【参加ミュージシャン】
オノ セイゲン、ナナ・ヴァスコンセロス、アート・リンゼイ、マーク・リボウ、ジョアン・パライバ、クバ・ヴィエンツェク、coba、緑川英徳、十亀正司、山岡秀明、ネッド・ローゼンバーグ、ほか
 
CDG Fragmentation (In other words)

CDG Fragmentation (I was slightly surprised)

CDG Fragmentation (You know as I expected)

CDG Fragmentation (It's kind of good)

CDG Fragmentation (It's up to you
 

Naná Vasconcelos : Percussions / Pearl Alexander : Contrabass

Joao Parahyba : Percussion / Coba : Accordion / Hidenori Midorikawa : Alto Sax / Seigen Ono : Guitar

Jane Scarpantoni : Cello / Marc Ribot : Guitar / Arto Lindsay : Guitar / Naná Vasconcelos : Percussion / Ned Rothenberg : Bass Clarinet / Sussan Deyhim : Steps / Michael Blair : Percussion / Seigen Ono : Piano

Kuba Więcek : Alto Sax  / Pearl Alexander /Contrabass / Seigen Ono : Piano

Marc Ribot : Guitar / Arto Lindsay : Voice and Guitar / Keiko Courdy : Voice / Ned Rothenberg : Reeds
 

featuring Estelle Bauer : Voice / Joao Parahyba : Percussion / Hidenori Midorikawa : Alto Sax / Coba : Accordion / Seigen Ono : Guitar
 

Marc Ribot / Guitar : Arto Lindsay : Guitar / Michael Blair : Percussion / John Zorn : Alto Sax / Amanda K Miller : Steps / Seigen Ono : Piano
 

Masashi Togame : Clarinet / Hideaki Yamaoka : Accordion / Masataka Matsumoto : Tuba / Motoyoshi Furuya : Trumpet / Mariko Okamoto : Percussion / Yuka Matsunuma : Viola / Pearl Alexander : Contrabass


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COMME des GARÇONS × Seigen Ono

by Shinya Mastuyama 2018
The landmark albums ”COMME des GARÇONS SEIGEN ONO” fundamentally transformed the role of music in fashion shows and firmly established Seigen Ono’s reputation as a composer. Originally released in 1988 (Volume 1) and 1989 (Volume 2), the two works have been reissued several times. For this new reissue by Nippon Columbia, the project expands beyond CD editions (Volume 1 & 2) to include a mono LP and a hybrid SACD featuring newly added mono sources. In addition, a previously unreleased companion work titled ”COMME des GARÇONS Fragmentation Seigen Ono”, which can be considered a developmental offshoot of the original albums, is being released simultaneously. We spoke with Seigen Ono about these two works.
 
COMME des GARÇONS SEIGEN ONO as Milestone
― Could you briefly explain how COMME des GARÇONS SEIGEN ONO came into being?
I began working as a studio engineer in the late 1970s. In 1984, I released my first solo album, SEIGEN, as the inaugural title in Victor’s Music Interior series. Around that time, I felt I had established my fundamental approach to sound-making.
In the mid-1980s, I deepened my connection to the New York downtown scene through work with John Zorn and by producing The Lounge Lizards, collaborating with musicians such as Arto Lindsay and Marc Ribot. In that scene, the boundary between engineer and musician was fluid, and everything moved quickly. Musicians changed from session to session, and you learned what kind of chemistry each pairing could create.
You selected players according to theme or composition and worked swiftly within a fixed budget. That style fit me perfectly. I believe those experiences formed the foundation for my work with Comme des Garçons.
― That was when Comme des Garçons approached you?
Yes, in 1987. It was just before I released The Green Chinese Table in 1988 on a Virgin-affiliated venture label. I presented that music to them, but they rejected it, saying, “The people involved have already heard it. No good.”
 
― The request from Comme des Garçons at the time has become legendary: “We want music no one has ever heard before,” and “Music that makes the clothes look beautiful.”
(Laughs.) So I gathered musicians capable of meeting difficult demands quickly and creatively. We recorded new material in New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo.
 
