Haruomi Hosono

Todd Burns

Hello, and welcome to the Red Bull Music Academy. Please help me welcome Hosono-san.

[applause]

Obviously this man’s discography is enormous and there are so many projects to consider, but I think it’s perhaps best to focus our discussion, so I’ve decided to talk mostly about your solo work in the ‘70s and ‘80s. But before all of that, we did listen to some music as we were all coming in, music I assume you’re familiar with. Can you tell us a little bit about that and why it was so important to you?

Haruomi Hosono

The song was “Mon Oncle” from a French film. I watched the film by Jacques Tati in the fifth grade. The music impressed me, so I rushed to the record shop and I bought a record of “Mon Oncle” sung by a Japanese singer. That was the first record I bought.

Todd Burns

When you went to go and buy it, it was not available, is that correct?

Haruomi Hosono

You know well.

Todd Burns

I’ve done a little bit of research.

Haruomi Hosono

Thanks. Japan was quite distant from other countries back then, so we weren’t able to get the latest records. I wanted the soundtrack but they didn’t have it. They had a version of “Mon Oncle” by a Japanese jazz singer. I had to buy it. I had no other option.

Todd Burns

Can you talk a little bit about the movie itself and why it was so interesting to you? Because I think as a soundtrack to the movie it is quite interesting.

Haruomi Hosono

Jacques Tati is popular now in Tokyo, maybe all over Japan. A DVD box set including a documentary about him was just released, I recommend you buy it. It’s really interesting. Like old silent films, his films are centered on the music and Tati’s movements. That kind of film is hard to make. Without Tati, this kind of film wouldn’t be possible. Tati’s films induce much calmer laughter than Chaplin’s, more like chuckling or giggling. I really would like you all to watch one.

Todd Burns

You just mentioned sense of humor, and I think humor is such a large part of your work over the years. Is that something that started at an early age? Obviously you just mentioned [Tati] made an impact on you.

Haruomi Hosono

Yes. Well... The first comedian for me was Charlie Chaplin. His short films were on TV. Then, when I was in the sixth grade, American comedy films were released in Japan. I went to watch, by myself, a film by Jerry Lewis. He’s still active. I imitated his way of moving and sitting. He was my hero. But adults didn’t like Lewis, they said he was silly.

Todd Burns

I want to briefly touch on the first, or I guess the second major group that you were in, which is Happy End. I’d like to play a little bit of a track that some people may know also as a soundtrack to a movie that came out a couple of years ago.

(music: Happy End – Unknown)

As you can hear in the Happy End track there, you’re singing in Japanese, which doesn’t seem like a big deal to us now, but as I understand it, for a group like this to be singing in Japanese at the time was quite different. Can you talk a little bit about why that was and what kind of decision it was for you to sing in Japanese as a group?

Haruomi Hosono

I was born in 1947, which was two years after the end of World War II. It was the time, as in France and Germany, I guess, that a huge wave of American music came to Japan. So I grew up with American culture. I always listened to that music on FEN, the US military radio station. So almost all of the music I listened to was in English. I was thoroughly Americanized, I even regretted that I wasn’t American. Many of my favorite groups were from California. The psychedelic movement was happening there when I was a teenager. Groups like Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield. A lot of legendary groups were there. I covered their songs in English. I felt their music was somehow profound.

The key to their music was that they brought the essence of American roots music into their sound. That led to their originality. We realised that, and we thought about what our own roots were. We were disconnected from our own roots. Traditional Japanese music, like Shamisen or Shakuhachi, I knew nothing about it. The only clue was words. I mean lyrics in the literary sense. Novels and the language of poets in the Taisho era were beginning to strongly influence me at that time. Though I learned the importance of roots from West Coast groups, the direct influence was from Japanese literature, especially poetry. That’s my background.

Todd Burns

With Happy End, you ended up recording an album in America. Can you talk about that experience? Was that the first time you had been to America?

