Koji UENO

Ueno is a well respected music composer. He was active with his own rock bands “8 and 1/2”, “Halmens” and “Guernica” on the scene of Punk ew Wave/Techno music from the late 1970’s to the 1980’s.
 In 1985 he released his first solo album “Music for Silent Movies”. During 1986-1987, Ueno worked under Ryuichi Sakamoto and wrote film scores for the films “Koneko Monogatari”, “Oneamisu no Tsubasa” and “Last Emperor”. In 1990 Ueno won Best Film Score at Mainichi Film Concours for the film "Untama Giru".
In 2004 he composed a TV commercial song "Tarako, Tarako, Tarako" which became a popular topic all over the country, and this made him very famous.   In 2010 he was nominated for Best Music Score at the Japanese Academy Award for “Zero no Shoten”. In 2012 he wrote a film score for the film “Helter Skelter”. In 2013 his work in the film "The Floating Castle" was nominated for Best Music Score of the Japanese Academy Awards and also Best Composer of Asian Film Awards. And his latest work in the film “It’s Me, It’s Me” will be released this May.  Currently, he is active as a film composer and his own new album will be released this summer.