Shugorei is Nozomi Omote and Thomas Green
Shugorei is a boldly adventurous sonic expedition formed in 2019 by percussionist Nozomi Omote and electronic artist Thomas Green. Blending live percussion with electronics, their performances traverse the realms of IDM, classical music, and improvisation, creating a vivid and unpredictable listening experience.
Their sound is a collision of vibraphone, analogue synthesizers, digital samples, drums, and found textures—meticulously composed yet open to spontaneous transformation. The name Shugorei (守護霊), meaning Guardian Spirit, reflects the duo’s exploration of cultural interplay: Nozomi’s Japanese heritage and Western classical training meet Tom’s genre-defying sonic alchemy.
Shugorei releases music via Meanjin-based boutique label 4000 Records. Their self-titled debut album arrived in March 2021, followed by the 2023 single Meet The Sun, featuring vocalist Shêm Allen.
In 2024, Shugorei collaborated with The Australian School of Kung Fu and Tai Chi, uncovering hidden musical rhythms within Chinese martial arts forms. The resulting live performance—featuring Black Square String Quartet, electronics, and percussion—was captured in the studio album The Sounds of Chow Gar.
Their 2025 release Memories of Magic — 魔法の記憶 — Mahō no Kioku is a near hour‑long enchantment of magical soundscapes, brought to life through a constellation of collaborators and guest artists. The album launched with a multisensory performance at Metro Arts, Brisbane.
In 2026, Shugorei released The Sounds of Uncertain Walls, with works composed by the duo for Ipswich Art Gallery’s IAG Kids: LightPlay. Drawing inspiration from Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, the project contemplates boundaries, transformation, and imagined spaces through sound situated within an illuminated, responsive environment.
Live & Festival Highlights
Shugorei’s live work has been featured at major festivals, symposiums, and site‑specific performance contexts, including:
- Port Fairy Spring Music Festival (2022) — Guardian Spirit, a hybrid of electronic dance music and percussive art music performed with Black Square String Quartet
- Brisbane Festival – Art Boat (2023) — an immersive performance floating through the city’s riverways
- Performers(’) Present International Symposium: Flow States (2023) — improvised performance with Karst de Jong (Yong Siew Toh Conservatoire, Singapore), followed by a demonstration of Shugorei’s practice
- BLEACH Festival (2024) — River Songs, a headphone concert on a floating barge
- Woodford Folk Festival (2025) — presenting Shugorei’s expanded live electronic‑percussion practice in a festival context
Recognition
In recognition of their innovative and boundary‑pushing work, Shugorei was a finalist in the 2025 Queensland Music Awards, and in 2026 received further QMA finalist recognition for “Overture” from The Sounds of Chow Gar in 2025, two original songs “The Charm” in World category and “Twilight Refraction” in Contemporary Classical category in 2026, marking a continued presence within Australia’s contemporary music landscape.
Shugorei（守護霊）は、打楽器奏者の表 希（Nozomi Omote＝ノズ）と電子音楽家のトーマス・グリーン（Thomas Green＝トム）によって2019年に結成されたユニット。ヴィブラフォンやドラムなどの生演奏とエレクトロニクスを融合し、IDM、現代音楽、即興表現を横断する独自のサウンドを展開している。
ユニット名は「守護霊」を意味し、日本文化と西洋音楽、即興性と構築性の交差を象徴している。
Meanjin（ブリスベン）拠点のレーベル 4000 Records より作品をリリース。2021年にデビューアルバム『Shugorei』を発表し、2023年にはShêm Allenを迎えたシングル「Meet The Sun」をリリース。
2024年には中国武術と音楽の関係性を探るプロジェクト『The Sounds of Chow Gar』を発表し、Black Square String Quartetと共演した。
2025年のアルバム『Memories of Magic（魔法の記憶）』は、多数のコラボレーターとともに制作された幻想的な長編作品で、Metro Arts（ブリスベン）での多感覚パフォーマンスとともに発表された。
続く2026年には、村上春樹『街とその不確かな壁』に着想を得た作品集『The Sounds of Uncertain Walls』を発表し、Ipswich Art Galleryの《IAG Kids: LightPlay》での発表のために全作品を作曲・制作した。
これまでにPort Fairy Spring Music Festival、Brisbane Festival、BLEACH Festival、Woodford Folk Festivalなどに出演。
Queensland Music Awardsでは、2025年ファイナリストに選出され、2026年には2楽曲が部門別ファイナリストとしてノミネートされるなど、オーストラリア現代音楽シーンで高い評価を受けている。
Nozomi Omote is a classically trained percussionist whose artistic practice spans contemporary performance, cross‑cultural collaboration, and a distinctive, intuitive approach to improvisation. Originally from Japan, she relocated to Australia in 2002 to undertake postgraduate studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, where she completed a Master of Music Studies, studying under Prof. Vanessa Tomlinson and Thomas O’Kelly, following a Bachelor of Education from Kanazawa University.
