Tea & Listening Session with Kristian Kaltenbach Hiroshi Yoshimura – Surround

Join us for another evening of deep listening with our resident curator Kristian Kaltenbach.

For this session, Kristian has selected Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround — one of the defining works of Japanese ambient music and a masterpiece of the kankyō ongaku ("environmental music") movement.

Originally released in 1986, Surround (also known as Soundscape 1: Surround) was unlike almost any other album of its time. Commissioned by the Japanese home builder Misawa Homes, it was created not as background music, but as a way to enrich everyday living spaces. Yoshimura imagined music that could exist naturally alongside daily life — blending with light, architecture, nature and silence rather than demanding attention.

For decades, the album remained a hidden gem, known mostly in Japan. It wasn't until 2023 that it received its first official vinyl reissue by the Los Angeles label Temporal Drift, introducing this extraordinary work to a new generation of listeners around the world.

Hiroshi Yoshimura (1940–2003) is now regarded as one of the pioneers of Japanese ambient and environmental music. Throughout his career, he composed works for museums, public spaces, exhibitions and architectural environments, believing that music should deepen our awareness of the world around us rather than distract us from it.

At Tea & Vinyl House, we believe Surround is best experienced exactly in this spirit: collectively, without distractions, through a carefully tuned analogue sound system, accompanied by a curated selection of Chinese teas, served throughout the listening session using the traditional Gong Fu Cha brewing method.

Before the listening begins, we invite all guests to prepare for a different kind of musical experience.

For just one hour, we ask you to leave your phones aside, pause conversations, and give your full attention to the music. We believe that when we truly listen, music reveals details, emotions and spaces that often go unnoticed.

We're confident you won't regret it. Instead, you'll experience the album as it was intended — not simply as something to hear, but as a space to inhabit.

Schedule

6:00 PM — Doors open & tea

6:30 PM — Guided album listening

Afterwards — Tea, conversation & time to connect

We look forward to welcoming you for another evening of attentive listening at Tea & Vinyl House.