Asian Meeting Festival 2016

Although the Internet and various social media channels have given us more means to explore South East Asia's emerging independent and underground music, it is still difficult to understand how these scenes operate and how artists are developing their unique style. In each city, politics, censorship, language, ethnicities, and religion are delicately entangled, creating a complex cultural landscape that local artists and organisers skilfully navigate through to show their work.

In our quest to try to find unique musicians from this region, I quickly discovered that genre tags like Noise, Free Improvisation or Experimental Music were not exactly useful. Artists making cutting edge music were found within more popular genres such as Rock, Punk, Metal, or Hip Hop, and often combined indigenous culture and musical traditions as ways to radicalise their music. Experimental music didn't exist as a scene or a defined musical language like in the West or in Japan. Instead dedicated individuals were practicing a form of experimentalism that bred through more conventional categories of music.

Project Director
Yuen Chee Wai
dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit)

Concert Schedule

Profile

Otomo Yoshihide (Tokyo)

Born in 1959 in Yokohama, Otomo grew up in Fukushima as a teenager. Staying independent, he has consistently composed a wide range of music from improvisation to noise music and pop, and his musical talent has touched people all over the world. He has a successful career as a film score composer and has produced more than 70 movie soundtracks. In recent years, he has continued to work on special types of concerts and musical works in collaboration with other various artists under the name of "ensembles."
In addition, one of his priorities is, producing musical workshop projects involving children with disabilities. In 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, he initiated "PROJECT FUKUSHIMA!" along with people from various fields. Since then, he has been active beyond the music scene and this brought him national recognition. In 2012, he received the Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts in the category of Promotion for "PROJECT FUKUSHIMA!" In 2013, he received various prizes including the Japan Record Award for his accomplishments, such as composing the theme music for the TV drama "Amachan."

dj sniff (Hong Kong)

dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) is a musician and curator in the field of experimental electronic arts and improvised music. His musical work builds upon a distinct practice that combines DJing, instrument design, and free improvisation. He has performed internationally at various venues and festivals around the world, and has released 12 DJ mixes and 4 albums, which includes collaborations with Evan Parker, Otomo Yoshihide, Martin Tetreault, and Paul Hubweber. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, All About Jazz, The WIRE, MusicWorks. During his appointment as Artistic Director of STEIM (2007 - 2012) in Amsterdam, he curated and produced over 100 projects including large-scale international festivals and award winning art works. Since 2012, he is based in Hong Kong where he is Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media CityU HK, and is Co-Director of Ensembles Asia / Asian Music Network.

Yuen Chee Wai (Singapore)

Singapore-based musician, artist and designer, Yuen Chee Wai's improvisational work explores relationships between sound, image and word. In 2008 together with fellow musicians Otomo Yoshihide (Japan), Ryu Hanki (Korea) and Yan Jun (China), they formed FEN (Far East Network) - an improvisational music quartet focused on cross-disciplinary collaborations within Asia. Yuen is the Co-Director of Ensembles Asia / Asian Music Network, which runs the Asian Meeting Festival annually in Japan. Being firmly plugged in South East Asia, he has been able to successfully bridge numerous new collaborations with musicians from South East Asia with others from around the world. Yuen is also a key member of avant/experimental rock band The Observatory (Singapore), with whom he plays guitar, synth and electronics. The Observatory runs an initiative called Playfreely, which focuses on collaborations between musicians of different styles and genres, traditional and experimental, coming together in an intensive environment, to workshop and produce new and interesting work. With 7 albums to date, The Observatory continues to perform and tour worldwide.

Fiona Lee (Hong Kong)

Fiona Lee was born in Hong Kong. Her artworks are based on a cross-section between installation and performance. She often takes inspiration from sounds of nature, but at the same time she finds herself also addicted to the various noise that the city emanates. Her recent work focuses on the relationship of sound frequencies and electromagnetic fields. Her sound and light performance "delight" has been featured internationally in Taiwan, Korea, Macau, and HK.

Okkyung Lee (New York)

Okkyung Lee, a New York-based artist and South Korea native, has created a body of work blurring genre boundaries through collaborations and compositions while pushing the limitation of contemporary cello performance techniques. Her music draws from Noise and Extended Techniques, Jazz, Western classical, and Korean traditional and popular music. She has released more than 20 albums including the latest solo record Ghil produced by Lasse Marhaug on EditionsMego/Ideologic Organ, Noisy Love Songs (for George Dyer) on Tzadik. She has performed and recorded with numerous artists from wide ranges such as Laurie Anderson, David Behrman, Mark Fell, Douglas Gordon, Jenny Hval, Vijay Iyer, Christian Marclay, Ikue Mori, Stephen O'Malley, Jim O'Rourke, Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, C Spencer Yeh and John Zorn to name just a few.

