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{{main|Yellow Magic Orchestra}}
{{main|Yellow Magic Orchestra}}


Sakamoto attended the [[Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music]], where he earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[Musical composition|music composition]] and an [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|M.A.]] with special emphasis on both electronic and [[Traditional music|ethnic music]].
Sakamoto attended the [[Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music]], where he earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[Musical composition|music composition]] and an [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|M.A.]] with special emphasis on both electronic and [[Traditional music|ethnic music]]. He studied [[ethnomusicology]] at university with the intention of becoming a researcher in the field. He had an interest in various [[world music]] traditions, particularly the [[Music of Japan|Japanese]] (especially [[Ryukyuan music|Okinawan]]), [[Music of India|Indian]] and [[Music of Africa|African]] musical traditions.<ref>{{citation|title=Ryuichi Sakamoto Interview|first=Phil|last=Freeman|work=Global Rhythm|volume=15|issue=8-12|year=2006|publisher=World Marketing Inc.|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iylLAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=12 June 2011|page=16}}</ref>


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After working as a session musician with [[Haruomi Hosono]] and [[Yukihiro Takahashi]], the trio formed the internationally successful [[electronic music]] band [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] (YMO) in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group were pioneers of various [[List of electronic music genres|electronic genres]] such as [[Electropop|electropop/technopop]],<ref name="allmusic_ymo">{{cite web|url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5886|pure_url=yes}}|title=Yellow Magic Orchestra profile|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=2009-06-03}}</ref><ref name="guardian_ymo">{{cite web|last=Lewis|first=John|title=Back to the future: Yellow Magic Orchestra helped usher in electronica - and they may just have invented hip-hop, too|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/04/electronicmusic.filmandmusic11|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=25 May 2011|date=4 July 2008}}</ref> [[synthpop]],<ref name="scaruffi">{{citation|title=A history of rock music 1951-2000|author=Piero Scaruffi|publisher=[[iUniverse]]|year=2003|isbn=0595295657|page=234|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=04KtwVkHNv0C&pg=PA234|accessdate=2011-05-26}}</ref> [[cyberpunk]] music,<ref>{{cite web|last=Lester|first=Paul|title=Yellow Magic Orchestra|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jun/20/culture.electronicmusic|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=26 May 2011|date=20 June 2008}}</ref> [[ambient house]] [[House music|music]],<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> and [[electronica]].<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> The group's work has had a significant lasting impact across many different genres, ranging from [[Hip hop music|hip hop]]<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and [[techno]]<ref name="bogdanov_1996">{{cite book|last=Bogdanov|first=Vladimir|title=All music guide to electronica: the definitive guide to electronic music|year=2001|publisher=[[Hal Leonard Corporation|Backbeat Books]]|isbn=0879306289|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GJNXLSBlL7IC&pg=PT582|edition=4th|accessdate=26 May 2011|page=582}}</ref><ref name="UGO"/> to [[acid house]]<ref name="UGO">{{cite web|title=Ryuichi Sakamoto|publisher=[[UGO Networks]]|url=http://www.ugo.com/channels/music/features/bandsondemand/artist.aspx?artist=ryuichisakamoto&cat=electronica&full=Ryuichi%20Sakamoto|accessdate=2011-05-27}}</ref> and general [[melodic music]].<ref name="scaruffi"/>
After working as a session musician with [[Haruomi Hosono]] and [[Yukihiro Takahashi]] in 1977,<ref name="discogs_paraiso">{{Discogs release|1188801|Harry Hosono And The Yellow Magic Band – Paraiso}}</ref> the trio formed the internationally successful [[electronic music]] band [[Yellow Magic Orchestra]] (YMO) in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group were pioneers of various [[List of electronic music genres|electronic genres]] such as [[Electropop|electropop/technopop]],<ref name="allmusic_ymo">{{cite web|url={{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5886|pure_url=yes}}|title=Yellow Magic Orchestra profile|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=2009-06-03}}</ref><ref name="guardian_ymo">{{cite web|last=Lewis|first=John|title=Back to the future: Yellow Magic Orchestra helped usher in electronica - and they may just have invented hip-hop, too|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/04/electronicmusic.filmandmusic11|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=25 May 2011|date=4 July 2008}}</ref> [[synthpop]],<ref name="scaruffi">{{citation|title=A history of rock music 1951-2000|author=Piero Scaruffi|publisher=[[iUniverse]]|year=2003|isbn=0595295657|page=234|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=04KtwVkHNv0C&pg=PA234|accessdate=2011-05-26}}</ref> [[cyberpunk]] music,<ref>{{cite web|last=Lester|first=Paul|title=Yellow Magic Orchestra|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jun/20/culture.electronicmusic|work=[[The Guardian]]|accessdate=26 May 2011|date=20 June 2008}}</ref> [[ambient house]] [[House music|music]],<ref name="allmusic_ymo"/> and [[electronica]].<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> The group's work has had a significant lasting impact across many different genres, ranging from [[Hip hop music|hip hop]]<ref name="guardian_ymo"/> and [[techno]]<ref name="bogdanov_1996">{{cite book|last=Bogdanov|first=Vladimir|title=All music guide to electronica: the definitive guide to electronic music|year=2001|publisher=[[Hal Leonard Corporation|Backbeat Books]]|isbn=0879306289|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GJNXLSBlL7IC&pg=PT582|edition=4th|accessdate=26 May 2011|page=582}}</ref><ref name="UGO"/> to [[acid house]]<ref name="UGO">{{cite web|title=Ryuichi Sakamoto|publisher=[[UGO Networks]]|url=http://www.ugo.com/channels/music/features/bandsondemand/artist.aspx?artist=ryuichisakamoto&cat=electronica&full=Ryuichi%20Sakamoto|accessdate=2011-05-27}}</ref> and general [[melodic music]].<ref name="scaruffi"/>


