Satoshi Ashikawa

about

Satoshi Ashikawa (芦川聡) was a Japanese musician, composer, producer and record store owner. He is considered one of the earliest flag bearers of ambient music in Japan. Ashikawa graduated from the Department of Sociology at Tokyo's Keio University in 1977. His first musical performance was at Sōgetsu Kaikan Hall in 1974 and he participated in performances at many galleries and cultural spaces across Japan during the late 1970s. Ashikawa founded the record and book store Art Vivant in Ikebukuro, Tokyo in 1975. The shop was one of the first in Japan to import Brian Eno's Ambient records alongside a niche selection of avant garde and ethnographic LPs, and became a hub for the influential kankyō ongaku (環境音楽) 'environmental music' scene. Ashikawa's keyboard piece 'Still Space' was later featured as the opening track on Light in the Attic's compilation Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990. In 1982, Ashikawa co-founded the record label Sound Process with colleague Munetaka Tanaka, which soon grew into a sound design consultancy firm and book publisher. The label released three LPs as part of the Wave Notation series: Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), Ashikawa's Still Way (1982) and Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie (France 1866-1925) (1984). Still Way was Ashikawa's only full-length release and featured celebrated percussionist Midori Takada alongside harp, piano and flute players. Ashikawa described the album as "intended to b

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Still Way (Wave Notation 2)

Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

Still Way

Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental New Age Music 1980-1990

Kankyō Ongaku Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

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Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music, 1980-1990

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Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Environmental, Ambient & New Age Music 1980-1990

Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

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Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980 -1990

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Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990

WAVE NOTATION 2: STILL WAY

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