Tenno

Description

The second in a series of releases by the legendary downtown pioneer Teiji Ito presents his postmodern masterpiece Tenno, blending Japanese, African, Carribean and Western musical instruments with sound effects, voice and electronics to create the most startling long form composition in his catalog. Born in Japan in 1935, Ito moved to New York and worked closely with Maya Deren, Jerome Robbins and Julian Beck creating music for film, dance and theatre for nearly half a century. These are the original 1964 recordings of the composer overdubbing himself in his studio, released with the cooperation of the Ito Estate. Astounding and essential music by one of Downtown New York's unsung musical geniuses, who combined improvisation, composition, world music and electronics into a remarkably original and coherent musical system as early as 1952.