Sakamoto was the songwriter and composer for a number of the band's hit songs, including "[[Yellow Magic Orchestra (album)|Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)]]" (1978), "[[Solid State Survivor|Technopolis]]" (1979), "[[X∞Multiplies|Nice Age]]" (1980), "[[Technodelic|Seoul Music]]" (1981), "[[Naughty Boys|Ongaku]]" (1983), and "[[Service (album)|You've Got to Help Yourself]]" (1983), while playing the keyboards for most of their other songs, including international hits such as "[[Yellow Magic Orchestra (album)|Computer Game / Firecracker]]" (1978), and singing in several songs such as "[[Naughty Boys|Kimi ni Mune Kyun]]" (1983). He also composed the international hit "[[Behind the Mask (song)|Behind the Mask]]" (1978), for which he sang the vocals through a [[vocoder]], and which would later be [[Cover song|covered]] by a number of international artists, including [[Michael Jackson]] and [[Eric Clapton]].
Sakamoto was the songwriter and composer for a number of the band's hit songs, including "[[Yellow Magic Orchestra (album)|Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)]]" (1978), "[[Solid State Survivor|Technopolis]]" (1979), "[[X∞Multiplies|Nice Age]]" (1980), "[[Technodelic|Seoul Music]]" (1981), "[[Naughty Boys|Ongaku]]" (1983), and "[[Service (album)|You've Got to Help Yourself]]" (1983), while playing the keyboards for many of their other songs, including international hits such as "[[Yellow Magic Orchestra (album)|Computer Game / Firecracker]]" (1978) and "[[Solid State Survivor|Rydeen]]" (1979), and singing in several songs such as "[[Naughty Boys|Kimi ni Mune Kyun]]" (1983). He also composed the international hit "[[Behind the Mask (song)|Behind the Mask]]" (1978), for which he sang the vocals through a [[vocoder]], and which would later be [[Cover song|covered]] by a number of international artists, including [[Michael Jackson]] and [[Eric Clapton]].


