June 19th, Design Seminar Next: “For Audio Adventurers, Hear The World of Sound with India’s Oldest Recordings.”

Commencing in 2019, the Faculty of Design, Kyushu University launchs Design Seminar Next and engages in practical activities in the aim of exploring new possibilities in design that go beyond basic theory. In a two-pillared structure together with the Study of Design Fundamental Seminar, which aims to systematize design, the Faculty wishes to work on setting up new educational methods.

The first edition of Design Seminar Next presents: For Audio Adventurers, Hear The World of Sound with India’s Oldest Recordings.

[Topic]
Mr. Robert Millis is a researcher for the music label Sublime Frequency based in Seattle, USA, which discovers unknown music from around the world. Mr. Millis is visiting Japan in order to investigate the earliest recorded musical pieces of the country. His specialty is standard-play records, one of the oldest forms of recording media humanity has created. Mr. Millis’ intellectual curiosity regarding standard-play records as a form of media, their recording method and history, as well as how recording technology itself has shaped world culture, led him to conduct a professional, long-term investigation in India. On this occasion he presents a valuable recording of “This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope” which he recorded upon his first trip to India.Afterwards he discusses with his close associate the “Studist” Mr. Yuuichi Kishino, known for a large variety of activities with musical groups such as “Hige no Miboujin (Bearded Widow)” and “Watts Towers.”

Participation is open to everybody and we await your attendance.
Those wishing to attend please apply using the URL below.
https://forms.gle/Uh4xei8dXNQmD6Pv5

［Performance］

Robert Millis

Mr. Millis is an important figure in the American research sector, managing Sublime Frequencies along with Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls. He specializes in the fields of standard-play record research and collection and produces music for the reformed DUST-TO-DIGITAL label. Aside from his work as a musician for Climax Golden Twins, he produces many video works as a professional artist and solo performer. As a filmmaker he captured the strange Phi Ta Khon festival of Thailand in “Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan”, and has created various documentaries such as “This World is Unreal like a Snake in a Rope” which captured religious practices in southern India. He stayed in India for a year as a Fullbright researcher, and has released “Indian Talking Machine” which compiled his standard-play record investigations and collection of recordings, as well as “Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road” using a wealth of recordings, following in the footsteps of Deben Bhattacharya, a folk music scholar. He has come to Japan to investigate a commercial recording made some time between 1902-1903, the first of its kind in East Asia.

Yuuichi Kishino

Born in Tokyo in 1963, he took up teaching at Bigakko and The Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Having completed a wide range of activities such as working with the music groups “Hige no Miboujin” and “Watts Towers”, he earned the title of “Studist” (researcher.) He constantly creates innovative DJ event locations, such as at public baths, convenience stores or venues at the Bon Festival. In 2015, he was awarded the Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs Japan Media Arts Festival grand price for “How to Count Correctly.” In 2017, he participated as the artistic director for “Totto Shopping District” at the Sapporo Snow Festival and Sapporo International Art Festival.

［Coordinator］​

Jo Kazuhiro　(Associate Professor, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University)

Organizer
Kyushu University Faculty of Design