Japanese Avant-Garde Composer Takehisa Kosugi Dead at 80

Japanese avant-garde composer and violinst Takehisa Kosugi has died, according to the Merce Cunningham Trust. He was 80 years old. A cause of death has not been revealed. Find a tribute from the Merce Cunningham Trust below.

Associated with the Fluxus movement, Takehisa Kosugi was best known for the experimental music he made in the ’60s and ’70s. He began his career as part of the seminal Tokyo-based Group Ongaku, which was one of the first ensembles in Japan to explore collective group improvisation and multi-media performances. He later made a name for himself as a solo artist and member of Taj Mahal Travelers. From 1995 to 2011, Kosugi was the musical director for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Kosugi collaborated with Sonic Youth in 1999 for their SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century album, which featured reworkings of the band’s songs assisted by avant-garde classical composers. Thurston Moore paid tribute to Kosugi: “The times spent playing music with you will never fade,” he wrote. “You are and were the real deal.”