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Ryuichi Sakamoto
1952–2023
About Ryuichi Sakamoto
A founding member of Yellow Magic Orchestra and one of the great composers of the late twentieth century, Ryuichi Sakamoto led a parallel solo career across forty years of film scores, ambient records, and politically engaged work. He won an Academy Award for The Last Emperor (1987), shared the Cannes soundtrack credit for Babel (2006), and his 1983 theme Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence remains one of the most-recognised pieces of Japanese music in the world. He died of cancer in Tokyo in March 2023.