===Solo career===
===Solo career===
Sakamoto released his first solo album, ''The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto'', in 1978. The album includes the songs "Thousand Knives" and "The End of Asia", which experimented with [[Fusion (music)|fusing]] electronic music with traditional [[Music of Japan|Japanese music]], and "Grasshoppers", a [[piano]] song. He would later [[remix]] the song "Thousand Knives" using the new [[Roland TR-808]] [[drum machine]] as "1000 Knives" for his band's album ''[[BGM (album)|BGM]]'' (1981), while the song "Grasshoppers" would later be [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] in [[Ghostface Killah]]'s "[[Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City|Baby]]" (2009).
Sakamoto released his first solo album, ''The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto'', in 1978. The album includes the songs "Thousand Knives" and "The End of Asia", which experimented with [[Fusion (music)|fusing]] electronic music with traditional [[Music of Japan|Japanese music]] (with [[Haruomi Hosono]] contributing to "Thousand Knives"), and "Grasshoppers", a [[piano]] song.<ref>{{Discogs release|325757|Ryuichi Sakamoto – Thousand Knives Of}}</ref> He would later [[remix]] the song "Thousand Knives" using the new [[Roland TR-808]] [[drum machine]] as "1000 Knives" for his band's album ''[[BGM (album)|BGM]]'' (1981), while the song "Grasshoppers" would later be [[Sampling (music)|sampled]] in [[Ghostface Killah]]'s "[[Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City|Baby]]" (2009).


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* ''[[Snake Eyes (film)|Snake Eyes]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Snake Eyes (film)|Snake Eyes]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Love is the devil]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Love is the devil]]'' (1998)
* [[DreamCast]] (1998) - start-up sound for [[video game console]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Interview with Kenji Eno|author=Yukiyoshi Ike Sato & Sam Kennedy|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|date=January 7, 2000|url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/2446022/interview-with-kenji-eno|accessdate=2011-06-12}}</ref>
* ''[[Gohatto]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Gohatto]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Poppoya]] ''(Main theme) (1999)''
* ''[[Poppoya]] ''(Main theme) (1999)''
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Tokyo]]
[[Category:People from Tokyo]]
[[Category:Japanese composers]]
[[Category:Japanese film score composers]]
[[Category:Japanese film score composers]]
[[Category:Japanese dance musicians]]
[[Category:Japanese dance musicians]]
[[Category:Japanese composers]]
[[Category:Japanese electronic musicians]]
[[Category:Japanese record producers]]
[[Category:Japanese anti-nuclear power activists]]
[[Category:Japanese anti-nuclear power activists]]
[[Category:Anime composers]]
[[Category:Anime composers]]
[[Category:Japanese record producers]]
[[Category:Electro musicians]]
[[Category:House musicians]]
[[Category:Techno musicians]]
[[Category:Video game musicians]]
[[Category:Intellectual property activism]]
[[Category:Intellectual property activism]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century classical composers]]

Revision as of 18:17, 12 June 2011

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952) is a Japanese musician, composer, record producer, writer, singer, and actor, based in Tokyo and New York. He began his career in 1978 as a member of the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO),[1][2] where he played the keyboards and occasionally sang the vocals. The band was an international success, with worldwide hits such as "Computer Game / Firecracker" (1978) and "Behind the Mask" (1978),[3] the latter written and sung by Sakamoto. At around the same time, he began pursuing a solo career in pop music, debuting with an experimental electronic fusion album The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto (1978), and later released the pioneering electro music album B-2 Unit (1980).[4][5][6] After YMO disbanded in 1983, he produced more hit solo records, including collaborations with various international artists, through to the 1990s.

He began acting and film composing with Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), which he starred in and composed the score for; the song "Forbidden Colours" which he composed for it became a worldwide hit and he won a BAFTA Award for the film's score.[7] He later won an Academy Award and Grammy Award for scoring The Last Emperor (1987),[8] and has also won two Golden Globe Awards for his work as a film composer.[7] In addition, he also composed music for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony. In the early 1990s, he briefly reunited with YMO, playing an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements of the era, before parting ways again shortly afterwards.[9] His 1999 musical composition "Energy Flow", also known as the alternative title of the single disc Ura BTTB, was the first number-one instrumental single in Japan's Oricon charts history.[10] He has also occasionally worked on anime and video games, as a composer as well as a scenario writer. In the late 2000s, he reunited once again with YMO, while continuing to compose film music. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France's Ministry of Culture for his musical contributions.[3]