Since then, Nozomi has established a vibrant freelance career, performing as a soloist and chamber musician and appearing with leading ensembles including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra. Her performance practice moves fluidly between notated repertoire and exploratory sound‑based work, grounded in deep listening and a physical, responsive engagement with instruments.
Alongside her performance career, Nozomi has been actively involved in percussion education since her university years, sharing her passion for rhythm, sound, and creative curiosity with students of all ages. Her teaching draws on both rigorous classical training and an openness to play, experimentation, and individual musical voice.
Known for her adventurous spirit, Nozomi continually expands her sonic palette by collecting and incorporating unusual and found instruments, building richly textured percussion setups that invite surprise and expression. This curiosity for sound and material underpins her collaborative work, where she continues to expand her musical language through experimentation, cultural dialogue, and genre‑defying creativity.
表 希（おもてのぞみ＝ノズ）クラシック音楽の訓練を基盤に、現代音楽、即興表現、そして異文化を横断するコラボレーションまで幅広く活動する打楽器奏者である。日本出身。2002年にオーストラリアへ渡り、**グリフィス大学クイーンズランド音楽院（Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University）**にて、Prof. ヴァネッサ・トムリンソンおよび トーマス・オケリーに師事し、音楽修士号（Master of Music Studies）を取得。金沢大学にて教育学学士号を修了している。
これまでにソリストおよび室内楽奏者として活動し、クイーンズランド交響楽団（QSO）、メルボルン交響楽団（MSO）、Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra など、オーストラリアを代表するアンサンブルと共演してきた。楽譜に基づく演奏と探究的なサウンド・アプローチを自在に行き来する演奏スタイルは、深い聴覚的集中と、身体性に根ざした楽器との関係性に支えられている。
また、大学在学時より打楽器教育にも積極的に携わり、年齢や経験を問わず、多くの学生にリズムと音の楽しさ、創造する喜びを伝えてきた。教育においては、厳格なクラシックの基礎と同時に、遊び心、探究心、個々の音楽的個性を尊重する姿勢を大切にしている。
好奇心と冒険心に富んだ音楽家として知られる表は、独自の音響世界を求めて、ユニークな楽器や見つけた素材を収集し、多彩で表現力豊かな打楽器セットアップを構築している。こうした音への探究は、コラボレーションを通じた創作活動の中でさらに発展し、実験性、文化的対話、ジャンルを超えた創造性へと結びついている。
Thomas Green is a Brisbane‑based composer and performer with a reputation for versatility, whose music finds a home between multiple musical streams, seamlessly blending classical and contemporary idioms. His work spans contemporary concert music, electroacoustic composition, and collaborative projects, with a strong focus on timbre, texture, and rhythmic transformation.
Green is the recipient of numerous government grants, commissions, and national composition prizes, and his music has premiered widely across Australia, Europe, the United States, and China, with performances in Italy, France, the UK, Croatia, the US, and China in recent years. His compositions have been performed by ensembles including the Australian Youth Orchestra, who also invited him to participate as a composer at their national camp program, working closely with emerging musicians.