Haruomi Hosono

Right. It was 1973, or perhaps 1972. I don’t exactly recall when. In LA, California, there is a famous studio called Sunset Sound where we recorded Happy End’s third album. I don’t know how we got there. Someone arranged it for us, I guess. Suddenly Van Dyke Parks visited the studio. He’s a great musician. He was with Lowell George, the guitarist from group Little Feat. They came in, and we got caught up in their pace. That was a really new experience for us. For example, their recording method was very western. It was very layered, let’s say. We learned that method. Before that our style was flat, like Japanese picture scrolls. We hadn’t thought about depth. We learned that from Parks.

Todd Burns

Van Dyke Parks, you’ve spoken about his impact on you and in meeting him. It seems like he is quite a character.

Haruomi Hosono

He was really a crazy man. He was high when we first met. I wanted to stay away from him. I didn’t like him. He first gave a speech in the middle of the studio, like a monologue. It was about the Japanese emperor. We were so puzzled – who is this guy? That was about when we first met. I met him again when he was sober. He was nice. We are still friends. I like him a lot.

Todd Burns

His music obviously takes elements from other cultures, like the pan drums element to some of his recordings. Were you listening to the things he was doing as a musician, and were you taking influence from that?

Haruomi Hosono

When Parks was young he made his debut album, Song Cycle. It was too difficult for us. And he released “Discover America” about the time we first met. It was an excellent album, still highly regarded. Parks started his career as a child actor in Hollywood. He played in the movie “The Swan.” It’s still shown sometimes. He studied music under a famous teacher – Aaron Copland, maybe. Anyway, he learned from a maestro. With that academic base, his orchestration was professional. He did film music too. His ideas are extraordinary, though. For instance, on “Discover America”, he hired an arranger, but he also did arrangements. The same lines and chords, but separate string arrangements. It’s a bit complicated. He put these two arrangements together at the recording for the first time. This is an amazing idea. I was surprised because no one had done it before. It was really magical.

Todd Burns

I wanted to play a song from the album you recorded after you left Happy End. I guess it’s one of your first albums that came out under your own name, sort of. This is from an album called Tropical Dandy and it’s “Hurricane Dorothy.”

(music: Haruomi Hosono – “Hurricane Dorothy”)

You can obviously hear the influence of exotica in this album, Tropical Dandy. Can you tell me about the impact of hearing Martin Denny and his albums, and how it played into the recording and the thoughts behind what you were going to do with this album?

Haruomi Hosono

I listened to Martin Denny a lot when I was a kid, on the radio. His music was called “jungle sound.” Animals calling and birds singing. It was probably called “Quiet Village.” That music remained in me for years and I suddenly remembered about it around 1972. But I couldn’t find the record. I asked a collector to copy it on a cassette. I began to listen to it everyday. Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny, these Americans living in Hawaii, I felt empathy with them. Not America, not Japan. The idea of Hawaii was right for me. It was so appealing. I also listened to his “Firecracker,” which YMO covered later.

Todd Burns

One of the things you can hear on this record is your voice. Was this the first time that you were singing, and was that difficult for you to do?

Haruomi Hosono

I was originally a bassist. In Happy End, I had to sing because it was my turn. We needed some more songs to make an album. I first thought, “What? I have to sing?” I was terrible on the first album. I don’t even want to hear it. Gradually I learned how to sing. In the ‘70s, plenty of singer-songwriters came into the scene. I mean, in the US. Like James Taylor. My voice is low so I used to listen to artists with that kind of voice. Tom Rush, and others. I thought, “OK, maybe I can sing too.” You know, every song with high notes was The Beach Boys before that. I was singing low-range “Surfin’ USA.” [Sings “If everybody had an ocean...”]

Todd Burns

I wanted to play a video from this time period because I think it will be quite interesting to see how you were presenting this to people.

Haruomi Hosono

I don’t want to watch.

Todd Burns

Is that okay?

Haruomi Hosono

No choice. It was 40 years ago. This one. I’ll say something later.

(video: Haruomi Hosono live)

Thanks.

Todd Burns

I’m sorry to have to play that.

Haruomi Hosono

Can I say something?

Todd Burns

Yes, of course.

Haruomi Hosono

I was even more emotionless then, and I was missing teeth. Two musicians don’t care about missing teeth: me and Jerry Dammers. Someone said that. That’s all.

Todd Burns

It obviously seems like you were embracing the exotica thing. You were playing marimba, everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts. How important was it to play that outwardly, to the public, as well as just recording it in the studio?

