Would it be accurate to say that Alpha Centauri established the direction of Tangerine Dreams early period?
In those days, instrumental music was not a popular thing. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that albums like Alpha and Atem would find commercial success. I think these albums can be said to have made musical history. In creating the more meditative sounds of the early years, what was your biggest influence? I was practicing Zen discipline every day back then, so I got that meditative influence from nature. I also was in communication with a Buddhist temple and a Japanese monastic scholar. Tangerine Dream’s music is strongly influenced by Japanese noh. In noh, the music, theater, dance and taiko drumming all comprise equally important parts. Japanese culture, ancient to present-day, has always had a special influence on Tangerine Dream, although few people in the Western world are aware of it. I feel that the artwork on Tangerine Dream’s early albums is remarkably expressive of the music. How did you think of the artwork? I had studied painting, sculpture, Asian calligraphy an
