Japanese sound artist Evala (Hirohito Ebara) has been active in the Tokyo sound art scene since 2002, both in the background as a sound designer for TV commercials, films, company promotion videos, and sound installations, and as a composer/performer in his own right. He founded the label Port in 2004, which has released three albums to date, including Evala’s debut solo album ‘Initial’. He has collaborated with artists such as Keiichiro Shibuya and Takashi Ikegami, and currently works as a part-time lecturer at the Tokyo university of Arts.

Beginning in 2002, Hirohito Ebara has been active as an event/exhibition programmer in Tokyo. He programmed an event called Listening Tokyo in September ‘02 at Tokyo’s Living Design Centre OZONE, and did the sound design of an installation called ‘The Wall of Lumence City’ that was presented as part of the Lumen City exhibition at Roppongi’s THINK ZONE in October. In the same year, Evala’s installation piece URBAN TOOLS was included in a massive exhibition ‘Tokyo Art Jungle’ held at the spectacular Tokyo International Forum.

Evala started getting involved with Keiichiro’s ATAK label the following year, providing support and programming for events. His first track to be released under the Evala moniker, "scrh.ov", was included as part of an Atak compilation released in 2003, ‘60 sound artists protest the war’. The following year, Evala founded the Port label releasing a compilation CD that included his own track "trans.port 0 processor yea". He worked on a number of projects, including programming for an installation titled ‘Description Instability’ that was part of the ‘Possible Futures: Japanese post-war art and technology’ at the renowned ICC centre in Tokyo, and continued performing live.

In 2005, Evala began a collaboration with Yoshihide Nakajima (studio loup) under the moniker Mnemon. One of their significant works is a piece involving television screens and pick-ups called cam-tv/mic-sp. The installation used piezoelectric mics on the front of a CRT monitor to translate the electromagnetic waves produced on the screen by a live-feed from a camcorder into sound. It was premiered at Anpontan Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo. Evala’s debut ‘Initial’ - an album constructed from artificially edited field recordings – was released on his own label in early 2006. The same year, Evala was instrumental in the realisation of Keiichiro Shibuya and Tageshi Ikegami’s ‘filmmachine’, for which he created multiphonic 3-dimentional programming. The piece premiered at Japan’s YCAM in August 2006 before being shown in tansmediale.08, followed by the publication of the book ‘a very sonic membrane’, a discussion of the project edited by Stefan Riekeles and Andreas Broekmann (diaphanes 2008). An austere, insistent Evala performance was also featured on the ATAK DVD "ATAK011 LIVE DVD ATAK NIGHT 3"(2007), which also features a performance by Pan Sonic.
 
> www.myspace.com/evalaport
 
Appearances:
> CTM.09 > ATAK NIGHT 4