Yoshimasa "Yoshi" Wada has died, aged 77.
The Japanese composer’s death was announced by his son and musical collaborator Tashi, who said: "I’m totally heartbroken to share that my father Yoshi Wada, my hero, passed away unexpectedly this week."
Yoshi Wada’s work stretches back more than five decades, beginning with his involvement in New York’s Fluxus art movement, alongside founder George Maciunas in the late ’60s. Much of his work from the ’70s involved the use of homemade and modified instruments that were built from objects that he had access to during his day job as a plumber.
During his career, Wada studied music and composition with the likes of La Monte Young and Hindustani vocalist Pandit Pran Nath. He released music with labels such as EM, FMP and Edition Omega Point, while some of his later work involved collaboration with his son Tashi, and was issued by Tashi’s Saltern label.
Saltern has now made some of Wada’s key works available via Bandcamp.
