ÜRZIG/TOKYO March 2020

March 26, 2020 by Mobile Radio | Comments Off on ÜRZIG/TOKYO March 2020

De-Distancing with Tetsuo Kogawa

We first combined our sonic palettes with fellow radio art practitioner Tetsuo Kogawa in 2005. Since then we have joined forces on a dozen occasions, often by combining sounds streamed in from our respective homes on different continents. This translocal practice comes to the fore now in times of Corona virus isolation. Responding to a call from Paris based experimental radio network π-node Tetsuo, Sarah and Knut collapsed time and space between the metropolis of Tokyo and the village of Ürzig for the listeners of a flock of radio stations including π-node (Paris, Mulhouse), Resonance Extra (Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, London, Norwich), Soundart Radio (Totnes) and WGXC (New York’s Upper Hudson Valley) who made available the archive recording below.

Mobile Radio table of instruments

Tetsuo Kogawa’s setup in Tokyo

ÜRZIG/TOKYO December 2009

December 8, 2009 by Mobile Radio | Comments Off on ÜRZIG/TOKYO December 2009

Seminar at Kenzai University


We joined up again with Tetsuo Kogawa over the internet to give a radio circuit-bending seminar for his students. We wanted to make a closer connection with them by sharing some wine from the vineyard behind our house, but it could not be easily sourced in Tokyo. Instead we shared mandarin oranges, and introduced the Japanese to the concept of advent calendars – to much interest as ours had marzipan chocolate inside it. Where did it come from, who put it in the calendar? Tetsuo wanted to know

HAGEN/TOKYO May 2007

May 14, 2007 by Mobile Radio | Comments Off on HAGEN/TOKYO May 2007

We were invited by Tetsuo Kogawa to do another concert live over the internet to his students in Tokyo. Luckily we were in Hagen with a stable internet connection, so were happy to oblige.


Tetsuo Kogawa and students of TKU in Japan listening to our live concert from Hagen at ten in the morning our time. Images from video link

LISBON/TOKYO May 2006

May 8, 2006 by Mobile Radio | Comments Off on LISBON/TOKYO May 2006

Mobile Radio in Lisbon. We came here for a week-long Radia meeting – a network of like-minded independent radios from across Europe. One of the extracurricular events hosted by Radio Zero was a concert at ZDB, at which we played as Tonic Train vs Xentos. We were not in a hurry to leave Lisbon, luckily we had a few weeks before our next project.


Spot the alien. Warming up with Xentos ‘Fray’ Bentos


Tetsuo Kogawa asked us to give a live lecture via the internet to Tokyo Keizai University, which we decided to do as live radio show from the studio of Radio Zero in Lisbon. The combination of show and internet lecture wasn’t entirely successful due to technical hitches, Knut had to type the lecture in real time due to the voice connection failing, while I tried with slim success to keep the radio show alive….


However, the students in Tokyo much appreciated our live Tonic Train performance


We did another Tonic Train perfromance at a house concert for the radio rocket scientist Ricardo Reis. His unsuspecting friends proved to be enthusiastic about the strange visitors


Catharina keeps a smile on his face. A warm thanks to our marvelous host – the real Ricardo Reis