The Notes of Ryuichi Sakamoto

Oscar-winning composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto.

In 2019, Ryuichi Sakamoto was asked in an interview about the future of music. A question so layered with the temptation for a theatrical or dramatic example that most maestros like Mr Sakamoto avoid answering it directly. However, Mr Sakamoto answered with his heart this time. He talked about Beethoven and how he believed that utilising all the advantages new technology brings would lead to a greater understanding of music as a whole.

"I have been thinking about what music is for a long time, for like half a century now. I'm still thinking and asking myself what music is. Of course, nobody has an answer, or maybe each of it has its own answer right now. " - Ryuichi Sakamoto.

I was introduced to the transcendental music of this man in 2021. I had never been one for piano or violin music. I always slept off while listening to them. But when it came to his music, it was the opposite. I was energised. I found his music to be very charging. It inspires me. Fuels me. I can't explain it, but there's just a quality to his music that connects with me.

The album cover of Mr Sakamoto's first album, Thousand Words Of (1978).

Ryuichi Sakamoto rose to global fame after founding a disco-pop group called the 'Yellow Magic Orchestra'. He made use of as much of the latest techniques and equipment that was available to him at that time to fully expand his capabilities as a musician.

Mr Sakamoto would also pick up an Academy Award for his work on the film The Last Emperor (1987) which was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. But it was his work on the 1983 David Bowie film, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence that would shoot him into another stratosphere. His track of the same name has had many renditions and covers of it that have allowed it to remain impactful and relevant even today.

Personally, that track is the greatest piano piece of the modern age. My humble opinion aside, it's a great song no doubt, but it also feels so melancholic maybe it's me but at this stage of my life, I do enjoy a little melancholy in the fast-paced life of the city.

Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie in 1983's Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

Mr Sakamoto has some truly legendary tracks that I hope are or will be combined into a best-hits album which I will then buy. Both digital and vinyl.

From The Last Emperor, we have the track, Rain.

A brilliant track that invokes the regality of royalty and is a fitting score for a film directed by a master like Bertolucci. It still blows my mind that Mr Sakamoto worked with Bertolucci on a film.

We come to 1983, where of course we have Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

This BAFTA-winning film score also features Mr Sakamoto himself acting alongside David Bowie. What a film and even more so, what a score.

I know that Mr Sakamoto's music will be revered for a long time. He constantly challenged the art form that is music and led the way, as all pioneers should. I mourn his passing but I know that through his music, he is immortal. I have rarely mourned someone who I never knew. He is one of the very few.

Should you want to know what I know about Mr Sakamoto, I highly recommend watching this film about him and his love for music and how he lived his life. It's a beautiful, melancholic and now more emotional watch after his untimely passing.

Hope you all found this article interesting or informative in some small way. I hope it inspires you to demand the best from yourself. To push out all distractions and aim for the stars. This man you just read about is immortal through his work. That is an achievement no award can compete with. Well, that's how I see it anyway. Till the next one!

MY TRIBUTE TO THE MAESTRO, RYUICHI SAKAMOTO