Feature story - 10 October, 2007
Ryuichi Sakamoto is a composer who has made a career of crossing musical and technological boundaries. A founding member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Sakamoto has composed original scores for 20 films, including: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Last Emperor, which earned him an Oscar and a Grammy.
Composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Sakamoto's recent releases include collaborations with Alva Noto
(Insen), Christian Fennesz, (Cendre), and Christopher Willits
(Ocean Fire). Sakamoto recently reunited with Yellow Magic
Orchestra for one performance at Al Gore's Live Earth festival on
7/7/07 in Kyoto.
Rolling Stone magazine called YMO's performance the best reunion
of the global festival.
Sakamoto is socially active, raising awareness about issues
including the environment and anti-war efforts through projects
including: Life, Zero Landmine, which raised millions of dollars
for landmine removal, and stop-rokkasho, an evolving music and art
project aimed at bringing attention to the dangers of a nuclear
reprocessing plant which opened in Japan.
NEO the whale
Ryuichi Sakamoto named one of the whales tagged in the Cook
Islands NEO after his son.
Commenting on the
Great Whale Trail project Ryuichi Sakamoto said, "Human beings
are so young in comparison to creatures like the whale and the
elephant. There is so much we can learn from them about living in
this world in a truly sustainable manner."
Ryuichi
Sakamoto's website
Ryuichi
Sakamoto's bio on wikipedia.