Yoshihiro Hanno has, for years now, explored a wide range of music genres and styles: soundtracks, free jazz, drum 'n' bass, fragmented electronica, hip hop... with a definite taste for fusion and de-structuring in order to create a new form of avant-garde

Hanno trained in various kinds of music while still a student, developing his own musical character and feeling. Thus he was no novice when in 1997 he made his first album, King Of May, and a split 12" single with Bisk, titled Hip Hop #3. Both were released by Sub Rosa under the Multiphonic Ensemble alias.

In 1998 Hanno made the album Liquid Glass with ex-Japan member Mick Karn and the compilation Shijin No Sh_z_ (Portrait of a Poet), the first solo album under his own name. He also composed the very successful soundtrack, Flowers Of Shanghai, for film director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The following year saw the release of Cirque, Hanno's second album under the Multiphonic Ensemble alias.

In 2000 Hanno became musical director of the Yomiuri TV soap opera "Eien No Ko", wrote its theme song with Ryuichi Sakamoto and joined Sakamoto's CODE. Also in 2000 he released April on his own Cirque label and composed the soundtrack for Jia Zhang-Ke's film Platform, which won an award at the Venice Film Festival.

2001 saw Hanno release the April Remixes album, featuring remixes by Oval, Takugi Aoyagi and Christophe Charles. With Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto and others, he participated in the Radical Fashion event. He also made the music for Isao Yukisada's film Kanon.

In 2002 he released Esquisse 1996 and Sulpice on his own label.

(Biography Last updated 1 June 2001)