Our apartment is located on the ground floor of a four-story building in northwestern Berlin. An old dusty Hammond organ from the seventies sits in the relatively wide hallway that stretches from the front door. It had been long abandoned at some gravestone shop in the city. My husband got it at a bargain and it was in need of repair. But somehow I felt a strange attachment to the giant electronic instrument that managed to keep its original function while making gurgling noises. In the midst of the May 2020 global pandemic lockdown, my husband and I took turns taking our two-year-old daughter out for a walk. That left us with two hours of free time each per day. This music was created alone in these strange days of the same thing over and over again with no end in sight. I recorded "omote" from the built-in Leslie speaker, and "ura" and "takai" with a line connection. (Michiko Ogawa)
Born in Tokyo, clarinetist Michiko Ogawa has studied clarinet performance and musicology at universities and graduate schools in Japan, Germany and the U.S. She earned a bachelor's and a graduate degree from Toho Gakuen School of Music and a master's degree from the Musikhochschule Freiburg, studied with composer Jo Kondo at Ochanomizu University, and received a doctorate in contemporary music performance from the University of California (San Diego). Ogawa has appeared in many festivals inside and outside Japan including Tokyo Experimental Festival (2013), Supersense Festival of Ecstatic Music (Melbourne, 2015), the Monday Evening Concert series (Los Angeles, 2016), BIFEM (Bendigo, Australia, 2016, 2017, 2019), Brisbane International Film Festival (Brisbane, 2018), and Maerzmusik (Berlin, Germany, 2018, 2019). In 2019 she performed at Ftarri Festival along with Klaus Lang (harmonium), Johnny Chang (violin), and Samuel Dunscombe (bass clarinet). She currently lives in Berlin, where she is active on the contemporary music and experimental/improvised music scene.
This solo album contains a solo performance by Ogawa--not on the clarinet, but on a Hammond organ. The dust-covered, long-abandoned organ from the 1970s had been purchased at a bargain price. At her home in Berlin in May 2020, during the coronavirus lockdown, Ogawa recorded three pieces (18, 28 and 23 minutes long) that she'd created alone during these strange times. The Hammond organ's distinctive warm, deep and mellow timbres multiply and overlap, continuing without pause along with changes in pitch and subtle sound vibrations.
私たちのアパートはベルリン北西部の５階建の建物の地上階に位置していて、風が抜けないL字型の形状をしている。玄関から伸びる比較的広い廊下には70年代の古いハモンドオルガンが居座っている。これは夫が市内のどこかの墓石屋に埃まみれで長い間置き去りにされていたものを格安で譲ってもらったもので、修理が必要な状態であったが、私はむしろガリガリとノイズを鳴らしながらなんとか本来の機能を保っているその巨大な電子楽器になぜか不思議な愛着を感じていた。2020年5月世界的パンデミックによるロックダウンの最中、唯一の日課は2歳になる娘を夫と交代で散歩に連れ出すことだった。1日のうち自分の時間は最大2時間。この音楽はそんな同じことが繰り返される先の見えない奇妙な日々の中で一人で制作した。omote は内蔵されているレスリースピーカーからの音を録音し、ura と takai は Line 接続で録音したものである。(小川道子)
小川道子は東京出身のクラリネット奏者。桐朋学園大学音楽学部卒業及び同大学研究科修了、ドイツ国立フライブルグ音楽大学 (修士号取得)、お茶の水女子大学で作曲家の近藤譲に師事、カリフォルニア大学サンディエゴ校音楽学部現代音楽演奏専攻博士課程修了と、日本、ドイツ、米国の大学、大学院でクラリネットの演奏と音楽学を学ぶ。Tokyo Experimental Festival (Tokyo, Japan, 2013)、Supersense Festival of Ecstatic Music (Melbourne, Australia, 2015), the Monday Evening Concert series (Los Angeles, 2016), BIFEM (Bendigo, Australia, 2016, 2017, 2019)、Brisbane International Film Festival (Brisbane, Australia, 2018)、Maerzmusik (Berlin, Germany, 2018, 2019) ほか、国内外のフェスティヴァルに数多く出演。2019年には、Ftarri Festival にも Klaus Lang (harmonium)、Johnny Chang (violin)、Samuel Dunscombe (bass clarinet) とともに出演した。現在はドイツ、ベルリンに住み、現代音楽と実験 / 即興音楽のシーンで活動を続けている。
Michiko Ogawa: Hammond organ (Hammond T200 Leslie)
Recorded at home in Wedding, Berlin, May 15 (1) and 31 (2, 3), 2020
Recorded and mixed by Michiko Ogawa
Mastered by Joe Talia
Artwork and design by Cathy Fishman
supported by 22 fans who also own “Solo May / 2020”
In my opinion - not for sleep. Something to lose yourself into while alert and able to chase the sound. I have no doubt that a room in my starship will have this on rotation. finldavi
Berlin experimental trio Zeug recorded this album of haunting drones and ominous percussion at underground venue Großer Wasserspeicher. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 30, 2021
