Koto - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
Koto is a pioneer of spacesynth and Italo-disco whose music is indelibly reflective of an era of analog synth music and ancient video games. Understanding that remaining mostly instrumental would limit his commercial appeal; Koto only included the barest and most bizarre vocal elements to his epic synthesizer compositions. Although Koto’s popularity rests on just a few songs and the moniker has changed hands, the original remains the best.
Koto is in reality, one man, Anfrando Maiola. As a youth in Colorno, he first got into music playing the drums before taking on the piano at eighteen, at which point he began performing publically in bars and concert halls. In 1982, after acquiring a Roland TR 808, a Roland MC 500 and a KORG Lambda, he began making synthesizer music that reflected his background in both percussion and melodic keyboard compositions inspired by an eclectic mix of musicians including Billy Cobham, Deep Purple, ELP, Michael Jackson, Stanley Clarke, Tina Turner and Vasco Rossi.
With producer Stefano Cundari, he formed Memory Records in San Polo di Torrile, Italy. Their first release was Anfrando’s “Black & White” for Taffy. Anfrando’s first release as Koto was “Chinese Revenge” and it sold over 10,000 copies in Italy alone. The name was chosen from Maiola’s favorite setting on his synthesizers. That same year, “Japanese War Game” mixed hip-hop scratches and a driving rhythm with sound that appropriately suggested the dawn of the 16-bit era.
Over the years, Memory became a powerhouse within Italo-Disco and spacesynth, releasing albums by Ken Laszlo, Duke Lake, Baby’s Gang, Mike Cannon, The Creatures, Brando, Diego, Brian Ice, Kirlian Camera, Cheaps and many others. Most were produced by Zanni & Cundari with Maiola sometimes acting as composer and arranger. Their signature take on music usually favored pounding electronic drums, distinctly ‘80s synth timbres and painfully cheerful melodies. One of their biggest successes came when Hipnosis and Maiola collaborated on a cover of Vangelis’s “Pulstar” that sold topped the charts in Germany and performed well in South America and Japan as well, ultimately selling over 200,000 copies. Koto’s 1985 hit, "Visitors," seemed to bridge the musical gap between italo-disco and house with its driving repetition and what are apparently samples of Vincent Price laughing. It proved very big in countries like Romania, Hungary, Israel, Russia and Mongolia.
My 1986, club tastes were changing and Italo-disco was displaced by house, eurobeat. In that changing context, Koto’s single, “Jabdah” with its veiled Star Wars reference and heavily-accented message of a voice “calling from the space newspapers,” seemed incredibly dated on arrival. Nonetheless, it spent eleven weeks on the Swiss charts, narrowly missing the Top 10. After charting in Germany, Koto filmed video at Formel Eins clad in an outfit more appropriate for moisture farmers on Tatooine than performers on German music programs. His balding, rotund figure indeed seemed to possess the force as he cheerfully defied gravity, bouncing happily whilst two shadowy spacemen worked in the background. Interestingly, his keyboard featured a bumper sticker stating “I <3 ZYX.” After 1988’s excellent “Dragon’s Legend,” Memory Records’ entire catalog was sold to massive German label, ZYX. With ownership of the Koto name, ZYX charged Michiel van der Kuy of Dutch spacesynth group Laserdance (a band heavily indebted to Koto) with remixing Koto’s work and, in addition, recording new music as Koto in Anfrando’s style.
Despite no longer owning the name, Maiola released “Champion’s Cue” in 1990, credited to Koto but it sank. A couple of years later, Cundari died as the result of a brain tumor. A re-packaging, The 12” Mixes (1994 ZYX) is currently the best collection of Maiola’s work as Koto, as the album includes his hits along with four van der Kuy compositions. Koto Plays Synthesizer World Hits (1990 ZYX) and Koto Plays Science-Fiction Movie Themes (1993 ZYX) were released as Koto albums, but being comprised of covers performed by van der Kuy, like The Velveteen Underground and Echoes of the Bunnymen, they’re Koto in name only.
Ultimately, justice prevailed and Maiola won back the rights to the Koto name, although he no longer makes music in the spacesynth genre. In 2001, a single “Koto is still Alive” and 2003’s "Planet X" were recorded for GAS Europe. Planet X (2003) was a private release for fans. On opener “International Greetings” voices from his worldwide fanbase proves just how far-flung Koto’s fans are.
After the demise of GAS in 2006, Maiola has released music through the internet. Apparently no longer burdened by commercial concerns, his new songs are among his quirkiest, with “Bitte Click Ich Kenne Dich ! Danke” sounding like an unholy alliance between Manu Chao and Go-Kart Mozart. Today, the 55 year old Maiola is still making music, working with Alex Nocera, Alex Cundari, Beppe Barilli, Gigi Montanini and Roberto Bisca on new songs in Parma, Italy and frequently watching football games with his German wife, Martina and his dog, Jessi.
