Published
Thu, May 20, 2021, 09:35
- The news was announced by his son and collaborator Tashi.
Yoshimasa "Yoshi" Wada has died aged 77.
The Japanese artist's death was announced by his son Tashi on May 20th. Wada was a key figure in structured free improvisation and sound installation for decades. After gaining a degree in sculpture, he left Japan for New York City in 1968 and joined the Fluxus art movement, participating in events with founder George Maciunas in the late '60s.
From the '70s, Wada performed his own durational works focusing on resonances and overtones, often using homemade and modified instruments built from objects such as the pipes used during his day job as a plumber. He also worked with bagpipes and voice, having studied North Indian singing with Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath and Scottish Piobaireachd bagpipe music with Nancy Crutcher. He often used composed frameworks to organise free improvisations and later began focussing on sound installations to explore his interest in the "idea of not being present while the viewer experiences the sound."
Wada's work has been published by labels including FMP, EM Records and Edition Omega Point. In later years he collaborated with his son Tashi, whose label Saltern has made key Wada releases available to stream on Bandcamp.
Watch a Yoshi and Tashi Wada performance from 2016.