24–25 February 2025
Café Oto and Tonal Union are honoured to present the debut UK live performances of the legendary Japanese ambient and Kankyō Ongaku pioneers Inoyama Land, in the form of a very special two-night residency also featuring experimentalists Passepartout Duo.
Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita (Inyoama Land) will perform music from their expansive back catalogue including the highly revered album ‘Danzindan-Pojidon’ (1983) produced by Haruomi Hosono, before being accompanied by Passepartout Duo to perform additional material and improvisations inspired by their immersive collaborative album ‘Radio Yugawara’ (2024). Recorded in a school’s auditorium in Yugawara, Japan these kindred spirits embodied the essence of play charting a new chapter and reinvigorating the ambient and electronic music landscape.
This two residency is an unmissable opportunity to see a masterclass in environmental and experimental soundscapes.
Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita’s Inoyama Land project spans nearly four decades and remains active to this day. Formed in the 1980s as a side project from Hikashu, they began recording sessions and producing theatrical pieces combining their family names Ino-yama and the fictional “Land”. They drew the attention of Haruomi Hosono, who produced their now highly revered debut album “Danzindan-Pojidon” (1983) before becoming involved in the environmental music business alongside contemporaries like Satoshi Ashikawa, Hiroshi Yoshimura and Jo Hisaishi. Their works have been released internationally including Light in The Attic Records’ Grammy-nominated compilation “Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990”, WRWTFWW records, Empire of Signs, Longform Editions and most recently Tonal Union, producing a global resurgence and admiration of the environmental music movement.
Passepartout Duo is formed of Nicoletta Favari (IT) and Christopher Salvito (IT/US), who since 2015 have been on a continuous journey travelling the world’s corners, engaged in a creative process they term “slow music”. Drawing from a carefully selected palette of electro-acoustic textures and shapeshifting rhythms, Passepartout Duo’s work investigates the way in which we listen to and connect with sound. Having been guests of many notable artist residencies and with live performances in cultural spaces and institutions, their evocative music escapes categorisation.