Biography

Early years and Yellow Magic Orchestra

Main article: Yellow Magic Orchestra

Sakamoto attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he earned a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music. He studied ethnomusicology at university with the intention of becoming a researcher in the field. He had an interest in various world music traditions, particularly the Japanese (especially Okinawan), Indian and African musical traditions.[11]

After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977,[12] the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group were pioneers of various electronic genres such as electropop/technopop,[1][2] synthpop,[13] cyberpunk music,[14] ambient house music,[1] and electronica.[2] The group's work has had a significant lasting impact across many different genres, ranging from hip hop[2] and techno[15][9] to acid house[9] and general melodic music.[13]

Sakamoto was the songwriter and composer for a number of the band's hit songs, including "Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)" (1978), "Technopolis" (1979), "Nice Age" (1980), "Seoul Music" (1981), "Ongaku" (1983), and "You've Got to Help Yourself" (1983), while playing the keyboards for many of their other songs, including international hits such as "Computer Game / Firecracker" (1978) and "Rydeen" (1979), and singing in several songs such as "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" (1983). He also composed the international hit "Behind the Mask" (1978), for which he sang the vocals through a vocoder, and which would later be covered by a number of international artists, including Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton.

Solo career

Sakamoto released his first solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto, in 1978. The album includes the songs "Thousand Knives" and "The End of Asia", which experimented with fusing electronic music with traditional Japanese music (with Haruomi Hosono contributing to "Thousand Knives"), and "Grasshoppers", a piano song.[16] He would later remix the song "Thousand Knives" using the new Roland TR-808 drum machine as "1000 Knives" for his band's album BGM (1981), while the song "Grasshoppers" would later be sampled in Ghostface Killah's "Baby" (2009).

In 1980, he released the solo album B-2 Unit, which is considered to be his "edgiest" record.[17] It is known for the electronic classic "Riot in Lagos",[17] which is considered an early example of electro music,[4][5] for having anticipated the beats and sounds of electro.[6] Ryuichi Sakamoto, particularly his song "Riot in Lagos", had an influence on early electo hip hop artists such as Afrika Bambaata[6] and was cited by Kurtis Mantronik as a major influence on his electro hip hop group Mantronix.[5] In 1982, Sakamoto worked on his first collaboration with David Sylvian, a single entitled "Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music".

Following the disbanding of Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1983, Sakamoto released a number of solo albums during the 1980s. While primarily focused on the piano and synthesizer, this series of albums boasted a roster of collaborators that included David Sylvian, David Byrne, Thomas Dolby, Nam June Paik, and Iggy Pop, among others. Sakamoto would alternate between exploring a variety of musical styles, ideas, and genres — captured most notably in his groundbreaking 1983 album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia — and focusing on a specific subject or theme, such as the Italian Futurism movement in Futurista (1986). At times, Sakamoto would also present varying interpretations of technology's intersection with music: He would present some pieces, such as "Replica", with Kraftwerkian rigidity and order, while he would infuse humanity and humor into others — "Broadway Boogie Woogie", for example, liberally lifts samples from Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner and pairs them with a raucous, sax-driven techno-pop backdrop.

As his solo career began to extend outside Japan in the late 1980s, Sakamoto's explorations, influences, and collaborators followed suit. Beauty (1989) boasted a tracklist that combined pop and traditional Japanese and Okinawan songs, yet featured guest appearances by Jill Jones, Brian Wilson, and Robbie Robertson. Heartbeat (1991) and Sweet Revenge (1994), meanwhile, looked to international horizons and worked with a global range of artists such as Roddy Frame, Dee Dee Brave, Marco Prince, Arto Lindsay, Youssou N'Dour, David Sylvian, and Ingrid Chavez. 1996 saw the appearance of two notable albums: Smoochy, which fused pop and electronica with bossa nova and other South American forms, and 1996, which featured a number of previously released pieces arranged for solo piano, accompanied with violin and cello.

