Strange Days Issue 58 (A Japanese magazine):
Reporting: Toshikazu Ohtaka
Translation: Yoshie Natori
In creating the more meditative sounds of the early years, what was your biggest influence?
I was practicing Zen discipline daily back then, so I took my meditative influence from nature. I also was in contact with a Buddhist temple and a Japanese monastic official. Tangerine Dream's music is strongly influenced by Japanese noh. In noh, the music, theater, dance and taiko drumming all comprise equally important parts. Japanese culture from ancient times to the present has always had a special influence on Tangerine Dream, although this fact is probably largely unknown in the Western world.
I feel that the artwork on Tangerine Dream's early albums is remarkably expressive of the music. What was your view on artwork?
Well, I studied painting, sculpture, Asian calligraphy and the like at various art schools for many years. I initially made my living by designing fonts; I didn't come to make music until much later.