Outside Society

This book describes Ayuo Takahashi's growing up during the socially turbulent 1960s in New York City. The book will be most appreciated by individuals who are interested in Asian culture and the problems that Western-educated Asians confront when they return to their ancestral homelands.

Ayuo Takahashi is a musician (songwriter, lyricist, composer, vocalist, and guitarist) with over 20 albums released in Japan and the United States. Ayuo grew up in New York during the 1960s, interacting with many cultural figures while still a child including Seiji Ozawa, Toru Takemitsu, Yokoo Tadanori, Hiroshi Teshigahara, John Cage, and others. He has recordings with Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Zorn, and Peter Hammill, among others, released on JVC, Tzadik, MIDI, Epic-Sony, and other labels. He continues to create works based on medieval mythology and contemporary literature. In recent years, Ayuo's work has increasingly included music theater and chamber music mixed with dance and theatrical elements. He is also a journalist writing about music, films, and culture for magazines in Japan. In 2020, the compilation album "Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient Music," which includes Ayuo's composition "Nagareru," was nominated for a U.S. Grammy Award. His recent works are available at ayuo.bandcamp.com.

Part I. 1. My first memory/Age 3, plane trip to Berlin/Kennedy Assassination/New York. 2. The Beatles/Rhythm and sound. 3. New York in the late 1960s/My mother's artist friends (Yokoo Tadanori, Shuji Terayama, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Kishin Shinoyama, Mutsuo Takahashi, etc.)/The Filmore East/Electric Circus/Terry Riley/John Cage and Marcel Duchamp/Living Theater/Horace Silver/Joan Gilberto/Thelonius Monk/Muddy Waters. 4. Started learning guitar/1968: The year of changes/My parents' divorce/Psychedelic rock/Started writing poetry/Open-tuning guitar. 5. My mother's marriage to Mansour Malekpour/Jethro Tull/Ten Years After/Alice Cooper/Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Pink Floyd/Fairport Convention/Earth, Wind, and Fire/Steely Dan/The Who and more. 6. Influences from Peter Gabriel's performances. 7. David, the actor/Experimental films/The Strawbs. 8. The junior high school I attended/Studying medieval European history/Teaching methods that make the students think for themselves/The Italian school in my neighborhood. 9. The disintegration of my family life/Suddenly leaving New York City in 1975. 10. Arrival in Tokyo/Father, Yuji Takahashi/Stepmother, Karen/Enrollment in Yokohama International School. 11. My father's recordings/Left-wing political activists began to visit our residence/Takehisa Kosugi/Steve Lacy/Aquirax Aida/Meeting Ryuichi Sakamoto. 12. Going to Yokohama International High School/Friends/Cannabis/LSD/"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" by Genesis. 13. Father forces me to drop out from high school for political reasons/Separated from father/The music activities in Tokyo in the late 1970s/Keiji Haino/Kichijoji Minor/Live performances at Seibu Auditorium, Kyoto University/Aunt Sally. 14. Performances with Junichi Kawahara, Chie Mukai, Takeo Suzuki, Takuya Nishimura and others in the early 1980s/Kansai tour. 15. 1983, Record debut is decided/First solo album, Carmina/Interviews where communication is not established/Morgan Fisher/Moonriders. 16. 1984, signing with MIDI records. 17. Silent Film album/The misunderstood promotion/Memory Theatre album. 18. Departure to record in the UK in the summer of 1986/Stopover in New York City/John Zorn/Arrival in London/AMM/David Lord/Fairport Convention/Photographer Richard Haughton/Steeleye Span and Renaissance in concert/Recordings at Crescent Studios/Dave Mattacks/Maddy Prior/Peter Knight. 19. Meeting Peter Hammill/Visit to Peter Hammill's house/Interview with Peter Hammill. 20. Completion of the album, Nova Carmina/Seeing Steve Marriott live. 21. Prolific creation in neurotic states. 22. 1987, Producing Kazue Sawai's album, Eye to Eye/David Lord/Hiromi Ota/Peter Hammill/Guy Evans/Sara Jane Morris/James Warren. 23. The Hungerford massacre/J. G. Ballard. 24. From 1990 to now. Part II. Rock concerts I saw before and after 1970. The Kinks. About Yes. Bill Bruford interview. I met Andy Warhol when I was in the fifth grade. The school I went to in New York City. Winter 1983. End of Earth. Part III. I don't understand the Japanese. Why I don't understand the Japanese. Part IV. Tokyo and my mother in the 1950s and early 1960s. Questions of identity in Hiroshi Teshigahara's films and Kobo Abe's novels. Toru Takemitsu's ear for sound. What is psychedelic? Yokoo Tadanori, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and the psychedelic music scene. Taj Mahal Travellers and Takehisa Kosugi. John Cale Interview (from 2001): A musical journey from Xenakis, La Monte Young, Velvet Underground, and back to his roots in Wales. Yukio Mishima. The experience of death. Persian classical music and my stepfather, Mansour. Part V. Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and John Cage. Music and mythology. Folk society. About rhythm. The rhythm of the words we speak affects the rhythmic sense of the person who speaks them. The difference between English and Japanese lyrics. Classical music's influence in Rock music. Influences from Joni Mitchell and my mono opera Izutsu. Yokoo Tadanori: The hometown is the source of creation. Part VI. Outside Society: People Without a Country-The poem. Discography. About the Author.