There is a reason why this tribute album to the revered Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is so titled. In 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, which went into remission after six years. In 2021, however, he shared the news of his stage 4 rectal cancer diagnosis.
Earlier this year, in an essay that broached the issue, he wrote, “Since I have been granted life, I am praying that I will be able to make music until my last moments, just like my beloved Bach and Debussy. I have just turned 70, but how many more times will I be able to see the full moon?”
Sakamoto significantly influenced electro and techno – via much of his early work with Yellow Magic Orchestra, and his 1980 second solo album, B-2 Unit, notably with the track Riot in Lagos – but also film soundtrack music via Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983), The Last Emperor (1987), The Sheltering Sky (1990) and more recently The Revenant (2015).
All of his creative dimensions are addressed on this tribute album for which the artists, who include friends and past collaborators such as David Sylvian, Thundercat, Cinematic Orchestra, Devonté Hynes, Hildur Guðnadóttir, and Alva Noto, were allowed full access to his far-reaching catalogue of solo work and film scores. Some 13 pieces of music, ranging from his best-known to more obscure works – at least to casual admirers – have in the parlance of the production been “remodelled” to varying degrees of familiarity.
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The most easily recognisable include Electric Youth’s Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence – a largely faithful and tender orchestral tweaking; Alva Noto’s The Sheltering Sky – a dramatic and successful re-envisioning; 404.zero’s The Revenant Main Theme – as fraught with danger as the original, and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s World Citizen I Won’t Be Disappointed – which offers far more space than the David Sylvian-assisted original.
Of the outliers, Thundercat’s angle on Thousand Knives, the title track of Sakamoto’s 1978 debut solo album, aligns with the composer’s preference for experimentation. In other words, it’s unrecognisable from the original, more reconstructive surgery than a simple makeover. While that particular track shudders more than soothes, the remainder of the pieces rest easier: Fennesz’s Amore is lush and fragile, Devonté Hynes’s Choral No. 1 features a vocal by Emily Schubert over particularly gentle piano, while Cinematic Orchestra’s DNA is rugged but graceful.
Sakamoto is scheduled to release a new solo album on January 17th, his 71st birthday, but in the meantime, there is this reflective and non-reverential tribute album to him. Raise a glass, why don’t you? sitesakamoto.com