His works have been commissioned and presented by leading Australian organisations and artists, including the Australian National Academy of Music, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian String Quartet, Opera Queensland, and collaborators such as Josh Pyke and Katie Noonan. Highlights include composing for Josh Pyke’s ARIA‑winning Live at the Sydney Opera House, music featured on Katie Noonan’s ARIA‑ and AIR‑nominated album The Glad Tomorrow, and large‑scale works for community and professional ensembles.
Green maintains a long‑standing collaboration with the Black Square String Quartet and is widely recognised for his expertise in electronic music production, integrating electronics as a central expressive force rather than an adjunct to acoustic sound.
He completed his PhD in composition in 2016 and is a Lecturer at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, where he teaches composition and music theory, sharing his passion for sonic innovation with emerging artists.
トーマス・グリーンはブリスベンを拠点とする作曲家・パフォーマーで、クラシック音楽の訓練を基盤に、長年にわたる電子音楽の探究を重ねながら、多様な音楽的領域を横断する作品を制作している。彼の音楽は、現代音楽とエレクトロアコースティック、即興性と構築性を自在に行き来し、音色、テクスチャー、リズムの変容に重きを置いている。
これまでに数多くの政府助成、委嘱作品、国内作曲コンクールでの受賞歴を持ち、その作品はオーストラリア国内のみならず、イタリア、フランス、イギリス、クロアチア、アメリカ、中国など世界各地で初演・上演されてきた。**オーストラリア・ユース・オーケストラ（AYO）**によって作品が演奏され、同団体のナショナル・キャンプに作曲家として招かれるなど、若手演奏家との協働にも積極的に取り組んでいる。
彼の作品は、Australian National Academy of Music（ANAM）、シドニー交響楽団、Australian String Quartet、Opera Queensland などの主要音楽機関に加え、Josh Pyke や Katie Noonan といったアーティストとのコラボレーションを通じて発表されている。Josh Pyke のARIA受賞アルバム『Live at the Sydney Opera House』への参加や、Katie Noonan のARIA／AIRノミネート作品『The Glad Tomorrow』への楽曲提供など、幅広い文脈で活動している。
また、Black Square String Quartetとの継続的なコラボレーションを行うほか、電子音楽制作の専門家として、エレクトロニクスを補助的要素ではなく表現の中核として扱う独自のアプローチでも知られている。
2016年に作曲で博士号（PhD）を取得。現在はグリフィス大学クイーンズランド音楽院で講師を務め、作曲や音楽理論を通して、次世代の音楽家に創作と音響探究の魅力を伝えている。
Reviews
Cut Common – Dots + Loops Vibrations
Authoritative, diverse, and utterly unique art for open-minded listeners!”
Last Day Deaf
“Shugorei make fascinating music, combining “vibraphone, digital samples, analogue synthesizer, drums, jumbles and bricolage”, in both crafted compositions as well as free-form improvised pieces. In a way it reminds me a little of Stereolab, as well as some of Frank Zappa’s compositions. The instrumentation makes references to Peter Gabriel, it’s a heady mix!”
Electronica, UK
“I heard thick black scales that moved fluidly yet were metallic to the touch, watched the tongue flicker and hiss, felt something brush against my leg. Shugorei’s music is an awesome intersection of compelling electronic production and the sensibilities of contemporary classical music.”
The Stew
“… Shugorei clattering through a hectic set of demented vibraphone drum ‘n’ bass at a tiny Brisbane venue in April. Music has been brilliant medicine for the soul”
Leah Kardos, WIRE
“It’s a fascinating juxtaposition of acoustic and electronic, soft and harsh. The pair exchanged glances, wordlessly communicating ideas until the two seemingly different sides came together, forming an ambient whole.”
scenestr
“It’s really quite rare, in Brisbane and elsewhere, to get a fruitful collaboration across the fence that divides art music and the alternative world…”
4ZZZ
“A vivid immersive experience”
Conversations About Her
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