Otomo was born in
Yokohama in 1959, but due to his father's job, moved to
Fukushima when he was nine years old.[3] In high school, he frequented
jazz cafés and started his own band.[3] After entering university, he began studying under the improvisational jazz guitarist,
Masayuki Takayanagi.[3] He began performing around the world and released his first album in 1991 in
Hong Kong.[3] It was when the music he composed for a 1994 Hong Kong film was well received at the
Cannes Film Festival that he also began to work as a composer.[3]
Film and television
Otomo has composed music for a number of films and television programs,[4] including Naoki Kato's Abraxas,[5] Tsuyoshi Inoue's The Town's Children,[6] and
Ryuichi Hiroki's Yellow Elephant.[7] He composed the music for the 2013
NHKmorning television dramaAmachan and it became his most commercially successful work up to that point. The soundtrack for Amachan reached number 5 on the
Oricon Albums Chart,[8] and
Kyōko Koizumi's version of the song Shiosai no Memorī from the drama, composed by Otomo, reached number 2 on the
Oricon Singles Chart.[9] He performed live on New Year's Eve at the 2013 Kōhaku Uta Gassen.[10]
Selected discography
Studio albums
Otomo Yoshihide (1987)
Problem (1988)
Duo (1989) with Junji Hirose
Silanganan Ingay (1989) with Junji Hirose
No Problem (1990) with No Problem
Who Is Otomo Yoshihide? (1991)
Visions of Japan (1991) with Yuji Katsui and Hiroshi Higo
Ground-0, No. 0 (1991)
Terminal-Zero (1991)
We Insist? (1992)
Turntables Solo (1992)
Memory Disorder (1993)
Peril (1993) with Peril
The Night Before the Death of the Sampling Virus (1993)
^"
PROFILE" (
Archive). Otomo Yoshihide Official Website. Retrieved on May 30, 2015. "When you write your Japanese name in English alphabet[...]For this reason, I would like to continue using the notation "Otomo Yoshihide" as before."
^"...Yoshide is largely known for his innovative works in the avant-garde electronic music world as well as his collaborations on drone pieces, creative methods on the turntables [...His guitar playing] sounds like a cross between
Hendrix and
Zappa, and at other times
Tony Iommi." Rob Theakston,
review of Episome (2006) for Allmusic.com, retrieved 30 Jan, 2018
^
abcde大友良英さんプロフィル. Asahi Digital (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
Otomo was born in
Yokohama in 1959, but due to his father's job, moved to
Fukushima when he was nine years old.[3] In high school, he frequented
jazz cafés and started his own band.[3] After entering university, he began studying under the improvisational jazz guitarist,
Masayuki Takayanagi.[3] He began performing around the world and released his first album in 1991 in
Hong Kong.[3] It was when the music he composed for a 1994 Hong Kong film was well received at the
Cannes Film Festival that he also began to work as a composer.[3]
Film and television
Otomo has composed music for a number of films and television programs,[4] including Naoki Kato's Abraxas,[5] Tsuyoshi Inoue's The Town's Children,[6] and
Ryuichi Hiroki's Yellow Elephant.[7] He composed the music for the 2013
NHKmorning television dramaAmachan and it became his most commercially successful work up to that point. The soundtrack for Amachan reached number 5 on the
Oricon Albums Chart,[8] and
Kyōko Koizumi's version of the song Shiosai no Memorī from the drama, composed by Otomo, reached number 2 on the
Oricon Singles Chart.[9] He performed live on New Year's Eve at the 2013 Kōhaku Uta Gassen.[10]
Selected discography
Studio albums
Otomo Yoshihide (1987)
Problem (1988)
Duo (1989) with Junji Hirose
Silanganan Ingay (1989) with Junji Hirose
No Problem (1990) with No Problem
Who Is Otomo Yoshihide? (1991)
Visions of Japan (1991) with Yuji Katsui and Hiroshi Higo
Ground-0, No. 0 (1991)
Terminal-Zero (1991)
We Insist? (1992)
Turntables Solo (1992)
Memory Disorder (1993)
Peril (1993) with Peril
The Night Before the Death of the Sampling Virus (1993)
^"
PROFILE" (
Archive). Otomo Yoshihide Official Website. Retrieved on May 30, 2015. "When you write your Japanese name in English alphabet[...]For this reason, I would like to continue using the notation "Otomo Yoshihide" as before."
^"...Yoshide is largely known for his innovative works in the avant-garde electronic music world as well as his collaborations on drone pieces, creative methods on the turntables [...His guitar playing] sounds like a cross between
Hendrix and
Zappa, and at other times
Tony Iommi." Rob Theakston,
review of Episome (2006) for Allmusic.com, retrieved 30 Jan, 2018
^
abcde大友良英さんプロフィル. Asahi Digital (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 26 January 2014.