Tujiko Noriko

"Making music was like I drive and drive looking for a place where there is nobody. I would arrive there, wow cool, I get out of the car quickly. Then I happily dance, sing, doing a mini party alone. Doing a solo show alone in a big green field. There is a lake, the sun, a train, an airplane, the city, a forest, camera, second sight & everything in the field, etc. Anyway, it’s nice when it’s working well. I had forgotten this way of enjoying for a while. Last year, after some collaboration albums, I remembered I wanted to have this feeling again." Tujiko Noriko, 24.11.2006.

First time I listened to Tujiko Noriko was in a well-sorted record store in Newcastle, 2006.

For some reason I took a liking for her music in front of twenty others. Her music is exciting, moderated but in the same way fluent and outsourcing, raw and beautiful at the same time. In a musical ensemble between reality and secret dimensions she creates a universe with unpredictable dreams, visions and experiences. She endeavors to create her own sound (the most difficult thing, and what every artist should be striving for). Through letting go of norms and getting inspired by everything and nothing, without any limitation. Strong Weak Playful and Vulnerable she is fluctuating between different worlds.

Tujiko Noriko was born in Osaka, Japan, and is an avant-pop experi- mental musician. It is not unusual that she is compared with Múm and Björk. Personally I would say it is more moderated and there is a bit of CocoRosie fantasy over her music. You get the feeling that there is more to explore and even if she doesn’t economize with her ingeniousness she shares her creativity with the audience.

The personality at the center of this world is Tujiko Noriko. And the thing is, she takes the burden with style. In an interview conducted with avant-garde catalyst Noël Akchoté, regarding her new release on Tomlab, From Tokyo to Naiagara, Akchote asks what her songs are about. “They’re mostly fictions and stories,” Tujiko said. “I’ll give you some lyrics I wrote recently that I quite like, though I still didn’t found a precise melody. The song is called ‘Naiagara Byouin’ it means Naiagara fall’s hospital. It goes like this: ‘She is in a hospital room. There’s nice sunlight going through the curtain and she is thinking the last dinner was the last one. She can see her boyfriend rushing into her room wearing cool suites. She can hear the sound of slippers of nurse and it’s like tap dance, pata, pata’ ...”.

In a number of collaborations - some of them are Aki Onda (electronic - composer - poet - performer), Aoki Takamasi (experimental musician), Saadane Afif (artist) - Tujiko Noriko has extended her playroom. But she is not satisfied with only making music, she is also making her own layout and has recently finished her first animation movie. Her dream is making music to her own movies.

We are proud to present this central personality on the roof of the Museum of World Culture. Experimental notes which become groans and secret dimensions will flow freely towards the sky this afternoon.

Tove Nankler