Tokyo is one of the cities in the world with the largest number of pop songs, or “local songs,” derived from the names of places. These songs depict the charms of Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Asakusa, and other parts of Tokyo, and link the songs to the emotions of the people who live and work there. At the same time, the city also has singers who make their living singing in these places, and some stores and streets that have their special role in the history or locality depicted in the song. The "Songs of Tokyo" is the Linkage that connects all three.

Local songs with the names of places in Tokyo in the lyrics and titles will be sung by professional singers, amateur masters, comedians, drag queens, and choral groups in multiple performances in the stores and streets that shine in the history of culture and customs. When the imagined Tokyo meets the real Tokyo, another image of the city is revealed.

Organizers: Tokyo Biennale 2023 / Songs of Tokyo Executive Committee
Supporter: JBL
Cooperation: TETSUJIN Inc., XING Inc., TTA KEIKAKU
Special cooperation: TOKYO TOWER Co.
Support: Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (Grant for Artistic Creativity)
Key visual design: Keiji Ito
Flyer and poster design: Shohei Kai

Related Exhibition
Swaying, Falling, Sparkling — Imaginary Record Jacket by Katsumi Omori

Tokyo is a city where many people live. As the seasons clearly change, people live with joy, worry, anger, laughter, and, not infrequently love. The air and time of Tokyo are captured in nine scenes taken by Katsumi Omori with a background of songs about Tokyo and its cities. The viewer should launch the music app on their phone or YouTube and try to access the song titled. If you find a song that is not there, in that case, think about why that song is not easily available to listen to in this convenient world. Please enjoy the blissful time when you played with your mind while looking at the jackets of LP records and CD booklets in the old days.

Venue: Tower Gallery（Tokyo Tower 3F, 4-2-8 Shiba-Koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo）
Period: 10.17 (Tue) - 11.5 (Sun), 11:00-19:00
Admission: Free

Katsumi Omori

Photographer. Born in Kobe, Japan. He received the 9th New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Award (selected by Robert Frank and Kotaro Iizawa) for his portfolio GOOD TRIPS, BAD TRIPS which was shot and produced while accompanying the French rock band Mano Negra on their Latin American tour. In 2022, he published his first monograph solely on writing, The Sound of the Mountain (President, Inc.).

Reiko Yuyama (director), Yasuko Hatori (management), Daikichi Mori (management), we are asking for the cooperation and participation of stores in various areas of Tokyo that are appropriate for this theme, singers, comedians, sinks, choirs, drag queens, actors, record companies, radio stations, etc. that are active in Tokyo.