Ryuichi Sakamoto who died at the end of March 2023, was a Japanese composer, record producer, and actor who pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, and arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. The album experimented with different styles, such as “Thousand Knives” and “The End of Asia”—in which electronic music was fused with traditional Japanese music — while “Grasshoppers” is a more minimalistic piano song.
After working as a session musician with Hosono and Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as electropop/technopop, synthpop, cyberpunk music, ambient house and electronica. Sakamoto was the songwriter and composer for a number of the band’s hit songs—including “Yellow Magic” (1978), “Technopolis” (1979), “Nice Age” (1980). The internationally successful “Behind The Mask” (1978)—a synthpop song in which he sang vocals through a vocoder — was later covered by a number of international artists, including Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton.
In 1980, Sakamoto released the solo album B-2 Unit, which has been referred to as his “edgiest” record and is known for the electronic song “Riot in Lagos”, which is considered an early example of electro music (electro-funk), as Sakamoto anticipated the beats and sounds of electro. Early electro and hip hop artists, such as Afrika Bambaataa and Kurtis Mantronik, were influenced by the album. Also in 1980, Sakamoto released the single “War Head/Lexington Queen”, an experimental synthpop and electro record, and began a long-standing collaboration with David Sylvian, when he co-wrote and performed on the Japan track “Taking Islands In Africa”. Sakamoto’s 1980 collaboration with Kiyoshiro Imawano, “Ikenai Rouge Magic”, topped the Oricon singles chart.I
n 1983, Sakamoto starred alongside David Bowie in director Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. In addition to acting in the film, Sakamoto also composed the film’s musical score and again collaborated with Sylvian on the film’s main theme (“Forbidden Colours”) – which became a minor hit. Sakamoto broadened his musical range with a number of solo albums such Ongaku Zukan (1984), Neo Geo (1987), and Beauty (1989). These albums included collaborations with artists such as Thomas Dolby, Iggy Pop, Youssou N’Dour, and Brian Wilson.
In 1998 the Ninja Tune record label released the Prayer/Salvation Remixes, for which prominent electronica artists such as Ashley Beedle and Andrea Parker remixed sections from the “Prayer” and “Salvation” parts of Discord. Sakamoto collaborated primarily with guitarist David Torn and DJ Spooky — artist Laurie Anderson provides spoken word on the composition—and the recording was condensed from nine live performances of the work, recorded during a Japanese tour. Discord was divided into four parts: “Grief”, “Anger”, “Prayer”, and “Salvation”; Sakamoto explained in 1998 that he was “not religious, but maybe spiritual” and “The Prayer is to anybody or anything you want to name.”
Sakamoto collaborated with Carten Nikolai 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 album was voted record of the year 2004 in the electronica category by British magazine The Wire. n 2005, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia hired Sakamoto to compose ring and alert tones for their high-end phone, the Nokia 8800. In 2006, Nokia offered the ringtones for free on their website.
