Ryūichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一)

With more than 20 solo albums produced in the course of forty years, despite their contributions with his band and his work on the composition of films, Ryuichi Sakamoto is clearly a workaholic. Their music has had a far-reaching influence in the scenes of electronic music and hip hop since I began experimenting with synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP in his university at the beginning of the 1970s.

Sakamoto , who originally studied ethnomusicology at the National University of Fine Arts and Music Tokyo, has shown a voracious appetite for the sounds that come from all corners of the natural world. In 2008 he traveled with 40 other artists of different disciplines, and scientists to the Arctic near Greenland, where the enigmatic musician recorded the sounds of melting ice. In 2009, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, the highest honor France’s cultural. How did you get to this point? How it all began?

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When Sakamoto was a high school student in Tokyo, I had to travel in a local train to get to class. The passengers were always crowded, caught between its own members, twisted, and those of others. Unable to move, everything that a teen could do was listen. Had a great time counting down the sounds that made the train, identifying more than ten, that you would hear every morning.

Listening attentively is a habit that has led to Sakamoto through almost 70 years of musical exploration, each decade has led him in new directions. He was born in Tokyo, in the year 1952, when he was a small child, he began playing the piano, an instrument that would be considered from many angles jageianos to squeeze the most out of all your potential.

As the 70’s became the 80’s, went from a degree in ethnomusicology and composition at the role of keyboard player and composer of Yellow Magic Orchestra , the group of proto-people led by Haruomi Hosono have been a reference and created school in the world of electronic music.

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In the years of the solo career that followed, the adoption of Sakamoto of a new wave of electronic instruments led to experiments fruitful in the fusion of genres global, which in turn gave way to careful studies of impressionism classic. Many times, the trajectory sound of the composer has jumped forward and then has gone back on itself, for always telling him to present something both of its past and of its future.

The how to of the composition is so important to Sakamoto as what it does, and most of the times, his creative process begins with improvisation. “You have to open your ears all the time because anything can happen unexpectedly,” he said of his approach. “Anything can be music.” A note wrong could be the right path towards a new musical idea. The sounds of a city at night could inform the architecture of a new album. In fact, it was a building that inspired Glass , the composition, improvised live Sakamoto in 2016 with his old friend, Alva Noto .

Specifically, the modernist Glass House of Philip Johnson , the american architect built in Connecticut in the late 40’s to live. As part of his performance, Sakamoto and Noto touched the home of glass and steel Johnson as an instrument, to rubber mallets on your microphone of contact on all surfaces of the building.

The relationship between space and sound, how one reflects and refracts the other, it is something that Sakamoto has also explored in his collaborations with visual artists. In All Star Video (1984), his digital compositions were increased by the hyperactive video art of Nam June Paik . In 1999, he premiered his opera media LIFE , for which he named Shiro Takatani its director visual.

Expanding on the themes of LIFE of symbiosis, and evolution, Sakamoto and Takatani continued to produce several environmental installations together, that combined objects of art, audio, and video. In 2018, the various collaborations of art projects Sakamoto met for the first time in Seoul, as part of a retrospective exhibition, titled LIFE, LIFE .

Outside of his artistic practice, Sakamoto has written music for a wide variety of scenarios, including the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, an announcement of tonic for health (which became Energy Flow ) and an episode of Black Mirror (2019). However, their contributions to the film the most recognized.

Sakamoto has composed music for over 30 films in the same years, including Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence of Nagisa Oshima , The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky of Bernardo Bertolucci , The Revenant de Alejandro González Iñárritu and Nagasaki: Memories of My son of Yoji Yamada . His recognitions film include Academy Award, a Grammy, a BAFTA, and two Golden Globe award. “Working on a film is like a journey to an unknown place,” he once said Sakamoto . “Can’t I experience that making my own things.”

In recent years, the composer has re-emerged with renewed force. His album of 2017, async , paints a portrait of the audio of the passage of time, informed by his recovery from throat cancer. In a documentary released in the same year, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda , directed by Stephen Nomura Schible , travels to the Arctic to record the sound of the snow melted.

In another scene, tap a piano “drowned” which was found in the Miyagi prefecture during the aftermath of the earthquake-tsunami of 2011 that triggered a nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. “Humans say that [the piano] is out of tune,” says Sakamoto in Coda . “But that is not exact. The matter is struggling to return to its natural state “.

