Artist Interviews - Part 17　SONOKO's Talk Tape(2ページ目)

-- Before your debut on Crammed, I understand your activity was centered around Kyoto.　I have an impression that the scene in Kyoto at that time was edgy such as EP-4.　What connections did you have?

I started doing music in public around 1980, and my first unit was "Intron".　After doing some gigs and participating in the double-disk compilation album "Awa (Bubble)" which assembled avant-garde artists (Noizunzuri, Mertbaw, etc.) like Intron, I began solo activity as SONOKO.　Around that time I had some gigs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Hajime Tachibana, Guernica, etc.

I think that Kyoto was at the center of the Japanese experimental avant-garde art or alternative scene.　Various bands such as EP-4, Noizunzuri, Amaryllis, Smash Hits, Children Coup d'etat, Hanatarashi (later Boredoms), 4D, After Dinner and Shonen Knife, etc., were part of this scene.　I often had gigs together with Alice Sailor of Amaryllis and she was also my friend.　I worked together with her in Gardenia Angels (girl chorus band who sang medieval music, such as Palestrina and Gregorian hymns).

Alice Sailor and I planned events such as "Christmas calling" where both the performers and the visitors brought Christmas presents to exchange and "Girl's Festival event" where the girl band "Lolita Syndrome" appeared while presenting the French movie ("Ascenseur pour l'echafaud"). One of the most pleasant events was for a gallery called Kitano Circus in Kobe. We all played in an old church, alternative bands and Gardenia Angels for myself.　Everyday was like a moveable feast.

-- Although you participated in the Japanese omnibus albums, why did you suddenly decide to come out on an overseas label?

Though I was part of the latest avant-garde music in Japan, I didn't feel that at home in the underground and avant-garde atmosphere here.

I thought that my music had more things in common with the world created by the artists on the European labels such as Crepuscule, Cherry Red, Crammed somewhat similar to my favorite French movies, the aesthetic world of surrealism literature and art.　I was not too conscious about spreading my sphere of activity abroad.　I did not choose them because they are overseas labels.　It was simply because they were more in line with my music.　It was very natural for me like choosing a frame to fit my painting.

-- You sent a demo tape to Cherry Red, Crepuscule and Crammed in 1984.　What kind of tape was it?

The very first demo was a quite avant-garde thing that I created by mixing the sounds from two radio cassette recorders during my spring vacation.　It basically recorded my talking and songs, and used acoustic musical instruments such as music boxes, toy musical instruments, Kalimba, bell, hand bell, metalphone and violin based on the piano and even my elder sister's electronic organ.　It was my first demo tape as SONOKO and it was a very exciting experience.

It crystallized my favorite dreams: a mermaid, an angel and a fairy tale and whisper of fairy, a child's cruelty and eternal time, and Romeo & Juliet.　The monologue idea I took from Margurite Duras. The reading with music of the story "La debutante" by Leonora Carrington was an idea from the beginning and also became the album title "La Debutante."

It is close to the "talk tapes" for children to listen to before they go to sleep, that have "music and talk". The narration is part of the music like Claude Debussy's "Pavane Pavane For A Dead Princess", Gerard Philippe’s reading of "Little Prince", David Bowie's "Peter and Wolf" and Margurite Duras's "India Song",