Haruomi Hosono

My stage name was Harry Hosono. It was inspired by Japanese Americans in Hawaii. In Japan, there were many comedians with westernized names, like Frankie Sakai or Tani Kei. I was sort of playing a role of comedian. Exotica musicians appreciated something far away, and something different. I was trying to become that exotic world. It was a bit strange. If you go to the back streets or downtown Tokyo, you’ll see some exotic cityscapes. I was on a trip somewhere like that. Sort of a psychedelic world.

Todd Burns

At the time, all of the art for the albums you were doing was playing up this exotic attitude. Who was responsible for that – was that something you were doing, or were you working with outside artists to construct this?

Haruomi Hosono

It was more like hand-made production with friends, with no business plan. A friend of mine brought me this cover art before the recording. The Tropical Dandy art was done before the music. The artwork had a strong impact on me. Actually, it was reflected in the sound.

Todd Burns

So would you commission an artwork and say, “Bring me this so I can create the music”? Or was it just friends creating this artwork and showing it to you, and you saying, “Oh, I’m going to create something because of that”?

Haruomi Hosono

I didn’t ask him to do the art. He just made it. He brought it just before the recording. Good timing. It always happens to me. Timing drives things forward.

Todd Burns

Why is that?

Haruomi Hosono

I’m lazy. I don’t do anything. Just make a wish.

Todd Burns

I want to ask you about another album that involves another foreign land, which is India. You created an album called Cochin Moon, which was a collaboration with an artist.

Haruomi Hosono

The artist is Tadanori Yokoo. I believe you all know him. At that time he was deeply into flying saucers. He wrote about them. I really appreciated exotic sound at that time, but India seemed a bit too much, and I hesitated to visit. But when I went to Yokoo’s atelier, he soon asked me to go to India. I just answered yes, and I was there a month later. I was offered a job by the tourist bureau, so we went around India for a month. I noticed that Yokoo was talking about work. He said, “We have to make an album after this trip.” I didn’t know, but he said that was my job. That’s how it was made. There were so many troubles in India. It’s a long story. Not now.

Todd Burns

Well, that’s actually what I wanted to ask you about. I read that Tadanori got sick on the trip and that he was unable to help out with the music in the way that he thought he would. Is that true?

Haruomi Hosono

Almost true. I got sick first. It was terrible. I don’t drink alcohol. We shouldn’t have had ice in India. We were at a hotel, everybody was drinking whisky with ice, so I guess the germs were killed by alcohol. But I got some powerful germs directly in my system. It was terrible. I thought it might be cholera. My face had the shadow of death. I looked like a dead man and nobody came near me. I kept throwing up... and down. You know. Diarrhea. I struggled for about three weeks, I thought I’d die. It’s a long story. When we were in Chennai, a Japanese consular chief officer came to me. He worried about my medical problem. He said his wife made Japanese cuisine. He invited Yokoo-san, other members and me to his house. Yokoo-san had similar as me and also had a stomach ache. So, we went to his house and I ate a Japanese salmon set meal. The meal totally recovered my condition. The officer’s wife has a big face, like this. She wore a dress and a pearl necklace. She gave us a Japanese bow, putting her fingers on the floor. She was strange in a way. She sat in front of us while we ate. Then, she said, “Your sickness will recover.” After eating, we really recovered. That was very strange. And another thing, I saw a flying saucer.

Todd Burns

I think the only thing to do now is listen to a track, listen to the result of all this sickness. This is called “Hepatitis” – one of the few things you didn’t get.

(music: Haruomi Hosono – “Hepatitis”)

Haruomi Hosono

Thank you.

Todd Burns

What instruments were you using for this album?

Haruomi Hosono

This was the first I played on the computer-controlled Moog synthesizer. And also an old synthesizer connected by Korg patch cables. Music was all composed by a synthesizer. It was the first time I composed it all with a synthesizer.

Todd Burns

Was it difficult – this was the first you used this – to learn how to use this and learn how to get the most out of it? Could you talk about trying to figure these things out?