These observations sound are not only aesthetic; they run in parallel to the work and environmental activism of Sakamoto . It is an anti-nuclear activist and founder of the project More Trees, which is dedicated to the reforestation and carbon offsetting. The veins that connect the music, the art and activism of Ryuichi Sakamoto are his meditations on the nature in the constant evolution of the life. “The music, work, and life have a beginning and an end,” said Sakamoto at the beginning of 2019. “What I want to do now is music free from the limitations of time”.

By way of brief summary, here’s a compilation of some of the most important moments of the life of this great artist and how they relate to the overall picture.

• Yellow Magic Orchestra:

To understand the full scope and influence of Sakamoto in the world, we must, of course, go to the source of your international stardom; that is to say, the training Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. The band of electronic music of three components was composed by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). At that time, Sakamoto was already 26 years old, and, like his band mates, was a veteran of the music scene. Although the original concept of Yellow Magic Orchestra was designed by Haruomi Hosono , the group evolved naturally from collaborations between the trio.

All the members of YMO were session musicians accomplished at the end of the 1970s; these people tend to mix and mingle while they play a live show here and complete there, until suddenly one finds that one has a group that is together like cheese and crackers. Sakamoto first worked with the leader of the band, YMO, Hosono , as a member of the band of the latter in 1976; in the meantime, Takahashi had hired Sakamoto to produce his first solo recording in 1977. The trio released their first full album under the nickname of Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band in April 1978, which was originally intended to be unique.

Later that same year, the trio met up again and decided to form an official band and began work on his debut album with the same name, Yellow Magic Orchestra, released in November 1978. This put the trio on the road to fame of worship international. And the rest is history.

• Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto:

With the details of the original claim from Sakamoto to international fame out of the way, it is time to also indicate that Sakamoto was, and is, an individual who had to be constantly creating.

After recording with the first version of YMO at the beginning of 1978, and before recording the first album to the official mark of YMO, Sakamoto also composed and recorded his own album. It was his first solo album and featured a collaboration with his future fellow band Haruomi Hosono . This album, titled Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto , is a precursor of all the experiments wonderful, imaginative and innovative that would characterize a lifetime of work.

The first track proves the interest of Sakamoto in the policy, as it begins with the composer reading The mountain Jinggang , a poem written by Mao Zedong during their visit to a well in the mountains Jinggang in 1965, with an effect of speech coding. ‘Island of Woods’ is an experience environmental synthesized that try to imitate or to infer the natural sounds of an island. The connection Sakamoto with nature and the natural sounds would lead to some innovations fascinating to you throughout your career. This is a classical piano piece titled ‘Grasshopper’ popping and bouncing off.

That is all before you give the pure fun of the electronic beats that permeate the track opening and beyond. The great diversity of this album is a great way to get an idea of the career that would follow. The next solo album of Sakamoto, B-2 Unit , released in 1980, would include the track ‘Riot’ in Lagos, which is attributed to be the pioneer of the electro and electro-funk.

• Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence:

When YMO started to take off really at the international level, the directors approached Sakamoto to create music for their films. The affinity of Sakamoto and his understanding of the natural world brought a lot of strong images to their sound, which made him perfect for the role of composer of soundtracks.

What was really unexpected was its inclusion as an actor in the film which was scheduled for the soundtrack. The film was Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , war film that showed prisoners of war English in a camp for japanese in the Second World War. Sakamoto appeared with the legendary David Bowie in the lead role. This would be the paper that revealed the diversity of the musical talent of Sakamoto , while exposing a larger audience to your face. More importantly, the work of the soundtrack would open up opportunities for more jobs in the future, which would put you on the path to great success and recognition of the highest level in 1987.

The musician scottish Roddy Frame , who collaborated with Sakamoto in 1993, described the work of this in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence : “that is where you realise that the atmosphere around his compositions is actually in the writing, it has nothing to do with synthesizers”.

• The Last Emperor:

The film by Bernardo Bertolucci , 1987, The last emperor , blotted out the expectations of the viewers around the world to present ideas and images of a world largely unknown to the West. The film won nine Academy awards for which it had been nominated, including best film and best original soundtrack.

