Hiroshi Yoshimura

Biography

Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘, 22 October 1940 – 23 October 2003) was a Japanese musician and composer. He is considered a pioneer of ambient music in Japan. Hiroshi Yoshimura was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa in 1940. He graduated from Waseda School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II in 1964. He started the computer music group "Anonyme" in 1972. In 1978, he was commissioned by the NHK to compose the piece "Alma's Cloud". In addition to solo performances and improvisational music, he performed product...

Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘, 22 October 1940 – 23 October 2003) was a Japanese musician and composer. He is considered a pioneer of ambient music in Japan.

Hiroshi Yoshimura was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa in 1940. He graduated from Waseda School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II in 1964. He started the computer music group "Anonyme" in 1972. In 1978, he was commissioned by the NHK to compose the piece "Alma's Cloud".

In addition to solo performances and improvisational music, he performed production performance and sound objects, environmental music containing graphic design and sound design, visual poetry, and worked on sound design business in collaboration with TOA. In addition to solo performance and improvisational music, he made music for galleries, museums, building spaces and train stations. He was at the forefront of environmental music. He worked as a part-time lecturer in the Industrial Design Department at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Chiba and at the Music Design Department of Kunitachi College of Music. He held workshops on citizen participation in museums.

In 2017, Yoshimura, as well as other ambient Japanese musicians, received a resurgence due to the YouTube algorithm. In 2019, his song "Blink" off his debut album was selected for compilation album Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 In 2020, Light in the Attic Records released Green on Spotify alongside CDs, vinyls and cassettes.

His music has received much critical acclaim. In 2018, Crack Magazine selected his albums Green and Music For Nine Post Cards as the number 1 and number 7th most essential Japanese ambient albums respectively.

Yoshimura died of skin cancer in 2003. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.