RIP Ryuichi Sakamoto

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65155073

The renowned Japanese composer and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, admired for his electronic music experimentation, has died aged 71.

He won awards - including an Oscar, a Grammy and Bafta - for his work as a solo artist and as a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO).

Sakamoto had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021. His office said he died on Tuesday.

He starred in the film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie in 1983.

His film score for The Last Emperor, in 1987, won him an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. He also acted in the movie, an epic about the life of Puyi, last emperor of China.

Sakamoto began studying composition at the age of 10 and was inspired by the Beatles and Debussy.

He set up YMO with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1978, playing keyboards, and their synthesizer innovations influenced techno-pop and hip-hop.

Maybe not a household name,but for people interested in classic electronica,he was one of the driving forces behind YMO in the late 1970s. One of the first groups to use polyphonic synths,and immensely popular in Japan and ended up influencing a whole of PC game music in the 1980s. Later he branched out into more film work.

Rydeen(1979):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxep-gS-Btg

Behind the Mask(1979):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VMLYnH_Dc

The latter was originally going to appear as a version on Thriller(as MJ really liked the song):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bOkWTprifg


His most well known score is for The Last Emperor which won him an Academy Award,and he did the soundtrack for The Revenant and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9_9MZyQGo