Songs of Life
Rest in Peace, Mr Sakamoto
Tribute to music legend Ryuichi Sakamoto (17/1/1952 – 28/3/2023)
E, C, B, D, G… These are the opening notes of Energy Flow from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s album BTTB (1998). The delicately melancholic piano music already tugs at me emotionally by the fifth note, and my mind is already drifting to a different dimension where reality fades and is no longer distinguishable from the surreal.
Energy Flow was a tremendous hit in Japan in the late 90s. People were feeling the economic impact of the recession. To many, the melody was fittingly somber and moving. It was also a piece I chose to practice on my new piano keyboard though I hadn’t (and still haven’t) mastered playing with both hands.
But whenever I listen to Ryuichi Sakamoto perform it, I somehow feel humble and nostalgic, transporting me to a time when life was less complicated and messed up, when I felt more hopeful about my future than I do today.
Sakamoto, born on 17 January 1952 in Tokyo, Japan, trained in classical piano (and loved Claude Debussy’s music). But in university, he began composing and performing experimental music that became a precursor to what is now known as electronic music featuring synthesizers. He then launched his musical career, both as a solo artist and with YMO (the Yellow Magic Orchestra) as a composer, keyboardist, and singer.
Sakamoto’s work crosses over to most, if not all, musical genres, including ethnic music from Africa and Okinawa.
He also appeared in minor but important roles in two internationally acclaimed films for which he composed the scores. The opening theme of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which Sakamoto co-starred with David Bowie, begins with softly played repetitive eighth notes that make me visualize someone walking outside in an early summer rain, choosing not to hold up her umbrella so as not to betray the tears trickling down her face.
This popular piece moves me, particularly during the musically dramatic bridge in the lower keys played in staccato, just before the melody changes in tempo and dynamics.
He won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, among others, for this work and others, including the music score for The Revenant (2015), starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
As a film-score composer, Sakamoto received an Academy Award for his work on Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987). While the piece by the same name is perhaps more recognized, I like the lesser-known Rain, which represents the tragic life of the emperor’s wife. It grips me every time, urging me to jump into the movie through some time-space portal to rescue her from the clutches of both the invading Japanese army and her opium addiction.
However, I can neither claim to be an expert on Sakamoto’s life and career nor provide an in-depth critique of his music. I’m also not going to pretend I was a huge fan of YMO’s music as I was not much into that genre of music. One exception is Tong Poo! YMO rocks in this video.
Regardless of what I think, he is truly loved and highly respected by his fans and colleagues all over the world. His sell-out concerts are a testament to the scale of his following worldwide.
On December 11, 2022, he released a message on YouTube explaining why his streamed concert may be his last due to his long, ongoing battle with cancer. I missed the streaming, but I watched him talk in the YouTube message. He did not look well, obviously, but he spoke bravely with a kind of stoicism for which he is known.
How would I speak or be if I, too, were told by my doctor I only had weeks left to live? And I’m just an accomplished nobody, let alone an influential international music star.
When I first set out to write this tribute to Sakamoto, I was thinking that I would write about his discography. I quickly realized how little I knew about it and what I did know was only a small fraction of what he has composed and produced.
However, I think that I will have at least introduced Ryuichi Sakamoto to people on Medium who have never heard of him.
As I listen to Mr. Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on auto-repeat again on my laptop, I close my eyes and imagine myself as an officer awaiting execution. I have a handful of hours left to live. How do I process that? Whether I am a condemned prisoner of war, a criminal on death row, or an otherwise ordinary person with a terminal disease, the result will be the same.
Do I have regrets? Do I want to be reincarnated — so that I may right the wrongs I have committed, to love where I failed to love, or to live life fully, the way it ought to have been the first time?
Or maybe I, too, will just accept my fate and say to the camera, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence!”
[Watch here for that famous final scene of the movie.]
As always, thank you for reading! Any constructive feedback or even a friendly hello would be greatly appreciated! I live for and thrive on interaction! (You don’t even need to clap or follow me :)
