Early Electronic Music in Japan

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Chapter 4 Early Electronic Music in Japan

• Contents
• The Sony Tape Recorder and Early Tape Music
• Establishment of the NHK Studio

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Chapter 4 Early Electronic Music in Japan

• Electronic music in Japan was initially inspired
  by works coming out of the Paris and Cologne
  studios. This work represented the first infusion
  of Asian culture into the new genre.
• Japanese composers Takemitsu and Shibata
  anticipated the use of electronics to produce
  music as early as 1948.

Chapter 4
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Chapter 4 Early Electronic Music in Japan

• In 1951, the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering
  Corporationnow Sonyprovided early tape
  recorders and studio facilities to composers
  associated with the Jikken Kobo (Experimental
  Workshop).
• The first completed examples of Japanese tape
  music were Toraware No Onna (Imprisoned Woman)
  and Piece B by Akiyama in 1951.

Chapter 4
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Chapter 4 Early Electronic Music in Japan

• The Nippon Hösö Kyökai (NHK) electronic music
  studio was founded by composers Moroi and
  Mayuzumi and a coalition of NHK radio producers
  and engineers in 1954. The studio design and
  equipment was modeled after the WDR studio in
  Cologne.
• The first wave of Japanese electronic music was
  largely based on serial composition techniques
  first tried by German composers including
  Stockhausen.

Chapter 4
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Chapter 4