Following 1996, Sakamoto simultaneously delved into the classical and "post-techno" genres with Discord (1998), an hour-long orchestral work in four parts. Here he evoked the melodic qualities of his film score work, imbued with the influence of 20th century classical composers and spoken word. The Sony Classical release also featured an interactive CD-ROM component and website that complemented the work. Shortly thereafter, the Ninja Tune record label released a series of remixes of various sections, produced by a number of prominent electronica artists, including Amon Tobin, Talvin Singh and DJ Spooky.

The next album, BTTB (1998) — an acronym for "Back to the Basics" — was a fairly opaque reaction to the prior year's multilayered, lushly orchestrated Discord. The album comprised a series of original pieces on solo piano, including "Energy Flow" (a major hit in Japan) and a frenetic, four-hand arrangement of the Yellow Magic Orchestra classic "Tong Poo." On the BTTB U.S. tour, he opened the show performing a brief avant-garde DJ set under the stage name DJ Lovegroove.

1999 saw the long-awaited release of Sakamoto's "opera" LIFE. It premiered with seven sold-out performances in Tokyo and Osaka. This ambitious multi-genre multi-media project featured contributions by over 100 performers, including Pina Bausch, Bernardo Bertolucci, Josep Carreras, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie.

Sakamoto later teamed with cellist Jaques Morelenbaum (a member of his 1996 trio), and Morelenbaum's wife, Paula, on a pair of albums celebrating the work of bossa nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim. They recorded their first album, Casa (2001), mostly in Jobim's home studio in Rio de Janeiro, with Sakamoto performing on the late Jobim's grand piano. The album was well received, having been included in the list of New York Times's top albums of 2002.

Sakamoto collaborated with Alva Noto (an alias of Carsten Nicolai) to release Vrioon, an album of Sakamoto's piano clusters treated by Nicolai's unique style of digital manipulation, involving the creation of "micro-loops" and minimal percussion. The two produced this work by passing the pieces back and forth until both were satisfied with the result. This debut, released on German label Raster-Noton, was voted record of the year 2004 in the electronica category by British magazine The Wire. They later released Insen (2005) — while produced in a similar manner to Vrioon, this album is somewhat more restrained and minimalist.

Meanwhile, Sakamoto continues to craft music to suit any context: In 2005, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia hired Sakamoto to compose ring and alert tones for their high-end phone, the Nokia 8800. A recent reunion with YMO pals Hosono and Takahashi also caused a stir in the Japanese press. They released a single "Rescue" in 2007 and a DVD "HAS/YMO" in 2008.

Sakamoto's latest album, Out Of Noise, was released on March 4, 2009 in Japan.

In July 2009 Sakamoto was honored as Officier of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French Embassy in Tokyo.

Film composer and actor

Moviegoers may recognize Sakamoto primarily through his score work on two films: Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), including the title theme and the duet "Forbidden Colours" with David Sylvian, and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), the latter of which earned him the Academy Award with fellow composers David Byrne and Cong Su. In that same year he composed the score to the cult-classic anime film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise.

Frequent collaborator David Sylvian contributed lead vocals to "Forbidden Colours" – the main theme to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – which became a minor hit. Sixteen years later, the piece resurfaced as a popular dance track called "Heart of Asia" (by the group Watergate).

Other films scored by Sakamoto include Pedro Almodóvar's Tacones lejanos (High Heels) (1991), Bertolucci's The Little Buddha (1993), Oliver Stone's Wild Palms (1993), John Maybury's Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998), Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998) and Femme Fatale (2002), Oshima's Gohatto (1999), and Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat (2011).[3] He also composed the score of the opening ceremony for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, telecast live to an audience of over a billion viewers.

Several tracks from Sakamoto's earlier solo albums have also appeared in film soundtracks. In particular, variations of "Chinsagu No Hana" (from Beauty) and "Bibo No Aozora" (from 1996) provide the poignant closing pieces for Sue Brooks's Japanese Story (2003) and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel (2006), respectively.

Sakamoto has also acted in several films: perhaps his most notable performance was as the conflicted Captain Yonoi in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, alongside Takeshi Kitano and British rock singer David Bowie. He also played roles in The Last Emperor ( as Masahiko Amakasu) and Madonna's "Rain" music video.

