Ryuichi Sakamoto has died

Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away on March 28 from colon cancer, the musician's team announced on Sunday (April 2). A Japanese composer who changed the faces of pop music, cinematic composition, and the avant-garde several times over in his lifetime, Sakamoto was first diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. In 2021, he revealed that he was battling colon cancer.

Sakamoto's management Commmons released the following statement on Sunday: “While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow. He lived with music until the very end.

"We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities, as well as the medical professionals in Japan and the U.S. who did everything in their power to cure him. In accordance with Sakamoto’s strong wishes, the funeral service was held among his close family members.”

Sakamoto was born in 1952, and developed a passion for the piano and Claude Debussy at age 6. He entered university with the intention of becoming an ethnomusicologist, and while his career took a different shape, his desire to recontextualize traditional Japanese music and rely less on Eurocentric notions of music never left him. Speaking with The FADER in 2015, Sakamoto lamented the Japanese government's historic embrace of Western music at the expense of Japan's: "They destroyed all of the traditional cultures. Since then musically we are flowers without root. That’s probably a big reason for me endlessly seeking what I have to do.”

Along with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto formed Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1977, one of the foundational groups in the history of electronic pop music. Critically and commercially successful at home and overseas, YMO's influence was immediately apparent. The then-nascent genre of hip-hop was drawn to YMO's use of synthesized sounds and melody on songs like the hit "Computer Game," and built on the breezy stylistic innovations Sakamoto helped pioneer.

During YMO's ascendence, Sakamoto nurtured a solo career with many solo albums and film compositions, winning an Oscar for The Last Emperor in 1988 — the first of three collaborations with Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci — along with many other accolades, including a Grammy, and two Golden Globes. Arguably his most iconic film soundtrack is his work on 1983's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, directed by Nagisa Oshima and starring David Bowie with Sakamoto himself acting in a small role.

Films such as The Revenant, Little Buddha, and The Sheltering Sky were some of the dozens scored by Sakamoto throughout his life. "To me, it’s always a struggle to work on film music because each filmmaker is very different and it’s almost impossible to satisfy someone completely by writing music," he said. "But I keep coming back because, as when I worked with the Italians, it can be the ultimate pleasure."

This passion for collaboration extended to other forms of art. Sakamoto worked with a diverse range of artists including punk icon Iggy Pop, Youssou N’Dour, David Sylvan, Alva Noto, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, the visual artist Shiro Takatani, and many more.

Towards the end of his life, Sakamoto returned to ambient music. async, his first album in 10 years, was released in 2017. "I always try to [keep] my ears very open," Sakamoto told The FADER that year, "to listen not only to musical sounds, but sound and noise. And maybe hopefully I can catch some kind of musical element in those sounds." 12, the final album of Sakamoto's lifetime, was released in January.