Early Japanese Tape Music

Toshiro Mayuzumi
oil on wood, 12 x 12 inches, 2017

Japanese artists and musicians alike were right there at the beginning of new movements that were to shape developments in post-war art. The Japanese experimented early on with performance art (Gutai), conceptual art, and musique concrete. Toshiro Mayuzumi (b. 1929, Yokohama) recorded the first Japanese work for tape music as early as 1953. The collection Early Japanese Tape Music (1953-1956) can be found on UbuWeb. Works for musique concrete, X. Y. Z (1953) opens the collection.