TENGGER comes full circle with album re-release

From left: Itta, RAAI and Marqido, the three members of ambient band TENGGER, at Studio Kyurt in Shikoku, Japan / Courtesy of TENGGER

By Jon Dunbar

As the multi-national band TENGGER re-releases its 2013 album "Electric Earth Creation," the family members behind the duo-turned-trio find their lives coming full circle in many ways, even as the pandemic threatens them with separation.

The album came out at a transitive time in their lives, released only in Korea as a limited-edition CD. The two adult members told The Korea Times in an email interview from Japan that they consider the album the "0th work of TENGGER."

The band traces its roots back to an experimental arts event called Bulgasari in 2005, when itta, TENGGER's Korean singer, songwriter and Indian harmonium-player, met Marqido, the band's Japanese composer, video maker, designer, producer and synthesizer player, who was passing through Korea while on tour.

At the time, he was a noise musician working mostly with a laptop and she was a psychedelic pop musician and sound artist playing synthesizers and toy instruments. After that first meeting, itta went to Tokyo to play with Marqido again and invited him to a festival on Jeju Island.

Korea's experimental music scene in those days was small with people coming and going, but the names itta and Marqido stood out. Itta comes from the Korean verb "to exist," while Marqido comes from Japanese words "maru" (circle/cycle), "ki" (delight) and "do" (anger).

Itta, TENGGER's Korean singer, songwriter and Indian harmonium-player / Courtesy of TENGGER

"Itta chose her name for meeting many others. She was a very dark person, so wanted to see many colors and lights. For meeting other existences, she had to exist," they explained. "Marqido's real name is too long, so he wanted to make it shorter and meaningful for his artwork."

After their first couple of shows together, they decided to call their collaboration "10," with the "1" representing itta's existence and the "0" for Marqido's maru. Itta claims they later realized they had come up with this name on Oct. 10. "We realized the date by chance, but we felt like it was important for us," itta explained.

"We were like nomads. As 10, our life was full of live tours and being artists in residency."

Marqido, TENGGER's Japanese composer, video maker, designer, producer and synthesizer player / Courtesy of TENGGER

Then in 2012, they moved to Jeju for the birth of their third bandmate, RAAI, whose name means "one who can get love from all over the universe, and who can give love to all."

During their year there, they had time to relax and contemplate nature. "Every day we watched the shimmering sea, and we wanted to express what we saw and felt, that's all," they said, referring to the creation of their song "Coruscante Mare" on the five-track "Electric Earth Creation."

With their experience on Jeju in mind, five months after RAAI's birth, they started recording the album, an ambient expression of nature and the environment. Itta described it as "something different between 10 and TENGGER nowadays."

"After we finished the work, we had the new name TENGGER," they said. "We decided to change to the name TENGGER, because of RAAI's birth. RAAI is our most important environment."

From then on, they were no longer the duo 10, but the trio TENGGER consisting of father, mother and son. The name means "unlimited expanse of sky" in Mongolian, or "huge sea" in Hungarian.

"Our music changed the way of simply sounds as minimal, meditative, natural," they said describing the new direction of their sound. "And we decided to be a traveler family, because we have two delicate nationalities. We moved from Jeju Island to Shikoku and Seoul... but we couldn't be a Korean band or Japanese band. We were always outsiders, so we decided to be travelers."

RAAI, the youngest member of the ambient band TENGGER / Courtesy of TENGGER

Their music gained fame over the years, if not in Korea and Japan then farther abroad, including China, Europe and the Americas.

RAAI, naturally, joined their act, playing toy instruments and dancing. At age six, he started to create his own music and possibly start down his own separate musical path. Now eight, with that symbolic number 10 a year and a few months away, he is set to release his first album sometime soon.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruption not just for the band, which had to cancel its tour, but also the family.

Itta stayed with RAAI, who goes to elementary school in Seoul, while Marqido went to Shikoku alone to work on renovations for an old house they'd bought, transforming it into their Japanese studio and base camp, which they've named Studio Kyurt.

But when travel restrictions went up between Korea and Japan in the first half of 2020, the family members were stuck in the two nations.

Separation was hard on them, but all three family members poured their energy into creative work. Marqido finished the renovation work, itta did some solo work for a new solo album and RAAI also completed his first solo album.

Itta and RAAI stayed active in Seoul's music scene, celebrating the band's 15th anniversary with a livestreamed show at Senggi Studio on Oct. 10, joined briefly near the end by Marqido over itta's phone.

Then on Nov. 27, itta and RAAI were able to travel to Shikoku, a Japanese pilgrimage destination with 88 Buddhist temples, to see Marqido again.

"After we reunited, we did some field recordings and shooting music videos in Shikoku, and live performances video recording at our Studio Kyurt," they said.

The live video will be released at the 2021 South by Southwest (SXSW) online music festival showcase in March.

At the time of this interview, itta and RAAI were preparing to return to Seoul on Jan. 26, without Marqido who can't join them because of the travel restrictions. As of this article's publication, mother and son are self-isolating in Seoul while the father is still at their Shikoku house.

Visit tengger.net for more information about the band, or tengger.bandcamp.com to listen to and download "Electric Earth Creation" or TENGGER's other music.