Personal life

Sakamoto has been married twice. His first marriage took place in 1972 but ended in divorce two years later. Sakamoto has a daughter from this relationship. Sakamoto then married popular Japanese pianist and singer Akiko Yano in 1982, having collaborated with her on some of her recordings. Yano was also a regular touring member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. They finally divorced in August 2006, 14 years after a mutual decision to live separately. They had one daughter, J-pop singer Miu Sakamoto.[18]

In 1998, Italian ethnomusicologist Massimo Milano published Ryuichi Sakamoto. Conversazioni, a collection of essays and conversations.

He is also known as a critic of copyright law, arguing that it is antiquated in the information age.[19] He is a member of anti-nuclear organization Stop Rokkasho and demand the abolition of Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant.[20]

Awards

Ryuichi Sakamoto has won a number of awards for his work as a film composer, beginning with his score for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) winning him the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.[7] His greatest award success was for scoring The Last Emperor (1987), which won him the Academy Award for Best Original Score, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media,[8] as well as a BAFTA nomination.[7] His score for The Sheltering Sky (1990) later won him his second Golden Globe Award.[7] He also contributed to the Academy Award winning soundtrack for Babel (2006) with several pieces of music,[21] including the "Bibo no Aozora" closing theme. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France's Ministry of Culture for his musical contributions.[3]

The music video for "Risky", written and directed by Meiert Avis, also won the first ever MTV "Breakthrough Video Award". The ground breaking video explores transhumanist philosopher FM-2030's (Persian: فریدون اسفندیاری) ideas of "Nostalgia for the Future", in the form of an imagined love affair between a robot and one of Man Ray's models in Paris in the late 1930s. Additional inspiration was drawn from Jean Baudrillard, Edvard Munch's 1894 painting "Puberty", and Roland Barthes " Death of the Author". The surrealist black and white video uses stop motion, light painting, and other retro in-camera effects techniques. Meiert Avis shot Sakamoto while at work on the score for "The Last Emperor" in London. Sakamoto also appears in the video painting words and messages to an open shutter camera. Iggy Pop, who performs the vocals on "Risky", chose not to appear in the video, allowing his performance space to be occupied by the surrealist era robot.

Selected discography

See also: Yellow Magic Orchestra: Discography

Original studio albums

Several albums exist in 2 versions, the original Japanese version and the international version, each having differences in tracklistings.

  • Thousand Knives (1978)
  • Tokyo Joe (1978, with Kazumi Watanabe, more a compilation than a proper album, featuring an odd mix of tracks from Thousand Knives and from the eponymous album by Watanabe's short lived Kylyn band)
  • Summer Nerves (1979, with The Kakutogi Session)
  • B2-Unit (1980)
  • Left-Handed Dream (1981) (Tracklistings differ between Japanese and international issues)
  • The Arrangement (1981, with Robin Scott) (originally released as an EP, later expended into a full album containing the complete sessions)
  • The End of Asia (1982, with Danceries)
  • Ongakuzukan (1984) with the single Replica (the international release from 1986 is titled Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia, and has a different tracklisting)
  • Esperanto (1985)
  • Futurista (1986)
  • Coda (1986)
  • Neo Geo (1987)
  • Playing the Orchestra (1989)
  • Open #1 (1989)
  • Beauty (1990)
  • Heartbeat (1991)
  • Benedict Beauty (1992)
  • Soundbytes (1994, compilation of tracks recorded 1981–1986)
  • Sweet Revenge (1994)
  • Smoochy (1995)
  • 1996 (1996)
  • Discord (1997)
  • BTTB (1999)
  • Cinemage (1999)
  • Intimate (1999, with Keizo Inoue)
  • L I F E (2000)
  • In The Lobby
  • Comica (2002)
  • Elephantism (2002)
  • Moto.tronic (2003, Compilation of tracks recorded between 1983 & 2003)
  • Love (2003)
  • Chasm (2004)
  • /04 (2004)
  • /05 (2005)
  • Cantus omnibus unus; for mixed or equal choir (2005)
  • Bricolages (2006)
  • Out of Noise (2009)
  • Playing the Piano (2009)

