Touch, light, sound: the sensation of these three senses flowed like an electric shock the first moment this instrument was picked up by saxophonist, composer and electronic producer Shoko Igarashi.
Three senses sublimated into art by a single electronic device : the Yamaha Tenori-on. Pieces composed by layers and repeated sequences intricately, and sometimes simply channelled through the musician.
A single note becomes one song just as many small fish can gather to become one big fish: simple but complex. Sequences which gradually morph into new realities.
About TENORI-ON
A musical interface which uses light and sound, born from the collaboration between Yamaha and Japanese media artist Toshio Iwai in 2007. It’s a fun and interactive instrument that anyone can use; it makes music as soon as you touch it. It is an interface based on the tactility and lighting of buttons which makes playing an enjoyable experience for all. Even those without any musical knowledge to create and perform music using visual cues and their own intuition. Toshio Iwai is also known for directing the musical video game “Electroplankton” for Nintendo DS.
Quote by Shoko:
I still remember the feeling when I handed and played this instrument for the first time. Everything was very organised and simple but there are many sounds and layers to create your own music loops. Simple, but complex. I felt so warm and happy while I was playing. Then I noticed an hour had passed. It was an amazing experience. I used this instrument to compose many songs as well because it is so easy to make some ideas on it. When lockdown hits our place, I decided to create something featuring Tenori-on. It was a really creative time to make tracks with Tenori-on. I made over 20 tracks in a short time.
Improvising side and how instant for composing songs this instrument has, how easy those all loops become songs. All of those convenience factors of this instrument allowed me to compose many songs for a short time that made me excited and motivated more and more. It is like a playing game but still artistically. Play with harmony, rhythms, and design the sound as a child. Very satisfied with the variety of this album. You can find a song on free rhythmical metre (on the song Darkness for example), a song with a very cute feeling (KAYU, by the way Kayu is the name of my beloved cat) and songs with ethnic vibe (Yuki Onna, Vishnu).
This instrument somehow connects with my inner creativity very well and brings a lot of ideas. I will be the happiest person when this music is delivered to people to share my love of Tenori-on. Big thanks to Maximilian Sink who mixed all the tracks for this project and my husband Casimir Liberski for introducing me to the Tenori-on.
Quote from Toshio Iwai (developer of Tenori-on)
TENORI-ON is an electronic musical instrument that I developed with Yamaha over a period of about seven years, and since its release in 2007, it has been used by Bjork, Cornelius, Yoko Ono, Atom Heart, Little Boots, etc. used it and it became a hot topic.
However, 16 years after its release, TENORI-ON has already been discontinued and disappeared from the market.
But then… Suddenly, I received a message on my Instagram from a musician named Shoko Igarashi, who lives in Brussels, saying that she was releasing an album from a Spanish label that fully utilises TENORI-ON, and she wanted me to listen to it. “Why TENORI-ON now?” I wondered, and accessed the URL that she gave me on the message. “Is this TENORI-ON?, it certainly sounded familiar…”. But before I could pay attention to such things, I felt my consciousness quickly melting into the sound – this was amazing! A sensation of drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. The pleasure of concentration and release repeated one after the other.
I heard that Shoko spent a lot of time with TENORI-ON during the COVID lockdown, weaving these songs together. I wonder how much time she spent on it. She must have repeated the journey to her unconsciousness many times, probably combined with the strangeness of lockdown. The density of the sound of tracks makes me imagine that. TENORI-ON has already disappeared from the market, but Shoko found new possibilities and showed them on this album. I’m just happy.
(Toshio Iwai, media artist and TENORI-ON developer)
artist Shoko Igarashi
title Project Tenori
label Faneca Music
date 7th July
format digital
Tracklist:
1. 01 (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
2. Fake Jazz OUT NOW
3. Yuki Onna – 雪女 (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
4. Darkness (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
5. Dread (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 9TH OF JUNE)
6. The land of beginning (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
7. Kamuni Island (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 23RD JUNE)
8. Downstairs (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
9. Viṣṇu – विष्णु0 (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)
10. Kayu (RADIO EMBARGO UNTIL 7TH OF JULY)