Haruomi Hosono

I have to tell you something first. I heard that Isao Tomita was here for this session. Tomita-san recorded an album, Clair De Lune, with Debussy’s music. That was years and years ago. When I first heard it I was completely stunned. The articulations were so rich, Debussy’s taste was well reproduced. The music was controlled by computer. So I knew I had to find and meet Hideki Matsutake, who was a manipulator on that album. When I found him, I went to meet him and asked him to work with me on our new album, Cochin Moon. The album would never have been done without him. That was when I was still a beginner on computers. So I was shocked. Coincidentally, Ryuichi Sakamoto was also looking for him.

Todd Burns

He seems to be a key figure. Obviously people know YMO as a three-piece, but it seems that he is kind of like the fourth member. Can you talk a little bit more about who he is and his impact?

Haruomi Hosono

Matsutake-san had all those instruments and equipment, Moog and Arp. All the expensive, wall-like gear and stuff. It was too expensive for us to buy. But he had it, so working together brought all of us meaning. Needless to say, his sound manipulation speed was really fast. He manipulated instruments like a register at a supermarket. None of us could do this at that time, but we later came to handle those well. The prices for this kind of equipment dropped, and we slowly parted ways. [Laughter]

Todd Burns

You mentioned Sakamoto-san, and it would be a good moment to play the album on which you first worked with him. This is “Shambhala Signal.”

(music: Haruomi Hosono & Yellow Magic Band - “Shambhala Signal”)

The track obviously has very traditional instruments and very futuristic instruments. How difficult was it to combine those two at the time?

Haruomi Hosono

This track was composed with a rhythm box made by Ace Tone. Rhythm speed was controlled manually. The sound like a gamelan-style bongo, it was a child’s toy... What can I say? Tekkin (metallophone)? I don’t know. Anyway, a child’s toy. So it was not a traditional instrument or something. I liked to create sounds with something around me at random. This track is like that, isn’t it?

Todd Burns

You met Sakamoto and Takahashi on the recording of that album and this was the first time that you worked with them. Did it feel like you were meeting kindred spirits? Did it feel like these were people you would be working with for a very long time?

Haruomi Hosono

Actually I used to be a session player, a bassist. Sakamoto was a keyboard player in a studio. He and I got to know each other. When I was in college, I met Yukihiro Takahashi. He performed in both my band and his band, and we played together. He was young and cocky but hip. I asked him if he was interested in creating a new musical unit. At that time he was playing for the Sadistics, an instrumental band. And we really were getting stuck. So when I asked him to join, he accepted. Sakamoto sort of joined in doubt, like, “What are we gonna do?!“ This all happened from the late 1970s to 1980.

Todd Burns

You said Sakamoto was hesitant to work with you. Did you get a sense of why that was?

Haruomi Hosono

He’s basically an arranger and hadn’t played in a band. So he was afraid of forming with other musicians. I convinced him to use this opportunity as a stepping stone. And he did so.

Todd Burns

I think that's a perfect segue to something I'd like to show next, a video of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

(Video: Yellow Magic Orchestra on US TV show “Soul Train”)

I wanted to play the rest of it because I thought it's quite interesting to see the reaction from American audiences, or Don Cornelius specifically, to what you were doing. Can you tell me about that experience of being on “Soul Train”, coming to America and playing, sometimes, American songs?

Haruomi Hosono

All of sudden we were asked to appear on “Soul Train.” And it was like “For real?” We believed America accepted our music, as we played “Tighten Up” and “Firecracker” made it on the R&B chart. A lot of musicians say they were influenced by YMO, like Afrika Bambaataa, which didn’t seem to be strange to me then, but now that I think of it, it is a bit weird.

Todd Burns

By that point you had become quite successful in Japan as well. Were you surprised by how much YMO caught on, and so quickly, with audiences?

Haruomi Hosono

The president of Alfa Records came to us while YMO was making the first album. He encouraged us to play fusion, ‘cause he didn’t understand what we were doing. It was actually a company promoting fusion. It had “Alfa Fusion Festival”, which I was a part of, and that was our debut. Tommy LiPuma from the States was in the audience to see us, and he seemed to be inspired by our music. Tommy said he wanted to do something with us. The president invested a lot of money and we did our first world tour. I was surprised to see kids listening to “Rydeen” when we came back.

