Introduction

"Suntory Sound Market" was a popular Japanese radio show that aired from April 1st 1982 to March 31 1992. It was broadcast on weekdays from 10:00 PM to 10:55 PM on Tokyo FM and the JFN network, sponsored by the Suntory brewing and distilling company. The show is known for featuring interviews with popular musicians and producers, as well as live music and studio tracks. Notably, it included special episodes with international artists, such as Paul McCartney, John Peel and ... Vangelis. The episode with Vangelis must have been recorded at the end of 1984, as it interview discusses his then latest release "Soil Festivities" (1984)

In the interview Vangelis remembered: "Since I was a child, I always naturally had a preference and compatible feelings with Japan, China, places like that. Now don’t ask me why, I don’t know. But I felt that somehow a part of myself belongs to that area. I have never been to these countries, but we don’t have to, when you know something, when you feel something that’s enough. And when I’ve done this album China, I didn’t try to create Chinese music, it is just the kind of flavour, a kind of memory of China, more than anything else. I don’t pretend that I am a Chinese composer. But certainly the China album is not like the Chariots Of Fire album, it is different. Maybe one day I will visit China, or I will visit Japan. Sometimes I play koto, I just sit down by myself and play koto. Why I play koto, I don’t know. But I have about 4 or 5 different koto’s, and I play."

In the interview Vangelis can be heard  playing an improvisation on the koto instrument.

Vangelis continued: "Music is before me, and it’s not up to me to decide what music is. The only thing I will try to do is to be in an absolute situation which I can be in tune with nature. And by being in tune with nature then music follows, and music is natural. And before we talk about success, to me there are two kinds of success. There is the popular success as everybody knows, and is what we call to be successful. But there is another success which is maybe to me is more important, is when I capture myself, is to be in a situation of harmony with nature. Now maybe that sounds a little bit complicated, but I know the feeling, because I felt it many times. And this is the only moment that I can say for myself that I am successful. Now if that moment I can share it with a lot of people that is a pleasure for me.

I can’t do one thing and believe another, I mean the result of what I am doing is what I feel and what I believe in is according to my perception. I always, since I was a child, I felt total freedom towards the sound. The music to me was a vehicle to understand the world and myself as much as possible and every day. I mean I always wanted to create, that was my only need more than anything else. So maybe that’s why I never felt this urge of commerciality, to be famous, I never wanted to be famous."