a century in sound
December 8
Behind A Century in Sound with Nick Dwyer
A special online Moments gathering during the month of Tokyo Salone
Live on Instagram
Sound remembers.
Film holds.
Culture moves.
For more than 30 years, New Zealand-born writer, director, and music historian Nick Dwyer has followed sound across cities, scenes, generations, and more than 70 countries.
His work begins with listening: deeply, patiently, and long enough for a different story to reveal itself.
For this special online gathering, we go behind the frame of A Century in Sound, Nick’s decade-long exploration of Tokyo’s ongaku kissa and the cultural histories held within them.
Not simply the making of a documentary.
A conversation about how culture is found, understood, and carried forward.
How do you document a living culture without flattening it?
What can a listening room reveal about a city?
What happens behind the frame before a story is ready to be seen?
And what does it take to keep following an idea for ten years?
Join us live.
Bring a question.
Listen closely.
What we’ll explore
Listening as research
How curiosity, patience, and long-form conversation can uncover histories that faster forms of storytelling often miss.
Behind the frame
The years of encounters, archives, relationships, and unfinished questions that sit behind a completed film.
A century in sound
How Tokyo’s classical, jazz, and rock listening cafés offer another way of understanding the city’s social and cultural history.
Documenting without flattening
The responsibility of entering a culture, earning trust, and allowing complexity to remain.
Making culture visible
How a filmmaker can preserve what already exists while helping new audiences discover why it matters.
Join the conversation
Date
November 8, 2026
Where
Live on semi permanent Instagram
Language
The conversation will be held in English.
Register through Lu.ma to receive an event reminder, then join the live conversation through the semi permanent Instagram profile.
Questions and observations are welcome in the comments throughout the broadcast.
In conversation with
Nick Dwyer
Writer, director, and music historian
Nick Dwyer has spent more than three decades discovering and documenting music cultures around the world.
He began his career at 14 as a radio host and music television presenter in New Zealand. He later wrote, directed, and hosted long-form television series including Making Tracks, which was broadcast internationally by the BBC and National Geographic Channel.
His commitment to deep research and long-form interviewing led to more than 15 years with Red Bull Music Academy as a lecture host and interviewer. Across his career, he has documented music histories in more than 70 countries.
Nick moved to Japan in 2014 to focus on documentary filmmaking. That year, he wrote and directed the acclaimed series Diggin’ in the Carts, exploring the global influence of Japanese video game music.
He has since created documentary work for BBC StoryWorks, Channel News Asia, Vice, NOWNESS, Red Bull, Emirates, and Audio-Technica, including Yussef Dayes in Japan.
In 2015, Nick began researching and writing A Century in Sound, a six-part documentary series tracing 100 years of Tokyo through the distinctly Japanese culture of ongaku kissa. Since 2024, the work has screened at international documentary festivals and cultural institutions including CPH, Sheffield DocFest, and the Barbican Center.
Instagram · Discover A Century in Sound
Ana Arriola-Kanada
Host, Curator & Steward
Ana is a founder, builder, designer, and cultural orchestrator based in Tokyo.
As Chairwoman of 「 yes, 」 and steward of semi permanent, she builds long-horizon cultural infrastructure through Tokyo Salone and its constellations.
Her work brings designers, technologists, and cultural practitioners into shared dialogue, connecting culture, technology, and human systems. Her career includes leadership roles at Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Sony, and IDEO.
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Tokyo Salone is a year-round series of intimate gatherings at Soho House Tokyo, creating a shared room for dialogue across disciplines.
As part of Tokyo Salone, the series brings artists, designers, technologists, chefs, and future generations together to exchange ideas, build relationships, and shape what comes next through conversation, community, and care.
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