Haruomi Hosono 細野晴臣
Performing with YMO in 2008
Background information
Also known as	Harry Hosono
Born	(1947-07-09) July 9, 1947 (age 64) Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Genres	Ambient (ambient techno), Electronic (chiptune, dance, electro, electronica, game, house, techno, trance), Exotica, Experimental (avant‑garde), Funk, J‑pop, Rock, Synthpop, Worldbeat
Occupations	Musician, record producer, song writer
Instruments	Bass Guitar Synthesizer Vocals
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Alfa Records
Associated acts	Yellow Magic Orchestra, Happy End, Sketch Show, Tin Pan Alley, Apryl Fool
Website	Daisy World Wide Web

Haruomi Hosono (細野 晴臣, Hosono Haruomi^?, born July 9, 1947 in Minato, Tokyo), also known as Harry Hosono, is a renowned Japanese musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Biography[link]

Hosono first came to attention in Japan as the bass player of the psychedelic rock band Apryl Fool, who released the album The Apryl Fool in 1969. Members from this band (including Hosono) then formed the influential folk-rock group Happy End. One of the songs he wrote for Happy End, "Kaze wo Atsumete" (1971), later appeared in the film Lost In Translation and its soundtrack in 2003.^[1] After Happy End disbanded around 1974, Hosono worked with a loose association of artists making "exotica"-style music under the title Tin Pan Alley.

His involvement in electronic music also dates back to the early 1970s, when he performed the electric bass for Inoue Yousui's folk pop rock album Ice World (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychadelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which were electronic rock records utilizing synthesizers, electric guitars, and in the latter, electronic drums and rhythm machines.^[2][3]

In 1977, Hosono invited Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi to work on his exotica-flavoured album Paraiso, which included electronic music produced using the Yamaha CS-80 polyphonic synthesizer and ARP Odyssey synthesizer. The band was named "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band" and, having been recorded in late 1977, Paraiso was released in early 1978.^[4] The three worked together again for the 1978 electronic album Pacific, which included an early version of the song "Cosmic Surfin".^[5]

In 1978, he released an innovative electronic soundtrack for a fictional Bollywood film Cochin Moon, together with artist Tadanori Yokoo and future YMO band members Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake. Inspired by a trip to India and "the exotic, luxurious, and seemingly wonder-filled scenarios played out in Indian cinemas," it was an experimental "electro-exotica" album fusing exotic Indian music (reminiscent of Ravi Shankar and Bollywood music) with electronic music, including an early "synth raga" song entitled "Hum Ghar Sajan" (from a Guru Granth Sahib phrase).^[6] The same year, he contributed to Sakamoto's song "1000 Knives" for his solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto, which experimented with fusing electronic music with traditional Japanese music in early 1978.^[7]

Eventually in 1978, Hosono formed the Yellow Magic Orchestra with Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The Yellow Magic Orchestra (a.k.a. YMO) released a number of albums in the late 70s and early 80s to considerable acclaim both inside and outside Japan. After YMO disbanded in 1984, Hosono released a number of solo albums covering a variety of styles, including film soundtracks, and a variety of electronic ambient albums.

He was one of the first producers to recognize the appeal of video game sounds and music. YMO's self titled debut in 1978 contained substantial video game sounds and after YMO disbanded an early project was an album simply titled Video Game Music containing mixed and edited Namco arcade game music and sounds. Video Game Music was released in 1984 as an early example of a chiptune record^[8] and the first video game music album.^[9] That same year, he also produced the theme song for Hayao Miyazaki's popular anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, "Kaze no Tani no Naushika", with vocals by actress-singer Narumi Yasuda.^[10] In the late 80s and early 90s, the influence of world music on his music deepened, and he worked with international singers and musicians such as Amina Annabi.

As well as recording his own music, Haruomi has done considerable production work for other artists such as Miharu Koshi, Sheena and the Roketts, Sandii and the Sunsetz, Chisato Moritaka and Seiko Matsuda.

He has produced a number of short term band projects as a band member. His first post-YMO band was Friends of Earth. As with most of his projects he combines musical styles he's interested in. F.O.E. seemed to be a combination of Funk and Techno and included a collaboration with James Brown and Maceo Parker for a remake of the song "Sex Machine". Another notable band project was 1995's Love, Peace & Trance. Members were Mimori Yusa ("Love"), Miyako Koda ("Peace"), Haruomi Hosono ("&") and Mishio Ogawa ("Trance").