Todd Burns

You mentioned Alfa Records, and certainly to music fans from the outside, looking in from the west, the run of records that was put out in the ‘80s – your records and others on the label – are quite experimental, but it is a major label in some ways. Who was behind that, and was that something that just happened or was that something that was planned out?

Haruomi Hosono

Kunihiko Murai was the president of Alfa Records. He had the respect for Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Recording Corporation. Also he enjoyed a friendship with Julie Moss of A&M. He just like them in Japan. The Japanese music scene at the time was following a strong sense of traditions. He wanted to put up a new genre. Then Yumi Arai, Yuming, came into ths scene. So there was Yuming and us, YMO. His plan was successful and even incredible.

Todd Burns

On the label side, were they coming back to you with discussions about the albums when you turned them in, or was it that you gave it to them and that was it, it came out?

Haruomi Hosono

There was no phrase equivalent of “techno-pop” at that time. Kraftwerk was already popular at that time, and this kind of music was still obscure in Japan. Our music didn’t appeal to Japanese people. It sounded more like toy music or a one-hit wonder. It was oblivious to all but us. We were excited, however. I wanted to remix “Firecracker” with a computer, and to know how doing that changed a classical music piece by Martin Denny. That was one of our experiments. Disco became a fad out there. Dance music was a common language then. We hoped more people would check out our music.

Todd Burns

You obviously became quite popular, but you have said in the past that you regard yourself still as very indie, very underground, and that it didn’t make much of a difference. Why did you not get transformed by fame?

Haruomi Hosono

I’m basically a shy guy. I wouldn’t even like to go public like this. Our music happened to hit the chart and I had an awful time. I was too famous to walk around. I knew what it was like to be a baseball player. As the dust settled, I was liberated at last. I love to be free. I never want to go for big projects. I had it enough. The more money a project costs, the more terrible I feel.

Todd Burns

But people do know you now, and walking around I’m sure you do get noticed. How have you dealt with that over the years?

Haruomi Hosono

Japanese are quiet. I saw John Lennon at Karuizawa, but thought better to leave him alone. Most Japanese are like me.

Todd Burns

We at the Red Bull Music Academy had Sakamoto on the couch last year and he spoke about meeting Kraftwerk. Were you there then, and what was that experience like? He said he saw them dance at some point.

Haruomi Hosono

I used to go disco and clubs. The sounds are too noisy to talk there. Everyone had to dance. I only followed Kraftwerk – as their music is on I would start dancing.

Todd Burns

Could you expand on that?

Haruomi Hosono

I met Ralf two years ago. We performd on the same stage, but not together. We had a chance to have some food together after it. He sat next to me and asked me, “When were you born?” I was born in 1947, and he was born a year earlier than me. That frustrated him. He complained of being the oldest of us. It was funny. Age is important.

Todd Burns

You’re also the oldest member of YMO.

Haruomi Hosono

I have always been the oldest among friends since the Happy End years. And I’m also the oldest in here.

Todd Burns

I wanted to play a song from the first solo album you made after YMO had started. This track is called “Sports Men.”

(music: Haruomi Hosono – “Sports Men”)

Obviously YMO was hugely successful and you made this record after that success. I'm wondering what you were thinking in 1982, I believe, when you were making this album?

Haruomi Hosono

The ‘80s was really a period when great changes occurred in terms of making music. This was because the equipment quickly evolved. When I made this album, a musical sampler called the Emulator was released and I bought one even though it was expensive. I was really excited. Sampling was an important concept at the time. The Emulator is an American product and Stevie Wonder got the first unit. It had serial numbers on it and mine was 060. I decided to record a whole album with it, and ––Philharmony was the result. When you listen to it, it sounds normal. The Emulator was a sampler, so it could sample live sounds. It was an interesting instrument then.

Todd Burns

How difficult was it to do this technically? Could you talk us through the process?

Haruomi Hosono

I first learned to use a computer. It was a sequencer called the MC-4 by a Japanese company called Roland, a computer that specialized in making music. It had a ten-key keyboard, and the length, volume, and pitch of the sounds could all be programmed using numbers. For instance, the note C, or Do, is 36 or 48. You input numbers like that. And it was no trouble at all. It was enjoyable. So I learned how to analyze and assemble sound for the first time. And as I was absorbed in such a fun process, that album was done before I knew it, so it was no trouble. It might have looked like it though, because I was sleeping on the studio floor and working like that.

