Mari* is Worldwide FM’s senior producer and Gilles Peterson’s longtime radio collaborator, and every 2 months presents two hours introducing a new wave of artists and music coming out of Japan with her Oto Nova show.

In this episode Mari is joined by Haruomi Hosono, one of the members of legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) and a major architect of modern Japanese pop music. The feature particularly focuses on Hosono’s Omni Sight Seeing album, originally released in 1989 and is one of the re-issues of his key albums via Light in the Attic for the first time outside of Japan. Hosono takes us back to his musician musical adventures around the world.

About Omni Sight Seeing

Originally released in 1989 during YMO’s initial hiatus, Omni Sight Seeing is an exhilarating musical journey around the world as filtered through Hosono’s kaleidoscopic lens. This work stands as a manifestation of his concept of Sight Seeing Music, putting his own tasteful spin on the World music encountered during his explorations of global cultures. From Japanese minyo and Algerian rai, to American swing jazz and the self-described, extraterrestrial “Ether music,” his eclectic influences coalesce into a sound that is unmistakably Hosono’s, and many consider this album to be the perfect summation of his mastery of pop music forms. Partly recorded in Paris with assistance from producer Martin Meissonnier (Don Cherry, Fela Kuti) and contributions from French-Tunisian singer Amina, omni Sight Seeing includes the mysterious Orgone Box (inspired by Wilhelm Reich and Steve Reich), the acid house Laugh-Gas (inspired by Rococo and the French Revolution) and the serene fan favourite Pleocene (conveying an “oceanic feeling”).

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