Now, a fourth forest in the Philippines is being added. Within a year, his more trees foundation had a lease on two forests in Japan, and a third on the northern island of Hokkaido followed last year.
That was scary!" And so in 2007 Sakamoto started the innovative project "more trees," which contributes to carbon offset through active forestation. I imagined my youngest son at my age, and wondered what the world would be like then. "I felt really scared in the 90s thinking about our children's future. Sakamoto has devoted much of his time in recent years to environmental concerns - to turning Ego into Eco, as he puts it. He also wrote music for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and the 400th anniversary of the city of Mannheim, Germany. He has also collaborated with David Bowie, David Sylvian, dramatist Robert Wilson, author William S Burroughs, the Three Tenors' Jose Carreras, and His Holiness The Dalai Lama, among many others. Though born in Tokyo, Sakamoto has written music inspired by the traditions of Okinawa, Indonesia, and Brazil. However, at age 7, Sakamoto discovered the music of Bach, emphasizing the equal importance between the left and right hand, bringing him joy.
So the music goes around the world and comes full circle." Furthermore, as a lefty, Sakamoto grew up with a distorted view about the importance of the right hand over the left in terms of melodies.
"Asian music heavily in?uenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily in?uenced me. "Debussy was my hero," he says, and acknowledges that echoes of his teenage idol can still be heard in his new music. Almost as expansive is his array of prestigious awards an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a Grammy, the Order of the Cavaleiro Admissão from the government of Brazil, and in July 2009, he was named an Of?cier of the coveted Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the government of France.Īs a child, Sakamoto ?rst fell under the spell of English rock - the ?rst record he ever bought: was "Tell Me" by the Rolling Stones - and then French Impressionism. His catalogue even includes video game soundtracks, and mobile ringtones. Ryuichi has a vast range of musical endeavors from pioneering early electronic music in his ?rst group Yellow Magic Orchestra, to globally-inspired rock albums, classical compositions (including a massive opera), and over thirty ?lm scores. Ryuichi Sakamoto is a composer, musician, producer, actor, and environmental activist a true renaissance man. Young and old from all cultures and creeds have found inspiration in Ryuichi's music. Few, if any, have a comparably diverse résumé as well as fan base. Ryuichi Sakamoto is one of these rare gems. In the age of one-hit wonders and a constantly rotating cast of pop-stars there are but a few true artists that have both stood the test of time and continue to break new ground. Exposed to everyone from the Beatles to Beethoven and John Cage, he. His discography is immense and varied, including solo piano works, proto-techno, experimental ambient, and glitch.īorn January 17, 1952, in Tokyo, Sakamoto took up piano at the age of three, and regularly performed in jazz bands while in high school. The driving force behind "Neo Geo," a cutting-edge fusion of Asian and Western classical music with other global textures and rhythms, he has been equally adept in electronic and acoustic settings, whether recording in solitude or in tandem, with decades of steady activity.
As one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning composer for his work on the soundtrack for 1987's The Last Emperor, synth pop innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto is among the most groundbreaking artists to have emerged since the late '70s.