Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Unmatched Sound Innovator of 1952-2023

Tright here’s a league of musicians whose deaths have felt significantly earth-shattering, due to a naïve, however broadly shared, presumption that they’d merely reside on ceaselessly. That pantheon consists of – to call however a number of – David Bowie, Prince, MF DOOM, and now, Ryuichi Sakamoto. The Japanese artist and innovator died final Tuesday (March 28), his passing solely revealed to the general public yesterday (April 2).

Maybe one of many causes Sakamoto felt untouchable was that regardless of a wide ranging physique of labor constructed over a number of a long time, and a life-changing throat most cancers prognosis in 2014, he by no means stopped working. His twelfth – and now final – solo album, ‘12’, was launched on his 71st birthday in January.

It concluded a profession pushed by an insatiable urge for food for threat. And, but, reward adopted Sakamoto wherever he went: from his stardom as one-third of digital music pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra, to his wildly imaginative solo work, to his prolific output as a composer throughout mediums, and his silver-screen appearances as an actor.

Born in post-war Japan on January 17, 1952, Sakamoto picked up the piano as a 10-year-old already equally enamoured with the works of Claude Debussy and The Beatles. As a college scholar, he had his first publicity to synthesizers, happening to graduate with a level in composition and a masters in music.

In 1977, after years as a studio musician, he was recruited by Haruomi Hosono to carry out on his fourth studio album ‘Paraiso’. Hosono additionally roped in drummer Yukihiro Takahashi, and the trio would develop into recognized to worldwide audiences as Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Yellow Magic Orchestra, from left: Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Credit score: Charlie Gillett/Redferns

The band’s self-titled launch in 1978 would immediately make Sakamoto and his brethren family names in Japan. Sakamoto’s mastery of the synthesizer and the group’s pop songwriting underpinned a aptitude for satire (evident of their early information’ parodies of orientalist tropes), gleefully reconfiguring previous musical and cultural tropes into synthesized fantasies.

Even when Yellow Magic Orchestra have been having a ball, they have been main the way in which. Their first document is an early instance of synth-pop music, whereas their work collectively would later inform the fields of hip-hop, home, electro and J-pop; on their third album ‘BGM’, they grew to become the primary band to make use of the now-ubiquitous Roland TR-808 drum machine on a recording.

All three members have been tirelessly prolific on their very own, not least Sakamoto. In 1978, a month earlier than the band’s self-titled launch, Sakamoto unleashed his first solo outing, ‘Thousand Knives’, an early-career launch that already showcased his curiosity and thirst for journey.

His 1980 follow-up ‘B-2 Unit’, nonetheless, transported listeners from the nice and cozy glow of Yellow Magic Orchestra and ‘Thousand Knives’ into full desolation. The album’s ‘Riot in Lagos’ is commonly cited as an early type of electro music, however the whole album eschewed conventional track buildings for ambiance and tone, anticipating the rebellious wave of Nineteen Nineties IDM and digital music a full decade beforehand.

In the identical 12 months Yellow Magic Orchestra launched their final two albums earlier than a hiatus, Sakamoto caught his first large break as an actor. He co-starred within the 1983 WWII movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence alongside David Bowie. Sakamoto’s BAFTA award-winning rating for the movie, particularly its major theme (a vocal model of which featured Japan’s David Sylvian), put him on the map as a person expertise. He would take pleasure in a protracted, fruitful and acclaimed profession in scoring for the display screen, from his Oscar-winning work for 1987’s The Final Emperor (wherein he additionally had a supporting position) to 2015’s The Revenant, which earned him a Grammy nomination, and even a 2019 Black Mirror episode.

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