Ryuichi Sakamoto

Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese composer and pianist from Tokyo. We featured him five times in the past. Sakamoto first gained recognition in the late ‘70s as a member of the ecstatically inventive pop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra. He then embarked on a solo career in which he innovated category after category, including ahead-of-its-time dance music on the 1980 album B-2 Unit and Oscar-winning film music with The Last Emperor in 1987. In September 2022, following multiple rounds of cancer diagnoses, he began recording solo piano sessions that ultimately would make up his final album, Opus, which came out earlier this month.¹ There’s also a documentary film of the same name that captures those performances, made by his son, Neo Sora.

Opus - Ryuichi Sakamoto (100m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

We wish you a great start to your week.

1. New York Times