There was a fun and interesting piece in the NY Times yesterday involving the pioneering Japanese musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Apparently, he has a favorite Japanese restaurant in New York City. Unfortunately, he hated the music they played. So, as one might, he wrote to the owner (a friend of his), told him the music was terrible, and offered to curate the music for him.
The music Sakamoto chose--sparse, elegant, particularly subtle, and esoteric--seems perfectly appropriate for a quiet and peaceful sushi restaurant. I wonder what he would do with a broader, more mainstream concept in which the ownership and clientele demanded music that is more accessible and familiar. That's the challenge I work with every day: how to craft a sound space that satisfies most guests' desire to hear things they already know and love--music that reassures them and makes them comfortable--that is also distinctive, interesting, and unique to the given space--music that takes them to a place they haven't been before.
My other question was, what Brazilian pop was the restaurant originally playing that could have been so awful?