"Music, for me, is neither something that I create, nor a form of self-expression. All kinds of sounds exist everywhere around us, and my performances solely consist of picking up these sounds, like a radio tuner, and playing them so that people can hear them. However, maybe because my reception is somewhat off, I am unable to perfectly reproduce these sounds. That is why I spend my days rehearsing.
"Where do these sounds come from? Who is sending them out? That is not something for me to know, and neither is there any way that I could find out. I simply believe that they come from the “cosmos”. (Maybe other people would call God the source). Since I was a small child I have been prone to hearing ringing sounds in my ears and other sound phantasms. At the time, I believed that these were messages aimed directly at me from a UFO, and so I would gaze up at the sky. But once I started playing music myself, I came to feel that these noises were a kind of pure sound. And I promised myself that one day I would be able to play those sounds myself. It is only recently that I have begun to feel that I have been able to come close to reproducing these sounds – in my solo guitar work, and in my INUI project.
"The greatest difference between these two styles is that, on the one hand, INUI consists of multi-tracked recordings of mainly ethnic instruments. This allows me to slowly pursue the sounds that I have heard, irrespective of time – however, I am unable to respond to the new cosmic sounds that constantly enter my hearing. On the other hand, my solo guitar work is in an improvisational style, without any overdubbing whatsoever. In terms of time, this allows me to be far more responsive, but I am unable to explore the sounds in any real depth.
"However, in June of 1999, I finally discovered my own “cosmos” and I experienced an instant of total union with it!! That “cosmos” is still tiny in size - although any cosmos can, by its very nature, be infinitely huge or infinitely small. The energy and vibrations contained within that it far exceeded my imagination in scope and beauty. I can only describe the miraculous instant when my “cosmos” accepted my consciousness as MAGIC.
"This record was recorded under the beneficial influence of the beautiful power and vibration from my personal “cosmos” (though, of course, I cannot deny the limitations of my personal radio tuner). It was an experience for which I am profoundly grateful. Finally, these pieces were performed in a totally improvised style. No overdubbing or tape manipulation whatsoever were used. Tracks one and three were performed with just the violin bow, track two uses finger picking."
>> Kawabata Makoto >> July 8th 2000
(Translation by Alan Cummings)