Todd Burns

So it was fun, it wasn't tough – that makes it easy when that's the case. I want to talk about one last record you were involved in, we should go ahead and play it an example from it. This is from an album from Video Game Music, and this is the first track.

(music: Haruomi Hosono – “Xevious”)

Haruomi Hosono

No need for applause.

Todd Burns

There’s a couple of questions I want to ask about this but I guess it’s best to start from the beginning. How did this project come to be?

Haruomi Hosono

We called them arcade games, and those video games were everywhere at the time. All three YMO members loved playing those games. You could play them in coffee shops as well. The famous “Space Invaders.” I didn’t know where they were from, but as a techno musician, I felt close to that industry. Then I found out that Taito is a Japanese company. I thought, “These are Japanese? So Tokyo is a ‘Technopolis’ after all!” I felt really excited by that and played those games a lot. Day in and day out, I played those tabletop video games found in coffee shops and restaurants obsessively. Then that one called “Xevious” came out. It was so fun. I played it until I could clear the stages. I don’t play them anymore though. What was the question? Anyway, the times were like that. Everyone from kids to adults began playing video games. And the record company said to me, “Please produce an album like this,” so I did. That’s the story.

Todd Burns

So it was the record company, not the game company, that came to you.

Haruomi Hosono

It was the record company.

Todd Burns

So did you go to the game company and say, we want to go ahead and do this? Did it taking some convincing on this project as a concept?

Haruomi Hosono

I didn’t contact the people who made the hardware, but there were many people making the music. Game music was made using FM oscillators, which is a very limited type of tone generator. I met with the creators of the game music. I didn’t make the “Xevious” track, [game designer Masanobu Endō] did. I met the game music creators and said I wanted to reproduce their sound. I converted their sound with the sequencer. I reproduced the music using a synthesizer. That much I remember. The rest I’ve forgotten.

Todd Burns

In the portion of the track that we played there’s a lot of background noise that’s not part of the game music. I was quite curious about that creative decision.

Haruomi Hosono

The sound effects from video games were essential to YMO from the very beginning. For the first half of “Firecracker” we converted the sound from what we called “balloon games” and used that. That was how fun video games were at the time. So without sound effects, it didn’t feel right. That’s why we reproduced the explosions and other such sounds. Those sounds are music, too.

Todd Burns

Was there an idea that video game music wasn’t ’music’ and wasn’t supposed to be on record, or did it seem quite natural for a record like this to come out?

Haruomi Hosono

We were the only ones who gave game music any attention. Normally it’s something that would be considered to be like Muzak, but the music for games like “Xevious” and “Super Mario Brothers” was excellent. There were composers who made them. And I thought it was a good idea to record their music for posterity. It wasn’t very common back then. It became quite a hit.

Todd Burns

How hard was it to recreate this music on a synthesizer?

Haruomi Hosono

The more difficult making music becomes, the more enjoyable it goes. So I’d say it was fun. But behind all the fun, there’s always a certain amount of difficulty.

Todd Burns

I’d like to open it up to questions from the audience, I assume there’s tons of different topics people might be interested in so we’re going to leave a lot of time for you to get your questions in. Does anyone want to start?

Audience member

Besides the beautiful influences of exotica and also Kraftwerk in your work, I wonder if you were at all influenced by electronic composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, Bernard Parmegiani or other composers like that? Because when I was listening to your music, especially your synth work, I felt that kind of a vibe, and I wanted to ask you about your influences for electronic music composition.

Haruomi Hosono

That was Ryuichi Sakamoto’s specialty, not mine. He talked about Stockhausen a lot. His music was a bit too difficult for me. Not just German, though, for example John Cage’s works for prepared piano influenced me. And... I can’t recall their names... I also liked Philip Glass. It was a transition period then and, say, Michael Nyman would hit the charts. A kind of mutual approach was happening, and pop and contemporary music were getting closer at the time, so I didn’t listen to only difficult music. I liked pop music.

Audience member

This is a very short question. Speaking of Mr. Sakamoto, I wonder if you have done any kind of piano works with Mr. Sakamoto?

