Tujiko Noriko about music, film and Björk

> český překlad

Your last record was released by German imprint Tomlab but you still stay in the Mego camp - does it mean you decided to separate your music output in between these two labels? If yes, what criteria do you use in doing this - do you keep your more experimental tracks for Mego and the rest goes to Tomlab?

i don't know that from where 6th or 8th etc album will be able to release,this kind of talking is for me kind of boring.many people say to me you changd your label,and i think what is my label? me myself don't have contract with any label. of course i love mego people and music,it's amazing for me that they could be interested in my music and sell it for the first,i feel thankful a lot.when they are happy for this i love to release my album from mego in future too even if it's pop very much, and if i will make more albums.

In what ways does From Tokyo To Naiagara differ from your previous Mego albums?

process to make it. alone or not alone.

Is Naiagara a city in Japan? What is it?

niagara in canada. niagara water fall. i made a mistake to spell it just, and the way of mistaking is because i'm japanese, japanese call it "naiagara" in sound. it means from T to N and from my place to niagara water fall.

The album was produced by Aki Onda - do you feel you learnt anything from him? Why did you choose to cooperate with him?

he is my friend, it started naturally without any special future plan but just being motivated well. i learned about to have other people in working not only with my narrow one brain.

You have been also working with Aoki Takamasa. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

actually it's not working well yet maybe because of me,i'm not so motivated to make music rescently. we might be able to make an album but i don't know yet.

Your songs have a very intimate, emotional and melancholic feel. Would you describe yourself as an introvert?

describing myself....? positive, messy, hate sentimental, but sentimental a lot sometimes, childish,cold,cute.

I suppose you consider the lyrics very important. Does it worry you that while playing live outside Japan only very little people can understand what you are singing?

i don't care even if my singing means nothing with words meaning so much or i can't. for the motivation to build songs,lyric or some words can be very important for me.

In an interview you said: "I´d really like to sing and have other people playing with me. More like a real band." Are you working on this? Will your future performances include more instrumentalists? What instruments would you definitely like to have as a back-up to your live shows?

i'm not working for this at all. maybe it depends on the song but i like organ,wind instruments, drums, computer,electronic bass.

Even though you sing in Japanese, you record for European labels and play live shows mostly outside Japan. Do you have many fans in Japan? Can people hear your music in Japanese radio or TV?

not in tv as far as i know,but in radio. i guess still the sales in japan is better than france or spain or the us. but i heard japanese consumption of cd is the second biggest in the world(first is the us),so it might be natural result. and japanese understand my lyrics so i guess the point how they like my music looks a bit different from the fans in another countries.

Here, if you say Japanese music, people mostly think of very experimental forward-looking and daring stuff (from Otomo Yoshihide to Merzbow), but I suppose in Japan itself this scene is almost invisible and it‘s the Japanese pop stars - we know very little about - that really rule the country (and other parts of East Asia). Am I right? What is the situation of underground music in Japan?

you are right. in the big cities in japan some underground musician can be famous somehow but not for many 50-110 years old people i'm sure. but also only sometimes they are in kind of pop magazine or their music is in tv program background music anonumously or in some films.

I think your music (and that of Cornelius etc.) is partly building a bridge between the Japanese pop and the underground - do you agree?

i don't know my position well.but i can understand that you want to say so. if i say "underground" i can imagine more the way of selling or exposure of the artist itself and advertisement than music itself and then cornelius, he used much much more pop way than me in japan. also his music is more like well done pop music than me. and my sound is not really well done pop but i have singing, singing itself can be pop already.

Has the Japanese pop music (Jap. MTV teen stars…) influenced you much? What are your main musical and non-musical influences?

i was influenced a lot by tv music and music in school book especially when i was in elementary school and kindergarten. most of them were j-pop and j-old folk songs. i'm not a really hard listener who knows a lot of music info. influences are my family who has no artistic brain at all,jap comedian called downtown,john cassavetes,fellini,ryu murakami,sakamoto ryuichi(musician),matsuda seiko(idol),matsutouya yumi(musician).etcetc, and my friend,tokyo,guys,etcetc.

What kind of music do you listen to when you are alone?

anything except techno,trans and then indian or african or thailand(it's boring but i'm not used to listen to them)etc music.

What is your attitude towards other Mego releases and the laptop music scene in general? It‘s hard for me to picture yourself listening to the really harsh experiments…

i love it. from the first listening i really enjoyed them naturally without any genre separation mind.i love also their live show,exciting!

The whole music industry seems to be threatened by CD burning and mp3 files swapping - what do you as an artist think about these phenomena?

too many information can be penetrated by such media and yes by internet without limited controling way,this is very cool. and i guess still many people like to possese visible goods a lot.so it's ok i still can earn some money by selling cd.and by doing concerts too.

(You probably hate this question…) Journalists like to compare you to Bjork. What do you think you two have in common?

(i don't hate this question than you expect,sorry) from excentric country, singing, not really pretty like madonna or kylie or goldflap etc and some tracks are not really poppop.

Have you met her? Does she know about your music?

i don't know. i've never met her.i saw her cooncert in sonar for the first time from 100meter away from her,and that's it. the concert was nice. Nevím. Nikdy jsem se s ní nesetkala. Poprvé jsem ji živě viděla letos na Sonaru ze vzdálenosti nějakých 100 m, toť vše. Ten koncert byl prima.

Apparently, you want to become an actress. Have you already acted in a film? Have you had any offers yet?

i acted or more like just existing in 2 small movies. it was fun and hard.i like it. i'd like to be offered more. and though you might think i'm stupid,i will make a movie. now i'm writing and finishing my script, and as possible as i can i will try to find producer and money. so i'm gonna translate the script in english and french too. as japan is very poor country for artistic production. WOULD SOMEONE BE INTERESTED IN MY MOVIE PROJECT? WOULD SOMEONE BE ABLE TO HELP ME TO FIND A PRODUCER OR TO BE A PRODUCER?

Do you still think acting suits your personality more than making music?

i don't know, did i said acting suits me more than music? i forgot.

What do you like about cinema? What movies do you prefer?

movie is fun. i've never heard someone don't like movie. and it's not really historical. not so dark ,humorous, still somehow positive in shits and not too much dramatic movies i like.

You moved to Paris, can you tell us why?

my boyfriend is living in paris. i also wanted to know i can move easily.

What attracts you most about that city and what is it you would miss in Tokyo or Osaka?

french(paris?) people are interesting. tokyo's excentric,funny and exciting atmosphere. my family in osaka and my home.

What did you study?

i did general study program like many people until 18. after that philosophy a bit in university.

What was/is your role in SlideLab?

cherring up(?), giving ideas,interview,writing a bit,making of my cd(mego ones)covers.

Can you share with us some of your projects for the future?

movie. i know it's so hard and difficult, but i'm excitied a lot even if i'm worried that it's gonna be a mistake. also i might act in my movie!

What comes to your mind when you think of the Czech Republic? Do you know any Czech music, movies, film directors?

beautiful city and people,czech and czech slovakia,please tell me about your history,i'd like to learn as i don't know well, beautiful cartoon(with real dolls). The Unbearable Lightness of Being i'm sorry i really don't know about czech jiri menzel, names from jiri,even if japan is importing lots of movie and music from other countries, still east european ones are not known,and still less czech! i heard many people who were making movie or music or art(?) went out your country. i remember a movie called "kolya" was shown in mini cinema in tokyo,but i didn't see. when i go there i'd like to have a look about movie and music there. could you recommend me some of them? especially film directors..?!! see you soon!!!!!! thanks, i enjoyed your interview.

interviewed by dehed