Japan, Music, 2012
Tomomi
Adachi
Born 1972 in Kanazawa (Japan), lives in Tokyo.
Studied (philosophy, aesthetics) at Waseda University, Tokyo. Since 1994 freelance composer/performer, interpreter of experimental music, sound poet, installation artist, curator and critic; over 400 performances worldwide. Instructor at Tama Art University, Tokyo, 2007–2010. Grants and residencies in Dortmund, Vienna, Brussels, New York City, Amsterdam (STEIM), etc.
Adachi is active as a composer/performer in the fields of electronic music, sound poetry, vocal performance, improvisation and instrument building, and also as a director and an installation and video artist. In many of his performances, his self-made electronic musical instruments come into play: for example, small homemade synthesizers in Tupperware containers or his “Infrared Sensor Shirt”, a shirt that remotely controls various musical events generated by the wearer’s gestures. In addition to solo appearances, he often works with other performers, among them in recent years Yasunao Tone (Roulette, New York City, 2010) and Jaap Blonk (STEIM, Amsterdam, 2009). He stages performances of his compositions and his performance concepts for amateur choirs and ensembles in the tradition of sound poetry, after rehearsals in workshops or with his ensemble Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus.
Adachi’s Berlin project relates to the Japanese avant-garde group Mavo, which was active in Constructivist and Dadaist circles in the 1920s; Tomoyoshi Murayama, the artistic leader of the group, stayed in Berlin in 1922. Adachi will use that group’s pioneering work, especially in the field of Concrete Poetry, as the basis for a series of pieces he will create using voice and electronics. The works will take the form of performances and sound recordings, and Adachi intends to bring in other sound artists to collaborate.
Recordings of Adachi’s works have been released by labels such as Tzadik, Naya Records, Omega Point and Suigyu.
