Over a span of two decades, I have been using the cassette Walkman for making field recordings which I keep as a sound diary. I consider these recordings to be personal memories, and not just sounds. I compose my music by physically manipulating Walkmans by hand, re-collecting and re-constructing concrete sounds. What emerges from my sound memories is a sonic collage of ritualistic tape music.
I call this project "Cassette Memories." By documenting fragments of sound from my personal life, something is revealed in their accumulation. The meanings of the original events are stripped of their significance, exposing the architecture of memory.
There is a strong reference to French electro-acoustic music that originated with Pierre Schaeffer, as well as early hip hop, and free jazz. There is further reference to filmmaking in my work, as evidenced by the integral role that editing plays in my composing. With "Cassette Memories," I create a sonic landscape where music exists in the relationship between sound and visual art.
Aki Onda