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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZSAKAMOTO, Ryuichi(b '52) Composer, keyboardist, actor, model. He led the Japanese technopop band Yellow Magic Orchestra purveying synthesized sound; they were big in Japan but did not get much export sales. Sakamoto was a serious and experienced musician who predicted for a world tour '80 that 'The 1980s will be strong on anxiety feelings ... Music will work as a cleaning filter to dissolve distorted satisfactions.' But the tour was not a great success and totally electronic music remains in a ghetto. Albums incl. Yellow Magic Orchestra '78, Solid State Survivor '79, Multiplies '80 (incl. 'Computer Game (Theme From ''The Invader'')', top 20 UK hit '80; YMO had four LPs in Japanese top 20 that year); People With Nice Smiles '83 had guest Bill Nelson (Be-Bop Deluxe); ten CDs were available on Restless '96. Sakamoto's solo discs are found in both jazz and pop catalogues: Neo Geo '87 now on Epic was prod. by Bill Laswell, combining Western/Eastern elements, mostly fabricated by a Fairlight CMI but incl. contributions from Sly Dunbar, Tony Williams, Bootsy Collins, Iggy Pop; others are Beauty and Heartbeat on Virgin, Soundbytes with Adrian Belew etc on Mesa; Sweet Revenge with Roddy Frame etc on Elektra; contributed solo piano to anthology Piano One on Private Music. He also recorded for Denon incl. Tokyo Joe with guitarist Kazumi Watanabi (b 14 Oct. '53, Tokyo), solo The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto, The End Of Asia with Danceries; and diversified into film, collaborating with David Sylvian (leader of Japan), writing scores for and acting in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie, Nagisa Oshima's Furyo and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor. Smoochy '97 on Milan/BMG exercised all his various skills from a Brazilian influence through Charles Trenet's accordion, Mozartian mediations etc; Discord '98 incl. 'Untitled 01', an ambitious multi-media work. He had made or contributed to 117 albums. |