Haruomi Hosono

Right now he’s recuperating from a throat illness in New York. I enjoy working with him very much. We do stuff now with him on piano and me on guitar.

Audience member

About Rainbow 2000, which was the first outdoor techno rave in Japan. I enjoyed watching the documentary about it, and in it, you... When techno was big in Japan and everyone was playing it, you were playing electronica and ambient music. In the interview afterwards you said, “From now on, ambient will evolve and everyone will play it. But by then I’ll be doing something else.”

Haruomi Hosono

I said that?

Audience member

Yes. And your words really inspired and encouraged me, and I’ve continued to make music. What kind of music do you find interesting now, Mr. Hosono?

Haruomi Hosono

There was a time in the early 2000s that I was completely absorbed in electronica. But things like that lose their appeal when conventions are born and everyone follows suit. Ambient was the same. When everyone began doing formulaic things, the essence of the music faded and the true sound became unrecognizable. Just listening to the first bar of the music is enough to understand what the person who made it was thinking. It doesn’t lie. Ambient music is especially like that, so it’s actually quite formidable. The real artists of ambient music emerged from the late ‘80s to the ‘90s. In the ‘90s, I was also adrift in the sea of ambient music. But I was resetting myself during this time. The period up to the year 2000 was like that for me. The millennium came and went but nothing happened. Apathy was in the air, but I’d been resetting myself so I was drawn to pop music once again. When I was into ambient, pop was annoying. It sounded worldly. But I gradually came ashore and am now back in that world. Right now I’m loving boogie-woogie from the ‘40s. Don’t you listen to my recent work? Just kidding. [Laughs]

Audience member

I would like if you could develop a bit more that idea about a two-dimensional approach in Japanese music. And as a second question, what do you think is the main difference between the western and Japanese approach to pop music?

Haruomi Hosono

It’s difficult to explain. Japanese traditional painting, Ukiyoe, it’s described as well defined, flat. It lacks the articulation of closeness and distance. Since Japanese people may have this sense by nature, we arrange music in line with those rules as well. But there’s the western notion of perspective. Its techniques are very logical, where the eye of the viewer is drawn into the distance. Western music also composes with those rules. Like an echo processing. There are many different methods. We’re working on popular music, so we have to keep on studying. Van Dyke Parks brought us the depth and dimension with his music. We understood the importance of this method. Of course, it’s important in the recording and mixing. But it doesn’t have much to do with a band.

Audience member

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about working with Miharu Koshi.

Haruomi Hosono

You’re well informed. I’ve seen a lot of her recently. She is pursuing a singing style called crooning or crooner. The style was popularized in the U.S. in the 1940s. This is about recording technique. She has released her new album, Madame Crooner. It’s a jazz collection of covers mainly of standards with her French style approach, it’s fantastic. Please listen.

Todd Burns

Just to jump in, over all your projects it seems like standards, and the almost elemental music of countries, holds such an interest for you. Why do you think that is?

Haruomi Hosono

You know, I think it’s my generation problem. I believe that my generation has a very unique fate. About American culture, as I’ve mentioned before. We had an intense longing for the postwar U.S. It was the first time I danced boogie-woogie. When I was a little kid with SP records, I bounced around to the music – Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman and that sort of music. I think that’s why I like boogie-woogie. I’m working on such music. I want young people to listen to them. It’s my strong desire. Boogie-woogie is interesting for me now.

Audience member

In your introduction you touched on humor in music, and I’m a big believer in the presence of humor and wit in music. Humor being, I think, quite a universal language, in the way that a diarrhea story will make eveybody laugh. But there’s obviously subtleties between countries, between America and England for example, and I wondered how you related to other international artists that were embracing humor, and whether you struggled with that or found it easy?

Haruomi Hosono

British people are celebrated for their really good wits, and cynical jokes. The Beatles represent it directly. Monty Python followed in their footsteps. But I don’t quite understand them. I can’t keep up with their jokes. They are too eccentric. How about Japan? We had The Crazy Cats. It’s what we call a Japanese comic jazz band. It’s like Spike Jonze in the US. It’s like something called novelty music. Everyone has already forgotten it. It’s an important music with humor. It’s created to provoke humor. Music is not only love songs. I mean it’s not only about love stories.

