Sakamoto Ryuichi

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The subject of love sharing for this update is...

Sakamoto Ryuichi

An Academy Award winning composer, a pop-star, a musical genius, a political activist--Ryuichi Sakamoto is a musician's musician. I have never met anyone that didn't respect him, or found his work intriguing and captivating--in the west or in Asia. Sakamoto is a musical chameleon, able to compose and perform a wide range of music. Classical, jazz, rock, pop, electronic, latin, avant-garde, experimental, ethnic--you name it, he does it. His global views are wise and idealistic, and he has a deep concern for human/animal rights and enviromental issues. A detailed biography on him could be read at his official website.

Here are some selected tracks from Sakamoto's career thus far. It is extremely difficult to pick tracks, because of how prolific he is, and how wide ranging his music style is. In the end, I just picked my personal favorites:

Rain-- The stripped down version of one of the tracks he composed for the Academy Award winning film score of The Last Emperor.

Fade-- from the soundtrack to A Wing of Honneamise, a Japanese animted feature film about mankind's first venture into space.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence-- piano solo version of the theme he composed for the British Academy Award winning film score of Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

Forbidden Colours-- this is the vocal version of the same piece as above. David Sylvian is the vocalist(I'm a huge fan of Sylvian's too).

A Tribute to N.J.P.-- This is a live recording during one of his concerts.

Heart Beat-- Another collaboration with David Sylvian.

If you enjoyed his music, please go out and buy his CD's. You can usually find his CD's in the rock/pop, movie soundtracks, new age/jazz sections at most music stores, and just about all online music stores carry his CD's.

Here are some pics of the "Kyojoo." ("Kyojoo" is an affectionate nickname that his admirers call him. It means "Professor" in Japanese.)