Ryuichi Sakamoto has made a career of crossing musical and technological boundaries. Sakamoto has experimented with many different musical styles, making a name for himself in popular, orchestral and film music. As a founding member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Sakamoto's film work includes Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky and, most recently, Brian DePalma's Femme Fatale.
This year Sakamoto joined his frequent collaborators Jaques and Paula Morelenbaum at the home of the late Antonio Carlos Jobim (the master of Brazilian bossa nova) in Rio to record Casa, a collection of hidden treasures and some previously unrecorded material written by Jobim under the group name Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto. Casa was released in August, 2002 by Sony Classical. "The whole experience was spiritual, as if Tom's spirit came into me through the fingerprints on the keys of his piano" he says. "During one of the recordings at his house a bird suddenly sang in the middle of the song. We all thought that was Tom."
With Ryuichi Sakamoto the only constant is change. The sheer breadth of musical styles he explores - even within one album - is central to his being as an artist. He feels no need to exist within musical boundaries, and he celebrates tearing them down. "This global view of different cultures is just part of my nature. I want to break down the walls between genres, categories, or cultures. Instead of building walls or borders, I always try to combine different things. To me, it's challenging and exciting."

Composer and musician
Ryuichi Sakamoto

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