JAKARTA - Good news came for lovers of the world's experimental music scene, especially connoisseurs of the legendary music wave from the Sakura State.
Multi-instrumentalist and one of the founders of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Haruomi Hosono, celebrates his 79th birthday by releasing a single titled "Note of Mothership".
The launch of this work also marks his new wings with the independent record label from the United States, Ghostly International.
This step is an important affirmation that his dedication to songwriting and artistic sensibility has not at all been dulled by age.
After being absent from producing new original material for the past seven years or so, Hosono is preparing to release his 23rd studio album, which he titled "Yours Sincerely" on September 11.
The "Note of Mothership" which was released on his birthday on July 9 was deliberately installed as the opening number to guide listeners into the contemplative universe he offered.
Hosono's musical style, which has always transcended genre barriers - from psychedelic folk touches, exotica, avant-garde pop, to global synth-pop pioneers - returns with a very mature texture.
Through this opening song, he tries to portray the intimate correlation between human existence and the universe in the midst of the shaking of various global upheavals in recent times. The spiritual reflection of the east that he learned through the experience of facing the pandemic to natural disasters became the main ammunition for his lyrics.
"I'm now 78 years old (when I worked on this album), but from here, I feel a growing curiosity for the unknown music that my new self will create, while embracing the music of my former self - as if I were now carrying two worlds of music inside me," Hosono said in a statement, Thursday, July 16.
The album, which took two years to complete, was inspired by Hosono's emotional exploration of how to translate the lofty concept of Japanese culture into a universal language.
He summarized the spiritual values of omoiyari (action with full concern for others), jihi (compassion), and boseiai (deep maternal love).
Through this concept, Hosono seeks to attach a hope that pure sincerity can reweave the cracks in global humanitarian relations that have become weaker after the crisis.
To complement this contemplative feel, the release of his latest single was also accompanied by the launch of a visualizer worked on by the art collective SAIGO NO SHUDAN. The visualization features the adventures of a fictional character named Dr. Tanuki, a typical Japanese raccoon dog who is engrossed in observing the movement of various forms of micro-life under the microscope.
The visualization seems to represent Hosono's point of view who always scrutinizes the smallest details of life with admiration and affection.
Not only offering recorded works, the maestro has also scheduled a series of tours titled The Yours Sincerely Tour in the North American region in September.
This stage journey is Hosono's first tour in the United States since 2019, where he will visit stages such as Radio City Music Hall in New York and the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