The score had been arranged by three composers: David Byrne , Cong Su , and Ryuichi Sakamoto . The contributions from Sakamoto to the soundtrack of the film solidified his status as a composer is exemplary. Its success led to an almost continuous in the soundtracks of many films throughout his career for decades, many of which earned him more accolades, such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993) and The Revenant (2015). Sakamoto also appeared in the film, her second role in a feature film.

• Barcelona 92:

While in no way is the pinnacle of the success of Sakamoto , his invitation to compose the score for the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992, shows to what level he had reached his popularity. Not only that, but his reputation as a workaholic music clearly had earned him international renown. Do not invite you to work with one of the larger institutions and consolidated financial statements of the world if it is not considered that attract an audience and do a great job, as was the case.

• No Nukes:

While Sakamoto is known for being a musician, prolific, and clearly decided that it was not sufficiently occupied. It was and continues to be politically active, desiring to make a real difference in the society not only with their music but also with their platform to convey political views. In 2012, a year after the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, Sakamoto organized a concert to raise funds for the fight for the prohibition of nuclear plants in Japan.

The concert was called the No Nukes 2012 , and was attended with Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk, among others. The event took place the weekend after a massive protest Friday night in front of the official residence of the japanese prime minister. This protest was part of one of many carried out on a Friday night with the goal of convincing the politicians that put an end to nuclear energy, and was also the largest. It was estimated that it was attended by 150,000 people; one of them was Sakamoto , who then played the next two days on its own festival to support the cause.

• Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda:

In July 2014, she announced that she had been diagnosed with throat cancer and that it would take a break from work to recover. This would be the first real rupture in their creative production from the formation of YMO almost 40 years before. One might wonder how a giant so creative, I had been creating for film, releasing albums and acting consistently over decades, he would spend the time.

Speaking with Rolling Stone in December 2015, Sakamoto said that it was an opportunity for an old man is rushed to the day with a few books, and explore music that until now had not had the opportunity to listen to with enthusiasm. His pause was short-lived, as by the end of 2015 as he was composing the soundtrack Haha to Kuraseba directed by Yoji Yamada , quickly followed by the score of the film from Alejandro González Iñárritu , The Revenant . Even cancer could not compete with the voracious need to create the composer.

The recovery of Sakamoto and his creations later were documented in the documentary film of 2017 Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda . The film also features heavily on the participation of Sakamoto in the anti-nuclear movement, following him while attending the protests.

• Opening Ceremony’s Fall/Winter Lookbook:

As a demonstration of the diverse talents of Sakamoto was invited to model looks for the fashion brand Opening Ceremony in 2019. The style of Sakamoto has been well documented. throughout his career, as he followed a metamorphosis almost as diverse as his musical career. From the extravagant styles and eye-catching of the 70’s and 80’s to turtleneck black most refined and sophisticated of this, the attire of the composer have always been of great interest to fans from all over the world.

This brings us to the now. We have continued to Sakamoto throughout his lifetime of amazing accomplishments and we have tried to reduce the key moments of this small list, but inevitably we’ve left out many more. An artist as innovative and groundbreaking as this is very difficult to pin down. In January of this year, the web Sakamoto released a letter announcing that once again he had been diagnosed with cancer.

This new diagnosis of cancer of the rectum comes just one year after her previous cancer of the throat to enter officially in remission. However, the letter from the composer contains notes of optimism. The initial surgery was a success and continues on treatment. Little we can do more than admire the vast catalog that this man has given to the world and what it has done for influence in the music, political activism and the style.

And those contributions continue, as Sakamoto has composed the soundtrack for the film Minamata , film Andrew Levites, as well as for Beckett , recently released film on Netflix.

坂本 龍一 Ryuichi Sakamoto Full Album 2020 – 坂本 龍一 Ryuichi Sakamoto Best Of

Track List:

00:00 Energy Flow 4:08 The Last Emperor 8:38 Rain 12:00 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 16:05 The Last Emperor OST 22:04 The Sheltering Sky 28:05 Forbidden Colors 32:56 A Flower is Not A Flower 39:38 Undercooled 43:14 Solitude 48:11 BABEL 53:26 Blu 58:42 Amore 1:03:52 Wuthering Heights 1:10:16 Opus 1:15:10 Rain 1:18:22 Moon 1:22:03 Anna