Ryuichi Sakamoto (January 17, 1952 – March 28, 2023)
"Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto dies aged 71. His management team announced that he died on March 28. He had been treated for cancer in recent years."
(edition.cnn.com / Below screengrab via sitesakamoto.com)
I had grappled with this saddened news for a few days now (The news hit the www circa "April 3"), unsure how to respond, and pushing aside my sadness going about my daily mundane tasks ... but sitting here on a Good Friday, the emotions hit me, even though I'd thought they'd be diluted...
I loved Ryuichi Sakamoto and his music. The art he had put into his music resonates within me on a much deeper level than "soundscape appreciation", especially so in the later part of my life, with decades' worth of regrets and life-adventures to draw on, Mr Sakamoto's music felt very often times to be a (unsung) Soundtrack To My Life, with specific memories and milestones too, coincidentally so.
[ Full Album Listen for 1987's "THE LAST EMPEROR" OST ]
Anecdotally, there was his haunting OST for The Last Emperor that will always remind me of the time I was called up the very last moment to watch the film with a friend (sat in the fkn front row too FFS ~ LOL), only to walk out from the cinema to see his girlfriend angrily teary eyed waiting for him (of course I was the replacement ... I liked the girl too! But she choose him instead).
[ Full Album Listen for 1994's "SWEET REVENGE" ]
There was the time when his "1996" album released at a time when I was at the cross-roads of my career, and gave me the inspiration to go forth the path I'd walked a decade in, and listening to it again much later in life, had ways left me swelling with regrets and sentimentality (not with my chosen path, but of situations that had arisen throughout). This hit me extra hard(er) after my Stroke in 2010, where I'd soar thru the soundscapes reliving what I'd missed, and wallow in it's sadness... perhaps I wallowed longer than I should have, but I am grateful his music was there with me.
[ Full Album Listen for 1987's "NEO GEO" ]
And through all these times, I had enjoyed Ryuichi Sakamoto's music by myself. There was no one at all I could share his music with, or perhaps I had chosen not to share with anyone else? His music was both the inspiration and solace I'd erected on my subconscious shoulders, always thinking "there'll be the albums I could go back to", and taken for granted the existence of the musician himself...
I am left with CD albums of the man I have had amassed thru the years, every single time I came across them, some of whom I've featured on this blog, and a few more I have not. You will be missed, Mr Sakamoto. Rest In Peace.
(edition.cnn.com / Below screengrab via sitesakamoto.com)
I had grappled with this saddened news for a few days now (The news hit the www circa "April 3"), unsure how to respond, and pushing aside my sadness going about my daily mundane tasks ... but sitting here on a Good Friday, the emotions hit me, even though I'd thought they'd be diluted...
I loved Ryuichi Sakamoto and his music. The art he had put into his music resonates within me on a much deeper level than "soundscape appreciation", especially so in the later part of my life, with decades' worth of regrets and life-adventures to draw on, Mr Sakamoto's music felt very often times to be a (unsung) Soundtrack To My Life, with specific memories and milestones too, coincidentally so.
[ Full Album Listen for 1987's "THE LAST EMPEROR" OST ]
Anecdotally, there was his haunting OST for The Last Emperor that will always remind me of the time I was called up the very last moment to watch the film with a friend (sat in the fkn front row too FFS ~ LOL), only to walk out from the cinema to see his girlfriend angrily teary eyed waiting for him (of course I was the replacement ... I liked the girl too! But she choose him instead).
[ Full Album Listen for 1994's "SWEET REVENGE" ]
There was the time when his "1996" album released at a time when I was at the cross-roads of my career, and gave me the inspiration to go forth the path I'd walked a decade in, and listening to it again much later in life, had ways left me swelling with regrets and sentimentality (not with my chosen path, but of situations that had arisen throughout). This hit me extra hard(er) after my Stroke in 2010, where I'd soar thru the soundscapes reliving what I'd missed, and wallow in it's sadness... perhaps I wallowed longer than I should have, but I am grateful his music was there with me.
[ Full Album Listen for 1987's "NEO GEO" ]
And through all these times, I had enjoyed Ryuichi Sakamoto's music by myself. There was no one at all I could share his music with, or perhaps I had chosen not to share with anyone else? His music was both the inspiration and solace I'd erected on my subconscious shoulders, always thinking "there'll be the albums I could go back to", and taken for granted the existence of the musician himself...
I am left with CD albums of the man I have had amassed thru the years, every single time I came across them, some of whom I've featured on this blog, and a few more I have not. You will be missed, Mr Sakamoto. Rest In Peace.
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