Original soundtracks and event scores

With Morelenbaum² (Paula Morelenbaum and Jaques Morelenbaum)

With Carsten Nicolai, as alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto

With Fennesz

  • Sala Santa Cecilia (2005, live EP)
  • Cendre (2007)

Other collaborations

Commmons

Commmons
Parent companyAvex Group
Founded2006
FounderRyuichi Sakamoto
StatusActive
Distributor(s)Rhythm Zone
GenreJ-pop, Electropop, New Age music
Country of originJapan
LocationAoyama, Tokyo
Official websiteCommmons

In 2006, Sakamoto, with avex Group's help, founded Commmons (コモンズ, Komonzu), a record label promising change in the way music should be. For him, Commmons is not his label, but is a platform for all aspiring artists to join as equal collaborators and share for benefits of the music industry. The word Commmons has three M's because the 3rd M stands for music.[24]

It is distributed by Rhythm Zone, Avex's urban and R&B record label, and uses the catalog code RZCM-4****.

It also serves as a distributing label for Thrill Jockey and Raster-Noton in Japan.

Artists

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Yellow Magic Orchestra profile". Allmusic. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, John (July 4, 2008). "Back to the future: Yellow Magic Orchestra helped usher in electronica - and they may just have invented hip-hop, too". The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d Denise Sullivan (May 13, 2011). "What Makes A Legend: Ryuichi Sakamoto". Crawdaddy!. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Broughton, Frank (2007). La historia del DJ / The DJ's Story, Volume 2. Ediciones Robinbook. p. 121. ISBN 8496222799. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "Kurtis Mantronik Interview", Hip Hop Storage, July 2002, retrieved May 25, 2011
  6. ^ a b c David Toop (1996), "A-Z Of Electro", The Wire, no. 145, retrieved May 29, 2011 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Ryûichi Sakamoto at IMDb
  8. ^ a b Jim Sullivan (February 8, 1998), "RYUICHI SAKAMOTO GOES AVANT-CLASSICAL", Boston Globe, p. 8, retrieved May 27, 2011
  9. ^ a b c "Ryuichi Sakamoto". UGO Networks. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  10. ^ "Sakamoto's 'energy Flow' Enlivens Japan". AllBusiness.com. July 2, 1999. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
  11. ^ Freeman, Phil (2006), "Ryuichi Sakamoto Interview", Global Rhythm, vol. 15, no. 8–12, World Marketing Inc., p. 16, retrieved June 12, 2011
  12. ^ Harry Hosono And The Yellow Magic Band – Paraiso at Discogs
  13. ^ a b Piero Scaruffi (2003), A history of rock music 1951-2000, iUniverse, p. 234, ISBN 0595295657, retrieved May 26, 2011
  14. ^ Lester, Paul (June 20, 2008). "Yellow Magic Orchestra". The Guardian. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  15. ^ Bogdanov, Vladimir (2001). All music guide to electronica: the definitive guide to electronic music (4th ed.). Backbeat Books. p. 582. ISBN 0879306289. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  16. ^ Ryuichi Sakamoto – Thousand Knives Of at Discogs
  17. ^ a b Buckley, Peter (2003). The rough guide to rock. Rough Guides. p. 901. ISBN 1843531054. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  18. ^ "坂本龍一、矢野顕子が仮面夫婦の関係に終止符". e-entertainment.info. November 29, 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2011. Translation)
  19. ^ Turning Japanese: The Philosophy of Ryuichi Sakamoto - The Guardian
  20. ^ 東海地震＋浜岡原発 ～ 原発震災を防ぐ全国署名 Template:Ja icon
  21. ^ Ty Burr (February 17, 2008), "So... what's wrong with this picture?", Boston Globe, p. 12, retrieved May 31, 2011
  22. ^ "Tengai Makyo Ziria" (PDF). Hudson. MArch 23, 2006. Retrieved 2011-06-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Yukiyoshi Ike Sato & Sam Kennedy (January 7, 2000). "Interview with Kenji Eno". GameSpot. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  24. ^ About Commmons

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