I’m not much into music but lately I have been listening quite a lot to Sakamoto Ryūichi (坂本 龍一) music, as recommended by Joi Ito. Sakamoto Ryūichi is a Japanese musician and composer that has been active for almost 40 years; he started to be internationally known during the 80s when his electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra became popular all around the world.
During the last years he has focused his career on composing soundtracks for movies like The Last Emperor or Babel. Sakamoto Ryūichi is quite active in social circles with political connections in Japan, he stands for the abolition of nuclear power plants (since the Fukushima nuclear disaster) and the reform of copyright laws that are adapted to the new digital era.
Photo by Joi Ito.
1 reply on “Sakamoto Ryūichi”
“During the last years he has focused his career on composing soundtracks for movies like The Last Emperor or Babel.”
While “Babel” was indeed released in the “last (few) years,” “The Last Emperor” was released in 1987 (were you born yet?). At least you didn’t include “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” in your examples of the” last years” of Sakamoto’s work.
If you can find them, go back and listen to “Neo Geo” (1987), “Beauty” (1990) and “Heartbeat” (1991). These were probably the best of the last before he pretty much turned his back on pop music.