In the 1990s he started the Daisyworld label to release a wide range of experimental artists from Japan and the rest of the world. Hosono collaborated on many of the releases, such as World Standard, a trip into Americana; HAT, a supergroup (the acronym stands for Hosono, Atom Heart, Tetsu Inoue),and "Quiet Logic", by Mixmaster Morris and Jonah Sharp. The Orb also paid tribute with a series of remixes including the notorious "Hope You Choke On Your Whalemeat".

In 2002 Haruomi formed the duo Sketch Show with his YMO band-mate Yukihiro Takahashi. They have released two albums, one of which, Loophole, has received a UK release. When the third former YMO member, Ryuichi Sakamoto deepened his involvement it was decided to bill those collaborations as Human Audio Sponge.

In 2007, his fellow YMO members and other artist paid tribute to Haruomi with a 2-disc album titled "Tribute to Haruomi" in Spring of 2007. Also, that same year, the animated film Appleseed Ex Machina was released featuring a soundtrack performed and supervised by Haruomi Hosono.

In September 2010 he performed at the De La Fantasia festival and played songs from his upcoming album.

In February 2011 it was announced that his new album, entitled "HoSoNoVa" will be released on 20 April and will be performing a special concert to celebrate its release.

Bands and Collaborations[link]

• Apryl Fool
• Happy End
• Tin Pan Alley
• Yellow Magic Orchestra
• Friends Of Earth (F.O.E) (with Eiki Nonaka)
• HIS (with Kiyoshirō Imawano and Fuyumi Sakamoto)
• Love, Peace & Trance (Mimori Yusa, Miyako Koda and Mishio Ogawa)
• Swing Slow (with Miharu Koshi)
• HAT (with Atom Heart and Tetsu Inoue)
• Harry & Mac (with Makoto Kubota)
• Tin Pan (with Tatsuo Hayashi and Shigeru Suzuki)
• Sketch Show (with Yukihiro Takahashi)
• HASYMO (previously Human Audio Sponge) (Sketch Show and Ryuichi Sakamoto, with Keigo Oyamada, Hiroshi Takano, Christian Fennesz, Tomohiko Gondō and Ren Takada as live support)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Hosono House (1973, Bellwood)
• Tropical Dandy (1975, Nippon Crown/Panam)
• Taian Yōkō (泰安洋行^?) - Bon Voyage Co. (1976, Nippon Crown/Panam)
• Paraiso (はらいそ, Haraiso^?) (1978, by "Harry Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band", Alfa)
• Cochin Moon (コチンの月, Kochin no Tsuki^?) (1978, by Haruomi Hosono and Tadanori Yokō, King Records)
• Philharmony (1982)
• S·F·X (1984, by "Haruomi Hosono with Friends Of Earth", Teichiku/Non-Standard)
• Coincidental Music (1985)
• Mercuric Dance (1985, Teichiku/Monad)
• The Endless Talking (1985, Teichiku/Monad)
• Omni Sight Seeing (1989)
• Medicine Compilation (1993, Epic Sony)
• Mental Sports Mixes (1993, Sony Tristar)
• Good Sport (1995, Clock)
• Naga (1995, FOA)
• N.D.E. ("Near Death Experience") (1995, Mercury)
• Interpieces Organization (1996, by Haruomi Hosono & Bill Laswell, Teichiku)
• Road to Louisiana (ルイジアナ珍道中, Ruijiana Chindōchū^?) (1999, by "Harry & Mac" (Makoto Kubota), Epic)
• Flying Saucer 1947 (2007, "Harry Hosono & The World Shyness", Victor/Speedstar)
• HoSoNoVa (2011, Victor)

Soundtrack Albums[link]

• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984, anime soundtrack, produced theme song "Kaze no Tani no Naushika" sung by Narumi Yasuda)^[10]
• Nokto de la galaksia fervojo (銀河鉄道の夜, Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru^?) (1985, movie soundtrack, Teichiku/Non-Standard)
• Paradise View (1985, movie soundtrack, Teichiku/Monad)
• The Tale of Genji (源氏物語, Genji Monogatari^?) (1987, movie soundtrack, Epic Sony)
• La Maison de Himiko (2005, movie soundtrack, Warner Music Japan)
• Ex Machina Original Soundtrack/Original Soundtrack Complete Edition (soundtrack surpervision, composition of some tracks) (2007, Commmons)

Compilation Albums[link]

• Hosono Box 1969-2000 (2000, Daisyworld)
• Harry Hosono Crown Years 1974-1977 (2007)

Tribute Albums[link]

