Ftarri / Ftarri Festival

Opera Southern Cross

This project (band) is formed from the sounds of Taku Unami and Toshimaru Nakamura, the poetry reading of Katsuaki Iida, and the visual images and compositions of Taku Sugimoto. The members experiment to find out how the meanings of words, images, and sounds change as these elements overlap and emerge independently.

Taku Sugimoto
With Taku Unami and Masahiko Okura, Sugimoto organizes the almost-monthly Chamber Music Concert at Loop-Line in Sendagaya, and the irregular Taku Sugimoto Composition Series at Kid Ailack Art Hall in Meidaimae. He runs the label slubmusic, which in addition to Sugimoto's own recordings releases CDs by Taku Unami, Kazushige Kinoshita, Radu Malfatti, Antoine Beuger, and others.

Taku Sugimoto home page (Improvised Music from Japan)

Katsuaki Iida
After working as a manager and illustrator with several punk bands, Iida began writing poems in 2005. His participation in Opera Southern Cross led to his increased involvement as a narrator and performer in projects by musicians such as Taku Sugimoto and Taku Unami. Iida is also the bar-master at Dainikyukeijo, a counter-only pub in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo.

Taku Unami
Born in Tokyo in 1976. Unami is an improviser and composer whose main instruments are computer and guitar. He is leader of the noted low-key band HOSE, as well as a member of Hiromichi Hosoma's group Kaerumoku and Otomo Yoshihide's ONJO. As director of Hibari Music, Unami is also active in CD and concert production.

Toshimaru Nakamura (Improvised Music from Japan)


Last updated: March 27, 2008

Ftarri home
Ftarri Festival Tokyo home