Tetuzi Akiyama (acoustic guitar set)
with John Bell (mallet percussion/whistles, etc.) &
Nigel Wright (electronics)

Master guitarist and bastion of the radical Japanese underground Tetuzi Akiyama will tour New Zealand in July (2nd-13th) performing solo and collaborating with New Zealand's finest improvising musicians and sonic artists.

Tetuzi has recorded and performed with an extensive legion of composers and artists both in Japan and abroad. He is the founder alongside no-input mixer virtuoso, Toshimaru Nakamura of the infamous Meeting at Offsite performance series in Tokyo, which has played host to some of experimental music's most recognized icons.

Akiyamas' idiosyncratic and arresting vocabulary contains often volatile shifts between microtonal prepared guitar, folk pastoralism, country raga and weirdo boogie shred. His eclectic but consistently focused body of work which also employs viola and electronics has appeared on labels such as Locust Music (Espers, Henry Flynt, Matmos, Josephine Foster), Staubgold (To Rococo Rot, Vladislav Delay, Keith Rowe, Oren Ambarchi, Faust), Bottrop-Boy (DAT Politics, Nobukazu Takemura, Sunroof!), and Antiopic (Lee Ranaldo, Jim O'Rourke).

As Improvised Music from Japan writes :
Akiyamas' specializes in music with elements of both primitivism and realism by connecting his own aspirations, in a minimal and straightforward way, to the special instrumental qualities of the guitar. Sometimes delicately and sometimes boldly, he controls sound volumes ranging from micro to macro, in an attempt to convert the body into an electronic entity.

National tour dates -

Auckland
Wine cellar back room
Friday July 2nd
8:00pm
Tetuzi Akiyama (boogie-woogie set)
Dean Roberts and Chris O’Connor
Clinton Watkins and Richard Francis
$10

High seas Gallery
Saturday July 3rd
7:00pm
Tetuzi Akiyama (acoustic guitar)
John Bell
Nigel Wright
$10
http://www.vitamin-s.co.nz/about.php

Wellington
Frederick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society
46 Frederick St
Sunday 4 July 2010
7.30pm
$10/$5

Adam Art Gallery
Tuesday 6 July 2010
7.30pm
Free Entry
Victoria University of Wellington
Gate 3, Kelburn Parade
www.adamartgallery.org.nz

Christchurch
HSP 84 Lichfield Street Christchurch
Saturday 10 July
8pm
Tetuzi Akiyama
Greg Malcolm
$10