Pete TR (Bangkok)

Pete TR began making songs with his computer in high school. After honing his skills in recording, manipulating, and composing with his voice and guitar using various software, he formed his band Jryntanakai with some friends so that he can perform live the songs that he had made. Soon after, Jryntanakai was chosen to play at Fat Festival 10 and became the final five bands in the "Kon Kon Kon" music competition for young artists in Thailand. Their single "Knowledge" received a nomination as best New Song from a New Artist at the Fat Radio Award. However, after releasing their single on the Ghosted Note 2 Compilation by SO:ON Dry Flower Label, the band went on a hiatus. Now he is interested in exploring more experimental forms of music together with the many people he met through his previous band. His new solo project PLERN PAN PERTH just released its debut mini album "Hidden Home" earlier this year, and he has started a project with Pipe from The Orange Rolls called l _ / \ - l _ / \ (pronounced la-la) .

skip skip ben ben (Taipei)

skip skip ben ben was originally Taiwanese girl Benben's early solo work in Taipei which she released several works such as "No-Fi, No Fiction" (2010). During that time while still in Taipei, she played in a shoegaze band BOYZ&GIRL, later releasing their self-titled debut album on the Beijing label Maybe Mars. In late 2010 Ben Ben moved to Beijing and joined Carsick Cars as a drummer and backup vocalist, recording with them for their Carsick Cars EP and playing at SXSW 2011. Shortly after, she returned to Taipei to reboot old projects and write new material, before returning to Beijing to reassemble skip skip ben ben as a full band. However the current incarnation of skip skip ben ben comes after a break from jet-setting between Beijing and Taipei, and took some time to germinate after a perennial pilgrimage back to Taipei. At the end of 2012, she released "Sacrifice Mountain" and on 14 Feb 2013, upon My Bloody Valentine's strong request, skip skip ben ben opened for their Taipei concert. Her 3rd album "Mirror in Mirro" produced by Jon Du of The Forests will be released by Maybe Mars and Taiwan indie label 22 Record in December 2015.

Natalie Alexandra Tse (Singapore)

Natalie Alexandra Tse is a Chinese Zither - Guzheng performer, educator, and experimenter, dedicated to promote the instrumental art form of the instrument in modernity, while retaining its cultural charms. Since picking up the Guzheng at the age of 10, she has gained varied performance experience both locally and internationally and has worked with local talents such as renowned singer-songwriter Dick Lee and Cultural Medallion Winner Iskandar Ismail. She has also toured internationally as a member of SA (仨) - A Musical Art Collective with 2 other passionate musicians who use ethnic instruments and traditional techniques interweaved with a tasteful use of electronics. In this group Natalie has been exploring new sonic experiences through combining the Guzheng with electronic effects.

Krisna Widiathama (Yogyakarta)

Now working and living in Yogyakarta, Krisna Widiathama (Denpasar, 1983) is an artist who works in various media. Since 2004, Widiathama has been essential in the development of the Indonesian Noise Music scene, initiating many bands and projects such as BLACK RIBBON, LIWOTH, THE SPEKTAKULER, PUNKASILA, FECES ANATOMY, SULFUR and his solo moniker SODADOSA. With his own signature of Dark Ambient, Drone and Harsh Noise style of music, he has more than 50 releases from local and international labels and continues to explore new directions through actively collaborating with artists from different fields. He is currently active in ACE HOUSE COLLECTIVE - a group of young artists in Yogyakarta, and is also a part of JOGJA NOISE BOMBING - a collective of noise artists and experimental musicians.

Son X (Hanoi)

Son X (Nguyen Xuan Son) is a mixed-media music composer and a traditional percussionist. He studied traditional percussion at Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema and was a member of Vietnam Cheo Theatre between 1989-1994. He is currently the member of the Hanoi Cheo Theatre and Company Ea Sola. Since 1995, Son X has performed his music at international festivals and theatres around the world. In 2015 he performed "Broken Legend Music" with Luong Hue Trinh at the Punkt Festival, Norway and participated in Kim Ngoc Tran's "AS (EARS) Project" at the Siam Museum in Bangkok during their SONIC CULTURE OF VIETNAM - THE PAST AND TODAY program.

