Keiji Haino born May 3, 1952 in Chiba

Chiba Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and currently residing in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, is a Japanese musician whose work has included rock

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

, free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

, noise

Noise music

Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...

, singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, solo percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

, psychedelic

Psychedelic music

Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...

, minimalism and drone

Drone music

Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...

 styles. He has been active since the 1970s and continues to record regularly and in new styles.

History

Haino's initial artistic outlet was theatre, inspired by the radical writings of Antonin Artaud

Antonin Artaud

Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...

. An epiphanic moment came when he heard The Doors

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

' "When The Music's Over" and changed course towards music. After brief stints in a number of blues and experimental outfits, he formed improvised rock band Lost Aaraaf in 1970. In the mid 1970s, having left Lost Aaraaf, he collaborated with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Magical Power Mako and film soundtrack composer Toru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu

was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...

.

His musical output throughout the late 1970s is scarcely documented, until the formation of his rock duo Fushitsusha

Fushitsusha

Fushitsusha is a Japanese rock band specialising in the psychedelic rock, space rock and noise rock genres. The band consists of electric guitarist and singer Keiji Haino, and a shifting cast of complementary musicians. The group released the majority of its material in the 1990s.-History:Haino...

 in 1978 (although their first LP did not surface until 1989). This outfit initially consisted of Haino on guitar and vocals, and Tamio Shiraishi on synthesizer. With the departure of Shiraishi and the addition of Jun Hamano (bass) and Shuhei Takashima (drums), Fushitsusha operated as a trio. The lineup soon changed, with Yasushi Ozawa (bass) and Jun Kosugi (drums) performing throughout the 1990s, but returned to a duo with Haino supplementing percussion with tape-loops.

Haino formed Aihiyo in 1998, principally playing a diverse range of covers (including The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, The Ronettes

The Ronettes

The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...

, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience), transforming the original material into Haino's unique form of garage psychedelia.

Other groups Haino has formed include Vajra (with underground folk singer Kan Mikami and drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka), Knead (with the avant-prog outfit Ruins), Sanhedolin (with Yoshida Tatsuya

Yoshida Tatsuya

is a Japanese musician and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as Koenji Hyakkei...

 of Ruins and Mitsuru Nasuno of Altered States and Ground Zero

Ground Zero (band)

Ground Zero was a Japanese noise/improvisation band during the 1990s led by guitarist and turntablist Yoshihide Otomo that had a large and rotating group of performers with two other regular performers-Musical style:...

) and a solo project called Nijiumu. He has also collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Faust

Faust (band)

Faust are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.-History:Faust...

, Boris

Boris (band)

is a Japanese experimental rock band, known for often combining and switching between different music genres including drone metal, sludge metal, noise rock, psychedelic rock, ambient and pop...

, Derek Bailey, Joey Baron

Joey Baron

Joey Baron is an American avant-garde jazz drummer probably best known for his work with Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn, and John Zorn...

, Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...

, Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...

, Loren Mazzacane Connors

Loren Mazzacane Connors

Loren MazzaCane Connors is an American experimental musician who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors...

, Charles Gayle

Charles Gayle

Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...

, Earl Kuck, Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, Musica Transonic, Stephen O'Malley

Stephen O'Malley

Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....

, Mikigami Koichi

Hikashu

Hikashu are a renowned Japanese underground "avant-pop" collective led by pseudo-Kabuki vocalist, Makigami Koichi, known for their highly experimental music...

, Ayuo

Ayuo

Ayuo is a Japanese-American composer, poet, lyricist, singer and performer of plucked string instruments including guitar, bouzouki, Irish harp, Chinese zheng, Japanese koto,and medieval European psaltery...

, Merzbow

Merzbow

is the main recording name of the Japanese noise musician , born in 1956. Since 1979 he has released in excess of 350 recordings.The name "Merzbow" comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork, "Merzbau”. This was chosen to reflect Akita's dada influence and junk art aesthetic...

, Oren Ambarchi

Oren Ambarchi

Oren Ambarchi is a multi-instrumentalist who in major plays electric guitar and drums, with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. He was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969 to a Jewish family originally from Iraq....

, Jim O'Rourke

Jim O'Rourke (musician)

Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...

, John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

, Yamantaka Eye

Yamantaka Eye

, real name , born February 13, 1964 in Kobe, is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms. He has changed his name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himself eYe or EYヨ...

, John Duncan

John Duncan (artist)

This page is about John Duncan the contemporary artist. For the Symbolist artist see John Duncan .John Duncan is an artist who has lived and worked in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Amsterdam, currently lives and works in Bologna...

 and Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

.

Style

His main instruments of choice have been guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and vocals, with many other instruments and approaches incorporated into his career's work. Haino is known for intensely cathartic sound explorations, and despite the fact that much of his work contains varied instrumentation and accompaniment, he retains a distinctive style.

Haino cites a broad range of influences, including troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 music, Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

, Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...

, Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer

Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...

, Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...

, and Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

. His recent foray into DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

ing at Tokyo nightclubs has reportedly reflected his eclectic taste. He has had a long love affair with early blues music, particularly the works of Blind Lemon Jefferson

Blind Lemon Jefferson

"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....

, and is heavily inspired by the Japanese musical concept of 'Ma', the silent spaces in music (see Taiko

Taiko

means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...

 for more information). He also has a keen interest in Butoh

Butoh

is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...

 dancing and collecting ethnic instruments.

