Globally-renowned percussionist Terje Isungset will spend about 40 days in Japan over the four trips scheduled in winter, spring, summer and fall of 2018, looking for unfamiliar materials unique to Tokyo to be used in his music. He will then turn these materials into percussion instruments, and present them in concerts.
Isungset will be researching types of rocks that can be gathered in Tokyo, such as obsidian from Kozushima island, known to be high quality in Japan, stone ore from Hachijojima island used for Hachijo whetstone, and gravel from Tamagawa. In Okutama he will be looking for materials from the forest, primarily wood and bamboo but also deerskin, etc., and in the city he will make field recordings collecting the “sounds of the city” that human ears can not pick up. The main purpose of this project is for Isungset to find the “sounds of Tokyo” through his encounters with unfamiliar materials during the search process around the Tokyo area.