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Japanese composer ryuchi sakamoto, one of the great music visionaries of recent decades, experimenter of various styles and author of unforgettable soundtracks, passed away on March 28 at the age of 71, his representatives announced this Sunday. The artist's death was, unfortunately, expected news. He himself had recently said that he suffered from colorectal cancer at a very advanced stage that could only lead to death, and he dedicated his life to this process. last record work, 12, published a few months ago and a kind of musical diary of this last phase of his life in which he was capturing his different states of mind.
“While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create jobs whenever his health permitted. He lived with music until the end“, pointed out his agency, commonin the statement with which he made his death public on Twitter.
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formed as pianist with one foot in Japanese tradition and the other in classical musicwith Debussy It is Ravel as main references, Sakamoto was one of the founders of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, a formation that opened new paths for pop and is at the origin of several styles of electronic music. In 1978 he released his first solo album, A Thousand Knives by Ryuchi Sakamotowhere he immersed himself in the traditional music of his country and continued to experiment with electronics while opening the doors to what would become the style for which he would end up being most recognized, minimalism which would later unfold into endless compositions with a neoclassical flavor and also the soundtracks that would end up making him a world-renowned composer. The first was Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), a film directed by his compatriot Nagisha Oshima, and others would follow such as The last emperor (1987), which he made in collaboration with David Byrne and what would it be worth an oscar, the protective sky (1990) or the ghost (2015). For Pedro Almodóvar wrote the score for High-heeled shoes (1991), although neither was satisfied with their work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLRpPISVgoA
In 1992, Sakamoto composed a piece, the Mediterranean seato the opening of the Barcelona Olympic Games. Since his university studies, the Japanese had a deep knowledge not only of the Japanese musical tradition, but also of various world music, being very close to the Brazilian for some years. He collaborated with musicians of different styles and origins, such as Caetano Veloso, Iggy Pop, Youssou N'Dour any Bill Laswell. With another great musical innovator, David Bowiecoincided with the filming of merry christmas sir laurenço, one of the films in which Sakamoto also appeared as an actor. Years later, he would regret not having cultivated more friendship with him. He also made music from different video gameand was an artist engaged in anti-nuclear activism and against laws that defend copyright.
Sakamoto had already suffered a few years ago other cancer, in this case of the larynxfrom which he recovered, and which he reported on in a documentary about his career, coda, which can be seen on Filmin. An artist with a reserved and extremely perfectionist character, a few years ago the anecdote became famous that, disgusted by the background music at his favorite Japanese restaurant in New York, where he lived, he offered to make a playlist that harmonizes with your culinary offering. The exquisite author of soundtracks, the artist who placed music within a certain conception of modernity, always halfway between tradition and the avant-garde, could not fail to do so even in the most profane spaces he frequented.
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