Solo & Collaborative Discography

• Watashi Dake (1981)
• Kaii Abe (Collaboration with unknown musicians) (1982)
• Nijiumu (1990)
• Live in the first year of the Heisei, Volume One (With Kan Mikami and Motoharu Yoshizawa (1990)
• Live in the first year of the Heisei, Volume Two (With Kan Mikami and Motoharu Yoshizawa (1990)
• Live at Lazyways, Koenji, Tokyo (with Toshi Ishizuka) (1992)
• Itsukushimi (Affection)(1992)
• 30 - June - 1992 (1992)
• Execration that accept to acknowledge (1993)
• Ama No Gawa (Milky Way) (1993)
• Guitar Works (7")(1994)
• Beginning and end, interwoven (1994)
• Hikari=Shi" (light=death) (Maki Miura, Keiji Haino, and Ogreish Organism) (1994)
• Two strings will do it (Barre Phillips, Keiji Haino, and Sabu Toyozumi) (1994)
• Live at Downtown Music Gallery (Keiji Haino and Loren Mazza Cane Connors) (1995)
• A Challenge to Fate (1995, reissued 2004)
• Tenshi No Gijinka (1995)
• I said, This is the son of nihilism (1995)
• Twenty-first Century Hard-y Guide-y Man (1995)
• Etchings in the air (Barre Phillips and Keiji Haino) (1996)
• Evolving Blush or Driving Original Sin (With Peter Brotzmann) (1996)
• Gerry Miles (With Alan Licht) (1996)
• The Book of "Eternity Set Aflame" (1996)
• Saying I love you, I continue to curse myself (1996)
• Drawing Close, Attuning—The Respective Signs of Order and Chaos (With Derek Bailey (1997)
• Vol. 2 (Keiji Haino and Loren Mazza Cane Connors) (1997)
• Keeping on breathing (April 21, 1997)
• Sruthi Box (Promotional Release) (April 21, 1997)
• So, black is myself (May 1, 1997)
• The 21st Century Hard-y Guide-y Man (1998)
• Incubation (with Musica Transonic) (1998)
• Black: Implication Flooding (With Boris) (1998)
• Even Now, Still I Think (June 24, 1998)
• An Unclear Trial: More Than This (With Greg Cohen and Joey Baron) (November 1998/January 1999)
• Y (With Jean-Francois Pauvros) (January 2000)
• The Strange Face (With Shoji Hano) (September 2000)
• Shadow - Live in Wels, Austria (With Shoji Hano & Peter Brotzmann) (September 2000)
• Ichioku to ichibanme no inori o michibiki daseba ii (With Coa) (October 2000) A translation: You should draw out the billion and first prayer
• Songs (With Derek Bailey) (December 2000)
• Abandon all words at a stroke, so that prayer can come spilling out (May 2001)
• Until Water Grasps Flame (With Yoshida Tatsuya
  Yoshida Tatsuya
  is a Japanese musician and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as Koenji Hyakkei...
  
  ) (January 2002)
• Mazu wa iro o nakusouka!! (Nov 5, 2002)
• Free Rock (Doo-Dooettes + Keiji Haino + Rick Potts) (Nov 25, 2002)
• "C'est parfait" endoctriné tu tombes la tête la première (January 2003)
• Hikari yami uchitokeaishi kono hibiki (December 24, 2003)
• Koko (December 24, 2003)
• Live at Cafe Independants Friday 23. January. 2004 (Keiji Haino, Tatsuya Yoshida & Mitsuru Natsuno + Bus Ratch) (June 2004)
• Tayu tayu to tadayoitamae kono furue (With Michihiro Sato) (July 2004)
• Next Let's Try Changing the Shape (April 2004, January 2005)
• Black Blues (soft version) (May 2004)
• Black Blues (violent version)(May 2004)
• Uchu Ni Karami Tsuite Iru Waga Itami (March 10, 2005)
• kono kehai fujirareteru hajimarini (August 25, 2005)
• Reveal'd to none as yet - an expedience to utterly vanish consciousness while still alive (December 2005)
• New Rap (With Yoshida Tatsuya) (March 2006)
• Homeogryllus japonicus Orchestra 2004 (With Mamoru Fujieda) (April 2006)
• Animamima (With Sitaar Tah!) (May 2006)
• Yaranai ga dekinai ni natte yuku (August 15, 2006)
• Mamono (With KK Null) (November 2006)
• Cosmic Debris, Vol.III (With My Cat Is An Alien) (August 2007)
• Uhrfasudhasdd (With Yoshida Tatsuya) (May 2008)
• Pulverized Purple (With Masami Akita) (July 2008)

Vajra

• Tsugaru (1995)
• Chiru-Ha/Ozakijinjya (CD-Single) (1995)
• Ring (1996)
• "Sichisiki" (The Seventh Consciousness) (1997)
• Sravaka (1998)
• Mandala Cat Last (2002)
• Live 2007 (2007)

Purple Trap

• Soul's True Love (4CD) (1995)
• Decided... Already The Motionless Heart Of Tranquility, Tangling The Prayer Called "I" (1999)

Knead

• 1st (May 2002)
• This melting happiness - I want you to realize that it is another trap (July 2003)

External links

• Nippop Profile | Keiji Haino
• Unofficial Keiji Haino Homepage (English)
• Haino's Official page (Japanese)
• Discography reviewed at Arcane Candy
• review of Keiji Haino's 2005 'memorial birthday concert'
• Exhibition featuring Keiji Haino
• Keiji Haino at Scaruffi's "The History of Rock Music"
• Video of Keiji Haino's Percussion performance
• A Critical Analysis of Keiji Haino by Costas Kontas (PhD thesis, University of the Arts London)