Yong Yandsen (Kuala Lumpur)

YONG Yandsen is an improvised music saxophonist and organizer from Malaysia. He was the woodwind player of Klangmutationen, a noise band that had released albums through Utech Records (USA) and Dream Sheep (Italy). His debut solo LP was released through Doubtful Sound (France). Yandsen, together with Darren Moore and Brian O'Reily, form the trio Game of Patience. They have toured in Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In 2015, they released their debut album "Trial and Error" on Herbal International label in Malaysia, and self released debut LP "The Bad Sleep Well." Yandsen is the curator of "Serious Play Improv Lab (SPIL)", a monthly music and performance series focusing on improvisation, which is a project of the Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video & Music Festival (KLEX).

Guest Artist Profile

Yuji ISHIHARA

Born 1986 in Osaka, Yuji Ishihara is a drummer, percussionist and improviser. In 2006, Ishihara's desire to play freely led him to form The Freeform Improvising Group Featuring Tutan The Khamuns which played widely in the Kansai area. More recently, his focus is on developing an idiosyncratic style on the drum kit exploring techniques around ideas of scratching, hitting, rolling, and repelling. While actively supporting various bands and musicians, he also releases his own solo and leader projects.

Tetsuya UMEDA

Umeda has been making interactive installations and performances that use familiar objects such as daily commodities and waste, and works that utilize natural phenomena. In addition to showing in exhibitions at museums both locally and internationally, he also produces site-specific works in urban spaces and nature. He has been featured in music festivals including INSTAL (Glasgaw), Unlimited (Wels) and Sonic Protest (Paris) and at performing arts festivals such as Festival Bo:m (Seoul), Theater Spektakel (Zurich) and Noorderzon (Groningen). His recent solo exhibitions include SCIENCE DE LA SUPERSTITION, Les Instants Chavirés, Montreuil (2015), 0 sai (age 0), Breaker Project, Osaka (2014) , and Hotel New Osorezan, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore (2013).

Makoto OSHIRO

Born 1978 in Okinawa, Japan, Makoto Oshiro is a performer and artist currently residing in Tokyo. His main medium is sound, but he also combines other elements such as light, electricity and movement of objects. In live performances, he uses self-made tools and instruments that are based on electronic devices, every day materials, and junk. His installation work mainly handles sound as a physical and auditory phenomenon, and focuses on characteristics such as vibration and interference. He has recently released his first solo CD Phenomenal World from the Japanese label hitorri. He also has formed and belongs to the live installation / performance group The Great △ with Takahiro Kawaguchi and Satoshi Yashiro.

Takahiro KAWAGUCHI

Kawaguchi creates installations, performances and recorded works through composing spaces with sound-making devices and every day objects that generate light and wind. Recent work includes "Amorphous Spores" with Utah Kawasaki and self titled "Takahiro Kawaguchi." He is member of live installation / performance group The Great △ with Makoto Oshiro and Satoshi Yashiro. Also he writes, designs T-shirts, and composes music for others.

Toshio KAJIWARA

During the early 90s, Kajiwara started his unique musical practice in New York using magnetic tape and 78 rpm records. Since then he has worked extensively as an improvising musician and performance artist, and has toured internationally with Christian Marclay. For 5 years he organized and hosted experimental music night PHONOMENA at the now legendary John Zorn's Lower East Side venue Tonic. He also worked for second hand record shop A-1 for 13 years and continues to search for gems in forgotten music from the past. Since he has returned to Japan, he has focused his work on music and performance art. In 2015, he formed the ANTIBODIES COLLECTIVE and aspires to work more closely with local communities and make contribution in the field of art education.

DODDODO

Nursery rhymes, hip hop, avant-garde music, ethnic music, break beats, electronica, sounds of metal, leather, and every day life are all cut up and thrown into DODDODO's sample to create her unique sound world. She performs across various genres and music scenes both locally and internationally. She has released 3 solo albums and has participated in numerous compilations and split releases. DODDODO is also active in composing music for films, themes songs for yuru-chara mascots, remixing, teaching music workshops, writing, and recently started her own record label Kongari Ongaku.

Tavito NANAO

Tavito NANAO is a singer songwriter born in 1979. Since his debut in 1998, he caused a sensation with his 3-disc album "911 Fantasia", "Rollin' Rollin'" and "Billion Voices", and in 2012 released his latest album "Little Melody." He is known for his ecstatic performances, and tours extensively playing at various music festivals and venues. Tavito also actively produces his own events such as "Accidental Songs" and "Hyakunin-Kumite." His recent projects include vocals-only band VOICE! VOICE! VOICE! VOICE! VOICE! VOICE! and an artist-run independent music distribution DIY STARS and 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund, DIY HEARTS.