• Tribute to Haruomi Hosono (2007, Commmons)

Featuring: Van Dyke Parks, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takako Minekawa, Miharu Koshi, Little Creatures, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Hiroshi Takano, Towa Tei, Akiko Yano, Rei Harakami, Yukihiro Takahashi, Cornelius, Jim O'Rourke, Kahimi Karie

• Strange Song Book — Tribute to Haruomi Hosono 2 (2008, Commmons)

Featuring: Señor Coconut, Van Dyke Parks, Dr. John, Sheena & The Rokkets, Buffalo Daughter, Thurston Moore, Miu Sakamoto, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fennesz

Contributions[link]

• CBS/Sony Sound Image Series:
  • Pacific (with Shigeru Suzuki and Tatsuro Yamashita) (tracks 1, 4 and 8 composed and performed by Hosono) (1978)
  • The Aegen Sea (with Takahiko Ishikawa and Masataka Matsutoya) (tracks 3 and 4 composed and performed by Hosono) (1979)
  • Vol. 1 - Island Music (tracks 1, 7, 9 and 10 composed and performed by Hosono) (1983)
  • Vol. 2 - Off Shore (tracks 1 and 2 composed and performed by Hosono) (1983)
• Love, Peace & Trance (1995)

Composition Work[link]

• Imokin Trio (イモ欽トリオ^?):

High School Lullaby (1981)

Teardrop Tanteidan (ティアドロップ探偵団^?) (1982)

Teenage Eagles (1983)

• Apogee & Perigee (Jun Togawa, Yuji Miyake and other artists):

Getsusekai Ryokou (月世界旅行^?) (1984, Alfa)

Shinkuu Kiss (真空キッス^?) (1984, Alfa)

• Seiko Matsuda:

Tegoku no Kiss/Wagamama na Kataomoi (天国のキッス／わがままな片想い^?) (1983)

Glass no Ringo (ガラスの林檎^?) (1983)

Pink no Mozart (ピンクのモーツァルト^?) (1984)

• Akina Nakamori: Kinku (禁区^?) (1983)
• Yoshie Kashiwabara: Shiawase Ondo (しあわせ音頭^?) (1982)
• Shin'ichi Mori:

New York Monogatari (紐育物語^?) (1983)

Whiskey Ira no Machi de (ウイスキー色の街で^?)

• Miki Fujimura:

仏蘭西映画

夢・恋・人 (1983)

妖星傅

春 Mon Amour

• Kumiko Yamashita: 赤道小町ドキッ (1982)
• Narumi Yasuda: Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä (風の谷のナウシカ, Kaze no Tani no Naushika^?, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) (image song for the film) (1984)
• Chisato Moritaka: Miracle Light (ミラクルライト^?) (1997)
• Mitsuko Horie: Kiteretsu Daihyakka no Uta (キテレツ大百科のうた^?) (1987, Kiteretsu Daihyakka 90 minute special opening theme)
• Mika Matsubara: Paradise Beach (Sophie's Theme) (パラダイス ビーチ(ソフィーのテーマ), Paradaisu Biichi (Sofii no Teema)^?)
• Starbow: Heartbreak Taiyōzoku (ハートブレイク太陽族^?) (1982)
• Kuniko Yamada: Tetsugaku Shiyō (哲学しよう^?)
• Kawakamisan to Nagashimasan: きたかチョーさんまってたドン(1983)
• Masatō Ibu: Datte, Hormone Love (だって、ホルモンラブ^?)
• Jun Togawa: 玉姫様 (1984)
• "NHK News Today" opening theme (1988, NHK TV)
• Chappie^{[disambiguation needed ]}: Tanabata no Yoru, Kimi ni Aitai (七夕の夜、君に逢いたい^?) (1999)

Filmography[link]

• "Yoimachigusa" (evening primrose) (1974): Music
• "Natsu no himitsu" (Summer secret) (1982): Music
• "Izakaya Chōji" (1983)
• "A Y.M.O. FILM PROPAGANDA" (1984)
• "Ginga tetsudô no yoru" (Night on the Galactic Railroad) (1985): Music
• "Paradaizu byu" (Paradise view) (1985)
• "Shigatsu no sakana" (1985)
• "Ningen no yakusoku" (A promise) (1986): Music
• "Jazu daimyô" (Jazz daimyô) (1986)
• "Murasaki SHikubu-Genji Monogatari" (Murasaki Shikibu-The Tale of Genji): Music
• "Binetsu shônen" (1987)
• "Hoshi o tsugumono" (1990): Music
• "Sazan uinzu" (Sazan Wins) (1993): Music
• "On the way" (2000): Music
• "Mezon do Himiko" (House of Himiko) (2005): Music
• "EX MACHINA" (2007): Music supervising director
• "Noruwei no mori" (Norwegian Wood (film)) (2010): Record Shop Manager

