This is my conversation with Hoshiko Yamane and Tatsurou Ueda. It took place on 11/10/2021 from her home in Germany.
Hoshiko Yamane is a classically trained, Berlin-based, Japanese violinist and composer. She is currently a member of German electronic music group Tangerine Dream.
Yamane has released several solo albums and to date,along with a larger number of recordings of her diverse artistic collaborations with other artists,on a variety of different labels. She has also composed music for various artistic endeavors/projects in the fields of: dance performance, installation art and film,too.
“Her violin sings with the positivity of direct, youthful sunlight. Radiant and energetic, but well-paced and sensitive of its place, her violin is blown as if on the lightest of spring winds; an unraveling series of dawn-lit notes which take flight as soon as the sun rises.” - James Catchpole (‘A Closer Listen’)….from a review of Hoshiko’s third solo album,’Threads’.
As Tukico, her solo side project, she released her first EP, ‘become’, on Hush Hush Records(USA),in early-2020 and solo album,’Primitive’, on Subcontinental Records(India), in Autumn 2020. Tukico perform the electric violin with effects and synthesizer.
As Tangerine Dream ‘s violinist since 2011, Yamane has participated in the recording of the band’s albums since then. Additionally, she has also performed live concerts with her TD bandmates, in many cities throughout: Asia,Canada,Europa(including the UK), and USA. Her debut CD work with Tangerine Dream, came in 2011, with the track, ‘Fay Bewitching the Moon'(from the album, ‘The Island of the Fay’). This was recorded in the studio of Tangerine Dream founder,Edgar Froese.
Following Edgar’s sad passing in 2015, the group’s remaining members (Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss, and Hoshiko Yamane) have continued to work together in an effort to fulfill his vision for the group.
Yamane started her classical training when she was four years old. After she graduated from Aich Prafectural University of Art and Music with the Master of Fine Arts for the violin, she moved to Berlin. Later, she graduated with a Diploma in the violin, from the University of Music and Theater in Rostock in Germany. Also, during her studies,she worked with the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester. From 2011-2013, she worked with Jane Birkin on a European tour(with music directed by Nobuyuki Nakajima), performing live concerts in more than thirty countries. Her other projects include Tansik(live music and contemporary dance) and KiSeki(a violin and Klangstein duo)