― Were you imagining beautiful clothing while composing?
I still don’t understand clothing very well. So I returned to my high school memories of “beauty” found in cinema. Films by directors like Luchino Visconti and Federico Fellini had unconsciously shaped me.
― You must have learned a great deal from this project.
Being allowed complete freedom was crucial. I had never seen a Comme des Garçons show, and no one was allowed to see the new clothes in advance. In commercial or record label projects, clients and agencies usually attend sessions and offer constant instructions. Here, there was none of that.
All I had were abstract yet essential phrases: “Music no one has heard before,” and “Music that makes the clothes look beautiful.” So while shaping the sound, I had no choice but to move toward a vision. There might be minor adjustments along the way, but maintaining a consistent vector toward the goal is essential. I only realized that clearly in retrospect.
 
― Did you participate in the shows themselves?
Yes, as part of the backstage production staff. At the Paris Collection, I handled the operation myself, including PA tuning.
 
― How was the reaction?
When it premiered in Paris, the response was overwhelming. People asked for multiple cassette copies.
The following year, I was commissioned to compose music for a major Italian furniture manufacturer for what later became the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Lighting was handled by Henri Alekan, who had worked with Cocteau, photography by Peter Lindbergh, and music by me. Some of that music later appeared on my albums NekonoTopia NekonoMania (1990) and Bar Del Mattatoio (1994).
Including such opportunities, these two Comme des Garçons albums became a milestone in my career.
 
Exploring the Boundary Between Sound and Music
― The first six tracks of the simultaneously released COMME des GARÇONS Fragmentation Seigen Ono are not music but live sound from the show venue. That was surprising.
In 1997, I was invited back for a Paris show. This time, the request was not to use “music,” but to use “sound.”
In the 1980s, venues held over a thousand people, but by then they had shifted to smaller spaces. They even referred to it as a presentation rather than a show. For several shows before that, no music had been used at all. Only the photographers’ voices and shutter sounds filled the space. Models found it difficult to walk; tension was intense. Media and audiences began requesting music again, but Rei Kawakubo did not want to use music.
So the request came to me: not music, but sound. The first six tracks of Fragmentation are edited live recordings from that presentation.
 
― You can occasionally hear instrumental sounds between the shutter clicks.
There were more than a dozen models. I assigned one sound to each model. Just a brief insertion somewhere along the runway. A sudden burst of sound, then silence. At first, the audience thought it was an accident. But by around the fifth model, they began to realize it was intentional.
 
― Were those instrumental sounds fragments of recorded compositions?
Yes. In 1997, I recorded in New York with Arto Lindsay, Marc Ribot, and Nana Vasconcelos. I prepared a sampling keyboard loaded with fragmented pieces of those tracks and triggered them live, responding to the models’ movements and the audience’s reactions. Some lasted five seconds, others were just a single burst. It was improvisation through fragment placement. I only did that once.
 
― What were the original recordings like?
I first recorded a guide piano, a sketch of chords and simple melody. I call it “Lurking Tonality Piano,” a completely new method. Musicians were instructed not to ensemble. They added parts individually or in pairs without hearing the previous performer. From multiple takes, I selected intriguing combinations to complete two pieces: “Jean on Third Street” and “John on Third Street.”
Fragments of these were used in the presentation. A newly recorded piece built on that same piano foundation, “Agenokuhate,” appears on this release. The presentation lasted about forty minutes, but on the CD layer of Fragmentation it is edited into roughly ten minutes. In this shorter form, the underlying tonality of the fragments faintly emerges. The hybrid SACD includes the full version.
 
― Couldn’t you have used fragments from older recordings?
Recycling the past would not be Comme des Garçons. It must always attempt something new. (Laughs.)
 
― Two tracks are credited In 2003.
They document a live performance celebrating the first anniversary of the Comme des Garçons Osaka store. A four-piece band featuring accordionist coba performed in the center of the store without a stage. The audience surrounded them. On the second floor, composers Ichinose Hibiki and Gondo Tomohiko live-remixed the sound while layering acoustic elements.
 
― Why release Fragmentation alongside this reissue now?
I have worked as an engineer on many projects by Ryuichi Sakamoto. His recent works, including async, often explore the fragile edge between music and noise. I have constantly considered how to record such sounds most effectively. That sensibility traces back to Fragmentation.
In terms of perspective on the boundary between sound and music, perhaps the times have finally caught up. That is why I felt now was the moment to release it.