric Circus/Terry Riley/John Cage and Marcel Duchamp/Living
Theater/Horace Silver/Joan Gilberto/Thelonius Monk/Muddy Waters.
4. Started
learning guitar/1968: The year of changes/My parents divorce/Psychedelic
rock/Started writing poetry/Open-tuning guitar.
5. My mothers marriage to
Mansour Malekpour/Jethro Tull/Ten Years After/Alice Cooper/Emerson, Lake &
Palmer/Pink Floyd/Fairport Convention/Earth, Wind, and Fire/Steely Dan/The
Who and more.
6. Influences from Peter Gabriels performances.
7. David, the
actor/Experimental films/The Strawbs.
8. The junior high school I
attended/Studying medieval European history/Teaching methods that make the
students think for themselves/The Italian school in my neighborhood.
9. The
disintegration of my family life/Suddenly leaving
New York City in
1975. 10. Arrival in Tokyo/Father, Yuji
Takahashi/Stepmother,
Karen/Enrollment in Yokohama International School.
11. My fathers
recordings/Left-wing political activists began to visit our
residence/Takehisa Kosugi/Steve Lacy/Aquirax Aida/Meeting Ryuichi Sakamoto.
12. Going to Yokohama International High School/Friends/Cannabis/LSD/The
Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis.
13. Father forces me to drop out from
high school for
political reasons/Separated from father/The music activities in Tokyo in the
late 1970s/Keiji Haino/Kichijoji Minor/Live performances at Seibu Auditorium,
Kyoto University/Aunt Sally.
14. Performances with Junichi Kawahara, Chie
Mukai,
Takeo Suzuki, Takuya Nishimura and others in the early 1980s/Kansai tour.
15.
1983, Record debut is decided/First solo album, Carmina/Interviews where
communication is not established/Morgan Fisher/Moonriders.
16. 1984, signing
with MIDI records.
17. Silent Film album/The misunderstood promotion/Memory
Theatre album.
18. Departure to record in the UK in the summer of
1986/Stopover in New York City/John Zorn/Arrival in London/AMM/David
Lord/Fairport Convention/Photographer Richard Haughton/Steeleye Span and
Renaissance in concert/Recordings at Crescent Studios/Dave Mattacks/Maddy
Prior/Peter Knight.
19. Meeting Peter Hammill/Visit to Peter Hammills
house/Interview with Peter Hammill.
20. Completion of the album, Nova
Carmina/Seeing Steve Marriott live.
21. Prolific creation in neurotic states.
22. 1987, Producing Kazue Sawais album, Eye to Eye/David Lord/Hiromi
Ota/Peter Hammill/Guy Evans/Sara Jane Morris/James Warren.
23. The Hungerford
massacre/J. G. Ballard.
24. From 1990 to now. Part II. Rock concerts I saw
before and after
1970. The Kinks. About Yes. Bill Bruford interview. I met
Andy Warhol when I was in the fifth grade. The school I went to in New York
City. Winter
1983. End of Earth. Part III. I dont understand the Japanese.
Why I dont understand the Japanese.
Part IV. Tokyo and my mother in the 1950s and early 1960s. Questions of
identity in Hiroshi Teshigaharas films and Kobo Abes novels. Toru
Takemitsus ear for sound. What is psychedelic? Yokoo Tadanori, Toshi
Ichiyanagi, and the psychedelic music scene. Taj Mahal Travellers and
Takehisa Kosugi. John Cale Interview (from 2001): A musical journey from
Xenakis, La Monte Young, Velvet Underground, and back to his roots in Wales.
Yukio Mishima. The experience of death. Persian classical music and my
stepfather, Mansour. Part V. Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and John Cage. Music
and mythology. Folk society. About rhythm. The rhythm of the words we speak
affects the rhythmic sense of the person who speaks them. The difference
between English and Japanese lyrics. Classical musics influence in Rock
music. Influences from Joni Mitchell and my mono opera Izutsu. Yokoo
Tadanori: The hometown is the source of creation. Part VI. Outside Society:
People Without a CountryThe poem. Discography. About the Author.
Ayuo Takahashi is a musician (songwriter, lyricist, composer, vocalist, and guitarist) with over 20 albums released in Japan and the United States. Ayuo grew up in New York during the 1960s, interacting with many cultural figures while still a child including Seiji Ozawa, Toru Takemitsu, Yokoo Tadanori, Hiroshi Teshigahara, John Cage, and others. He has recordings with Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Zorn, and Peter Hammill, among others, released on JVC, Tzadik, MIDI, Epic-Sony, and other labels. He continues to create works based on medieval mythology and contemporary literature. In recent years, Ayuo's work has increasingly included music theater and chamber music mixed with dance and theatrical elements. He is also a journalist writing about music, films, and culture for magazines in Japan. In 2020, the compilation album "Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient Music," which includes Ayuos composition "Nagareru," was nominated for a U.S. Grammy Award. His recent works are available at ayuo.bandcamp.com.
More info about Taylor & Francis e-books