Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in Nakano (Japan) on January 17th 1952 and is a musician, composer and actor. At three, he learned to play the piano and was already part of a band during high school. In this period his main musical interests were oriented towards the Beatles, Beethoven and John Cage, as well as towards the more heterodox avant-garde, thanks also to his studies at the University of Art in Tokyo. After graduation, he earned a post-graduate degree focused on electronic music and ethnic music. Sakamoto is considered among the pioneers of the fusion between eastern ethnic music and western electronic sounds. His vast solo discography (which includes over seventy different titles) ranges from numerous genres such as pop, electronic music, ambient, bossa nova, world music and neoclassical music. Ryuichi founded the Yellow Magic Orchestra, a group dedicated to electro-pop experimentation in the wake of the futuristic iconography of the Kraftwerk. Together with Sakamoto (keyboards) the formation includes Haruomi Hosono (former bassist of Happy End), Yukihiro Takahashi (former drummer of the Sadistic Mika Band). Later he embarked on a solo career and became a composer of well-known cinematographic soundtracks, some of which, such as "Furyo", "The last emperor" and "Tea in the desert", achieved world fame and prestigious awards. In 1978 he released the album "Thousand Knives" (although years before he had already privately recorded the jazz album Disappointment). After collaborating with Kazumi Watanabe (also a member of YMO) in a couple of publications, he co-starred, together with David Bowie, in Nagisa's imashima Furyo film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" released in 1983. Of the film he also wrote the music, among which the main theme stands out, Forbidden Colors, sung by David Sylvian, who became a hit single and his most famous song. Following the dissolution of the Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1984, "Ongaku Zukan" was released and was republished shortly afterwards with the title "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia", and was recorded with Simon Jeffes and Thomas Dolby. The album marked the maturation of Sakamoto's music, which had become a fusion of "western" and "eastern" music. Following the release of "Esperanto" and "Futurista", which were released for the Japanese market only, he recorded the hit album "Neo Geo" in 1987, featuring sophisticated world music, pop, and electronic arrangements. Also in 1987 he won an Oscar thanks to the soundtrack of the film "The Last Emperor" by Bernardo Bertolucci, made with David Byrne and Cong Su. Among his best soundtracks we mention: "The wings of Honneamise" by Hiroyuki Yamaga (1987), "Tea in the desert" (1990) and "Little Buddha" (1993) by Bertolucci and "Stiletto Heels" by Pedro Almodóvar ( 1992). Sakamoto was entrusted with the opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games, held in Barcelona, Spain. Sakamoto in his career has mainly collaborated on record productions by British artists, in particular by David Sylvian, intervening in the realization of almost all his albums. Other collaborations include those with Iggy Pop, Caetano Veloso, Thomas Dolby, Youssou N'Dour, Alva Noto, Hector Zazou and Cesária Évora.
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