June Chikuma

A woman of multiple disciplines and identities, June Chikuma (竹間 淳, Chikuma Jun) has composed for TV, film, and video games over the past thirty plus years. Her proto-techno and drum and bass soundtracks for Nintendo’s Bomberman franchise in the 80s and 90s is an oeuvre unto itself. In more recent years her musical focus has turned toward classic Arabic and Egyptian music. Chikuma studies Arabic nay, playing and performing with Le Club Bachraf ensemble. In a melding of June’s contrasting, colorful worlds, Le Club Bachraf composed part of the original score for the 2007 video game Sonic and The Secret Rings.

For Les Archives, previously released on Toru Hatano’s Picture Label as Divertimento in 1986, Chikuma constructed a sonic stage to animate her imaginings as a one-person show. The primary props: a KORG SDD-3000 digital delay, an audible, overt display of unclassified drum machines and samplers, and a litany of literary references all aid Chikuma in defining her neon-vibrant aesthetic. The music of Les Archives now glows with a different purpose; one that revises the past while maintaining, and finally elevating, its hidden influence.