Hiro Ama Creates Peace with a 1980s Japanese Synthesizer

Hiro Ama, born in Japan and based in London, plays drums in the indie pop band Teleman. In late 2024, he released his debut solo album, Music for Peace and Harmony, which leans heavily into the sounds of a 1980s Japanese synthesizer called Waraku, which literally means “peace and harmony” in Japanese. KEXP's Dusty Henry spoke with him shortly after the release. 

“I used to be quite a perfectionist,” Ama says in the interview. “Then again, when you listen to old jazz records, you can hear a lot of mistakes, the bad notes, and people chanting in the background, and that becomes part of the character of the music. Once I realized it, I started putting in a lot of field recordings and embracing the imperfection.” 

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