References[link]

External links[link]

• Harry "Haruomi" Hosono at Allmusic
• Haruomi Hosono discography, news, and general information at Music City
• Official Sketch Show website (Avex)
• Nippop Profile | Sketch Show

Miharu Koshi (コシミハル, Koshi Miharu^?, born January 3, 1960) is a Japanese popular musician. Her career started in the late 1970s performing Japanese new music. By the mid 1980s she was performing music with electronic instruments, with many albums produced by Haruomi Hosono. Her later work has led to European classical music, French chanson and early 20th century European Jazz, which she sings in several languages (most often French).

External links[link]

• Official Site
• 'Daisy World' Record Label Web Site

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2011)

Akiko Yano (矢野 顕子, Yano Akiko^?, born February 13, 1955) is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer. She was born as Akiko Suzuki (Suzuki Akiko) in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Aomori, and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. Her vocals and singing style has often been compared to the contemporary English singer Kate Bush.^[1]

She has recorded with Yellow Magic Orchestra and its members Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, and Yukihiro Takahashi, as well as Swing Out Sister, Pat Metheny, The Chieftains, Lyle Mays, members of Little Feat, David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Kenji Omura, Gil Goldstein, Toninho Horta, Mino Cinelu, Jeff Bova, Charlie Haden, Peter Erskine, Anthony Jackson, David Rhodes, Bill Frisell, Thomas Dolby, the band Quruli, Rei Harakami as yanokami, and her daughter Miu Sakamoto.

She married and soon after divorced Makoto Yano, a producer of her first recording. She later married fellow musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom she had a daughter Miu Sakamoto. Yano later separated from him in 1992 and they eventually divorced in August 2006.^[2]

General Biography[link]

Akiko Yano was born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Japan. She began playing piano at the young age of three and demonstrated promising talent. When she was only fifteen, Akiko moved to Tokyo on her own and entered into Aoyama Gakuin High School where she pursued her musical career. She later began performing in jazz clubs where her masterful skill at the piano brought her popularity among other musicians. Akiko joined a band with roots in Tin Pan Alley.

Akiko recorded her debut album, Japanese Girl, primarily in Los Angeles with Lowell George and Little Feat. She began collaborating with Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). They continued to play on her next recording projects and invited Akiko to join them on two of their worldwide tours. Akiko expanded her musical collaborations with YMO on her subsequent CD releases. One of these collaborations, her fourth studio album Gohan Ga Dekitayo (1980), was one of the earliest ever CD releases in 1982.^[3] Akiko continued to release CDs joined by JAPAN and Pat Metheny and has performed on albums by Thomas Dolby and other artists. In 1990 Akiko relocated to New York where she collaborated and toured with some of the world's most renowned musicians including The Chieftains, Toninho Horta and Jeff Bova on his project THE HAMMONDS.

Akiko's credits extend beyond her album projects. She was showcased by the famed Japanese animation film company, Studio Ghibli, which is known for works such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Akiko composed the music for the film My Neighbors the Yamadas, and created and performed the sound effects using only her voice for two short films Yadosagashi and Mizugumo Monmon by animation director, Hayao Miyazaki. Both films were shown at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. More recently in 2008, Akiko performed as a voiceover actress on Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea as Ponyo's sisters. In addition, Akiko composed music for Toei's animated feature, Atashin'chi and piano-based soundtrack for the film Tagatameni.

As an international artist, Akiko has toured Europe extensively, performing at The Montreux Jazz Festival, Café de la Danse, and Cite de la Musique in Paris. In 2002, she also performed a week of special concerts at Pizza Express in London. In the United States, Akiko has performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and New York City where she periodically plays concerts throughout the year at the famous Joe's Pub at the New York Public Theater. In July 2009, she will perform at North Sea Jazz Festival along with fellow pianist Hiromi Uehara. In recent years she has appeared at the Blue Note in New York as a guest performer for Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, and as part of a trio with Anthony Jackson on bass and Cliff Almond on drums in concerts at the Blue Note Tokyo since 2003. In 2008, New York guitarist, Marc Ribot joined Akiko for sold-out shows at the Blue Note Tokyo.