Haco

Haco is a vocalist, composer, electronic musician, and sound artist. She studied acoustics arts in the 1980's and formed internationally acclaimed band After Dinner. Her recent performances and unique rendition of experimental pop music that combine her distinct voice with organic electronic and electro-acoustic sounds has gained her a large international following. She has extensively released work as solo or with her group Hoahio, and her 2005 release "Stereo Bugscope 00" was nominated for the Ars Electronica award. She performs regularly at international experimental music and art festivals. In 2015, she released her 6th solo album "Secret Garden" from Nuovo Immigrato and toured 11 European cities.

Yoko HIGASHINO

Yoko Higashino is a choreographer and dancer. Between 2000 - 2014 she lead Dance Company BABY-Q creating a multiple theater art works which have been widely showcased internationally and locally. She is also active as a solo performer working with various musicians in improvisational sessions. She won the TOYOTA Choreography Award in 2004, Grand Prize in Yokohama Solo+Duo Competition in 2005. Her recent works involves educational dance workshops for local communities and public art spaces. Since 2015, she was moved to Kyoto and started a new group ANTIBODIES COLLECTIVE, producing cross-genre works and performances.

Kota MASUMOTO

Kota Masumoto is traveling musician. His songs composed with Japanese lyrics, guitar and piano are often compared to chants or nursery songs. His other project BLOWBOHEMIA aims to produce a modern folklore dance music that is futuristic yet at the same time warm and nostalgic. He has travelled throughout Europe performing in various cities, and recently has been focusing his activities in Korea and Taiwan, self-producing DIY tours in East Asia.

Yoshihito MIZUUCHI

Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Yoshihito Mizuuchi works between exhibitions shows and music performances. On-going projects include Takahashi-san No Kai - an event that only people with last names "Takahashi" can participate, Scan Earth - a project that attempts to photocopy the whole planet, DJ Po - a solo skit performance that only uses recordings of his own voice, Kyojin Yue Ni Dekai - a band with Shinji Wada and the Fart Championships. In 2010 he was awarded the Asian Cultural Council grant to live in New York for 6 months. He runs his own independent label Mrs. Triangle and also operates a standing bar in his studio under the same name. In 2015, he participated in ENSEMBLES ASIA / Asian Sounds Research's exhibition OPEN GATE in Malaysia.

An MURAZATO

Born in 1994, An Murazato is from Omuta City, in the Southern prefecture of Fukuoka. In 2009 she joined noise group Denshi Takujyo Ongakudan and now performs under the name Denshi Takuan. Since 2010 she is the drummer for junk-post-punk band Hakuchi. In 2011 she formed TOKOTOKOTONNTOKO'S and participated in L'Expérience japonaise held in Marseille, France in 2013. Other projects include solo with sampler and keyboard and two-piece band Kawaite Nodo.

Katsura MOURI

Katsura Mouri is an experimental turntablist exploring a unique ways to play the turntable with portable record players and effects. She has toured throughout Europe with other turntablists such as eRikM, Martin Tetreault, Ignaz Schick, and participated in the Multipletap tour and the LUFF Festival in Switzerland. During 1998 - 2009, she was member of experimental turntable group Busratch, and in 2001, she played with Christian Marclay at the MCA Chicago.

Ari Morimoto

Ari Morimoto is a musician that plays an extremely diverse range of music - his Gameboy and mouth harp playing are not bad. He likes odd instruments and even likes more to make non-instruments into instruments. He leads several bands and projects such as Mitamura Kandadan?, Pe Do Gu, Kameari Electric, Kuchihaacho. He also performs solo and teaches musical workshops. He organizes and manages the Guggenheim House Kobe, and acted as director of Tanuki no Machi Music Festival in 2015.

Yasushi YOSHIDA

Yasushi Yoshida is the vocalist and performer for one of Osaka's most distinct underground music band, bonanzas. Known for his possessive and primitive shout and screaming, Yoshida has been active since the 90's in bands such as SPASMOM, SUSPIRIA, NASCA CAR, and BISCO. For his solo projects, Yoshida utilizes the microphone, a broken CDJ, Walkman, and various effects to create random and disjointed beats that back his vocals. He is working on his second solo record, his other project DANTEFONE, and the second release of bonanzas.

Shinji WADA

Shinji Wada is a musician and drummer born in 1981, Osaka. He is a member of abstract band Kyojin Yue Ni Dekai and noise rock band DMBQ. He also actively performs solo and produces music for various projects. In 2013, his rock project Wada Rockers scored the music for film "Uzumasa Jacopetti" by Moriro Miyamoto and Wada himself played the leading role in the film. In 2014, he released a collection of new and old works for drums and amplifiers "PANACUT8/PANA8" from bridFriend label. In 2015 he toured North America with poet Yoshinori Henguchi and Yoshihito Mizuuchi.