Todd Burns

You worked with a group with YMO called Snakeman Show. As a westerner I don’t know much about them – can you talk about who they are and how you came to put them on some of the albums you’ve done?

Haruomi Hosono

I think it imitated Monty Python. Snakeman Show started from a radio broadcast. I listened it every week since its music and jokes were simply interesting. But I heard the radio show came to an end. I got in touch with the show because it was too great to come to an end. I wanted to release the show’s record and they agreed with me. The Snakeman Show featured three comedians, a writer and two disc jockeys. Katsuya Kobayashi who speaks English fluently. Masatoh Eve, he is an actor. They continue to work actively. They’re really interesting. I might join them again.

Audience member

I was wondering, there are some artists who craft a sound and stick with a particular sound, and I was wondering what you think an artist’s relationship to genre should be, because yours is so wide?

Haruomi Hosono

I think I’m unique, and different from a lot of the other musicians. So I don’t know whether it is useful or not. You think I seem boring, but the most important thing is to enjoy music. I’m very happy with music. But life is not all fun for people who established their styles. They have to work hard like athletes do. Fortunately, I’m a musician. If I were a singer, I would have to strengthen my throat like an athlete. The worst thing is my voice is getting hoarse. I just want to go easy. Does that make sense?

Audience member

As someone who’s been involved in electronic music and music in general for a long time, I was wondering what sort of music you listen to at the moment and what genres still interest you?

Haruomi Hosono

As you already know, the massive earthquake hit Tohoku, including Fukushima. Many people pretty much stopped listening to music from that day. So did I. I also couldn’t listen to amusing stories. Then I stopped watching comedies. Fast forward three years, many people could feel these actual emotions fading away. But no one knows when the earthquake will hit again. We’re in a place where earthquakes could hit us anytime. Well, what should I say... My future life is now limited and I can’t relive my past. Twentieth century music means the world to me. It will be forgotten as if it’s going to become extinct. I want to do what I experienced before, such as boogie-woogie. I want to stay free in order to express myself in my own way. I want to show beat and groove. I don’t want to use computer technology. I just want to continue to perform live.

Audience member

It’s a long one and I’m a little nervous. It’s about culture in general. Coming to Japan can be pretty overwhelming and I’m sure it’s the same on the other end. You said you wished you had been born in America. Often I feel people from both of our cultures have this sort of exchange, wanting to be from Japan if you’re from America, or wanting to be from America if you’re from Japan. I was wondering if you could talk about Japanese culture, because there are so many things that are great about it and I feel like it’s often ignored by the younger generation in Japan, the amazing things about traditional culture.

Haruomi Hosono

I know it’s a really difficult thing. Japan has changed drastically since World War II. There’s no longer people who would inherit our traditions. Some professional singers sing folk songs and ballads. We still have genres of standard Japanese pop and Enka as well. These booms have been cooling down and suffering talent shortages. I think that such things are going on around the world. Despite this situation, some young people decided to pass these traditions down to the future. Everyone has to manage everything by itself without any system. They’re expected to accomplish something individually with their instincts. So a person who has talent tries everything. Trying to work on a traditional music and techno as well. I like this free chaotic state in Japan. I can’t wait to see the new next creation from Japan.

Audience member

You mention that you have experimented with sampling in the past. How does it make you feel when a modern artist samples your music, especially considering that YMO is so heavily sampled?

Haruomi Hosono

YMO sampled sound materials like raw sounds, sounds from a city. They’re our original sounds. We didn’t copy at all. But in more recent years, times have changed. Various sampling musics became fads. Some of them become controversial. For example, about YMO, I believe Jennifer Lopez sampled “Firecracker.” But nobody complained about it. No one blinked an eye. On the other hand, when YMO and Snakeman Show released an album that contained a sample from Elmer Bernstein – I don’t remember what the music is called in English. It’s “The Magnificent Seven.” The theme song is fantastic. It’s instrumental. We only used its intro but Bernstein asked us for his credit and royalties. They’re expensive. We won’t let it happen again.

Todd Burns

Thank you very much.

Haruomi Hosono

Thank you. Thank you very much.