Born in Yokohama, Japan, Sauvage moved to Paris in 2003 after studying jazz piano in New York. Through listening to Alice Coltrane and Terry Riley, she became interested in Indian music and studied improvisation of Hindustani music. In 2006, she attended a concert of Aanayampatti Ganesan, a virtuoso of Jalatharangam – the traditional Carnatic music instrument with water-filled porcelain bowls. Fascinated by the simplicity of its device and sonority, Sauvage immediately started to hit China bowls with chopsticks in her kitchen. Soon her desire of immersing herself in the water engendered the idea of using an underwater microphone and led to the birth of the electro-aquatic instrument.
Under the form of performances, installations and musical compositions, her work is regularly presented in Europe, Asia and America. She has performed and exhibited at international festivals, institutions and galleries such as Roskilde Festival (Denmark), Flow Festival (Finland), Centre Pompidou Metz (France), Musée Quai Branly (France), Présences Electronique (France), Borderline Festival (Greece), Borealis Contemprary Music Festival (Norway), Museo Tamayo (Mexico), High Zero Festival (USA), Festival send+receive (Canada), Empty Gallery (Hong Kong), TÖNE festival (UK) and Grimmuseum (Germany). She has also been deeply connected to DIY art/ music scene and is more and more interested in educational projects. In 2016, her visual music project ‘Green Music’ started in collaboration with Francesco Cavaliere.
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News
- SHAPE+ announces 2024/2025 roster of artists
- SHAPE+ announces 2023/2024 roster of artists
- SHAPE+ platform announces open call for 2023/2024
- Photos: SHAPE @ UNSOUND KRAKOW 2018
- Pictures: SHAPE showcase @ Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival
- Tomoko Sauvage: ‘There’s a revolution going on’
- SHAPE platform announces showcase at Nyege Nyege festival in Uganda
Past events
- Unsound Kraków 2018
- musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst 2018
- UH Fest 2018
- SONICA 2018
- SHAPE @ Nyege Nyege Festival 2018