R.I.P. Ryuichi Sakamoto

I feel sad about the death of talented and prolific musician, composer, record producer, and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto (previously here). As a musician, he started the band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) in 1978 with bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, influencing and pioneering a number of electronic music genres. As a solo artist, he created lovely albums, frequently collaborating with David Sylvian (previously here). As a film composer, he scored the films "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," "The Last Emperor," "The Sheltering Sky," "Little Buddha," and "The Revenant," winning an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards. As an actor he starred alongside the legendary David Bowie (previously here) in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.

Ryuichi Sakamoto died March 28, 2023 at the age of 71.
R.I.P. Mr. Sakamoto.

"fullmoon" by Ryuichi Sakamoto

After the previous posting of "Life, Life" by Ryuichi Sakamoto from his new release "async" here, let's listen to another profound track called "fullmoon." Another transcendent track.

"Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty, and yet it all seems limitless."

IT is limitless.
YOU are not.
But YOU are a part of IT.
This is the paradox.
Don't waste your time here.
Be a part of IT.

http://www.sitesakamoto.com/

"Life, Life" by Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian

Earlier this year, legendary musician-composer-producer-actor-activist Ryuichi Sakamoto released "async," a new collection of music. The lushly spiritual "Life, Life" is from that collection, and it features a delicate spoken word performance by equally legendary musician and prior collaborator David Sylvian of a poem by the Russian poet Arseny Tarkovsky, father of the filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (previously here). This is transcendent work.

And this I dreamt, and this I dream,
And some time this I will dream again,
And all will be repeated, all be re-embodied.
You will dream everything I have seen in dream.

To one side from ourselves, to one side from the world,
Wave follows wave to break on the shore.
On each wave is a star, a person, a bird,
Dreams, reality, death - on wave after wave.

No need for a date: I was, I am, and I will be.
Life is a wonder of wonders, and to wonder
I dedicate myself, on my knees, like an orphan,
Alone - among mirrors - fenced in by reflections:
Cities and seas, iridescent, intensified.
A mother in tears takes a child on her lap.

http://www.sitesakamoto.com
http://www.davidsylvian.com