Otomo Yoshihide


Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He plays guitar, turntables, and electronics.
He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a variety of contexts, ranging from free improvisation to noise, jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical. He is also a pioneering figure in the EAI-scene, and is featured on important records on labels like Erstwhile Records. He has composed music for many films, television dramas, and commercials. In 2017, Otomo became the 2nd Guest Artistic Director of The Sapporo International Art Festival 2017.

Biography

Early years

Otomo was born in Yokohama in 1959, but due to his father's job, moved to Fukushima when he was nine years old. In high school, he frequented jazz cafés and started his own band. After entering university, he began studying under the improvisational jazz guitarist, Masayuki Takayanagi. He began performing around the world and released his first album in 1991 in Hong Kong. It was when the music he composed for a 1994 Hong Kong film was well received at the Cannes Film Festival that he also began to work as a composer.

Film and television

Otomo has composed music for a number of films and television programs, including Naoki Kato's Abraxas, Tsuyoshi Inoue's The Town's Children, and Ryuichi Hiroki's Yellow Elephant. He composed the music for the 2013 NHK morning television drama Amachan and it became his most commercially successful work up to that point. The soundtrack for Amachan reached number 5 on the Oricon Albums Chart, and Kyōko Koizumi's version of the song Shiosai no Memorī from the drama, composed by Otomo, reached number 2 on the Oricon Singles Chart. He performed live on New Year's Eve at the 2013 Kōhaku Uta Gassen.

Selected discography

Studio albums

With Rova::Orchestrova

Film