Ryūichi Sakamoto

Once upon a time, there were three young Japanese men, Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. In 1978, they entered the charts with their synth pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra, or YMO. It was Kraftwerk in terms of rhythm, Simple Minds in terms of tone, and purely Japanese in terms of commercial exoticism. It was a time of Japanese pride, of Yamamoto jackets and Miyake pleats. Sakamoto then went solo and distinguished himself by recording the soundtrack for the cult film Furyo, a war epic in the style of Bridge on the River Kwai, staring David Bowie and Sakamoto himself. Post modern artists would be deeply inspired by the synthetic gamelans that came out of YMO’s experiments.

Since then, Sakamoto has often payed tribute to Western classics. First Bach in Elephantism, then Philip Glass, Debussy, Steve Reich...A studio virtuoso, he reimagined Massive Attack and recorded iconic songs with David Sylvian. And that’s not to mention an impressive list of collaborations with everyone from Caetano Veloso, Bill Frisell, Brian Wilson, Youssou N’Dour, Robert Wyatt, Iggy Pop, Arto Lindsay, Bill Laswell, Alva Noto, Hector Zazou, Thomas Dolby, Cesaria Évora, and Deee-Lite.  

As a bossa nova fan, Sakamoto uses jazz to convey a fluid and melancholy intimacy. His soundtracks have conquered the world, from those he made for Bertolucci (The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky) and Almodovar (High Heels), to more recently the formidable soundtrack to The Revenant – a score composed after he had recovered from cancer. Today, you can find Mr Sakamoto on Netflix, where the chilling Minamata is a hit. Seventy years old really is a Nice Age for this eternal sound wizard.