In 2009, Will Lee and Chris Parker will join her as Akiko Yano Trio.

August 2007 marked her second debut as yanokami a pop unit with rei harakami, an electronic musician and sought-after producer. In March 2008, they released yanokamick an English version of their debut album, and appeared at Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore.

To date, Akiko has released 27 original albums, of which 3 albums were released by Nonesuch Records: AKIKO YANO, a compilation album selected by Robert Hurwitz and John Zorn (1990), LOVE LIFE (1993) and PIANO NIGHTLY (1996). In October 2008, her 27th original album akiko was released. The album was produced by Grammy-Award winning producer, T Bone Burnett and recorded in Los Angeles, California. She was joined by guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Jay Bellerose.

Discography[link]

• Japanese Girl (1976)
• Nagatsuki Kannazuki (1976)
• Iroha ni Konpeitou (1977)
• Tokimeki (1978)
• Tokyo wa Yoru no Shichi Ji (1979)
• Asoko no Akkochan (1979)
• Gohan ga Dekitayo (1980)
• Tadaima (1981)
• Ai ga Nakuchane (1982)
• Oesu Oesu (1984)
• Tooge No Wagaya (1986)
• Brooch (1986)
• Granola (1987)
• Good Evening Tokyo (1988)
• Welcome Back (1989)
• Home Music (1989)
• Akiko Yano (1990)
• Love Life (1991)
• Super Folk Song (1992)
• Love Is Here (1993)
• Demae Concert (1994)
• Elephant Hotel (1994)
• Piano Nightly (1996)
• Hitotsudake (1996)
• Oui Oui (1997)
• Real Sound: Kaze no Regret (1997) (ending theme)
• Go Girl (1999)
• Twilight (2000)
• Home Girl Journey (2000)
• Reverb (2002)
• Honto No Kimochi (2004)
• Tagatameni soundtrack (2005)
• Hajimete no Yano Akiko (2006)
• Ima made no Yano Akiko (2007) collection
• Yanokami/Yanokamick (2007) collaboration with Rei Harakami
• Akiko (2008) with English version, also released separately in 2009
• Ongakudo (2010)
• Kantoku Shikkaku soundtrack (2011)
• Get Together -LIVE IN TOKYO- (2011) collaboration with Hiromi Uehara
• Toku wa Chikai (2011) collaboration with Rei Harakami

References[link]

External links[link]

• Akiko Yano Homepage
• Nippop Profile of Akiko Yano

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

Tadanori Yokoo (横尾 忠則, Yokoo Tadanori^?, born 27 June 1936 in Hyōgo Prefecture) is a Japanese graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter.

Train with eyes by Tadanori Yokoo. 2005

Tadanori Yokoo, born in Nishiwaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in 1936, is one of Japan's most successful and internationally recognized graphic designers and artists. He began his career as a stage designer for avant garde theatre in Tokyo. His early work shows the influence of the New York based Push Pin Studio (Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast in particular) but Yokoo himself cites filmmaker Akira Kurosawa and writer Yukio Mishima as two of his most formative influences.

In the late 1960s he became interested in mysticism and psychedelia, deepened by travels in India. Because his work was so attuned to 1960s pop culture, he has often been (unfairly) described as the "Japanese Andy Warhol" or likened to psychedelic poster artist Peter Max, but Yokoo's complex and multi-layered imagery is intensely autobiographical and entirely original. By the late 60s he had already achieved international recognition for his work and was included in the 1968 "Word & Image" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Four years later MoMA mounted a solo exhibition of his graphic work organized by Mildred Constantine.^[1] Yokoo collaborated extensively with Shūji Terayama and his theater Tenjō Sajiki. He has also starred as a protagonist in Nagisa Oshima's film Diary of a Shinjuku Thief.

In 1968 Yukio Mishima claimed, "Tadanori Yokoo's works reveal all of the unbearable things which we Japanese have inside ourselves and they make people angry and frightened. He makes explosions with the frightening resemblance which lies between the vulgarity of billboards advertising variety shows during festivals at the shrine devoted to the war dead and the red containers of Coca Cola in American Pop Art, things which are in us but which we do not want to see." ^[2]

In 1981 he unexpectedly "retired" from commercial work and took up painting after seeing a Picasso retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (New York). His career as a fine artist continues to this day with numerous exhibitions of his paintings every year, but alongside this he remains fully engaged and prolific as a graphic designer.

See also[link]

• Aquirax Uno

References[link]

External links[link]

• Artist Profile