Cymbal of unity
Japanese composer, Ryuichi Sakamoto, provides a musical nod to Wuhan and offers words of support as part of an online charity performance from his home in US, reports.
performer Xia Yuyan.
performer Zhang Meng.
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s performance on Feb 29 was recorded at his home in New York and broadcast online.
As he taking off his headphones, Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto smiles to the camera and signs off with the words, (everyone, stay strong), while bidding farewell to his audience.
It ended his performance on Feb 29, which was recorded at his home in New York and broadcast online through Chinese short video social media platform, Kuaishou.
Featuring a variety of musical instruments, including piano and percussion, as well as soundscapes generated by synthesizer, the impromptu performance, about 30 minutes long, received warm feedback from Chinese fans, especially when Sakamoto used a cymbal with a label saying “made in Wuhan” in Chinese.
Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, is also known for producing percussion musical instruments, such as gongs and cymbals, which are purchased by top symphony orchestras worldwide.
“I am looking forward to returning to China with my music. I hope that this kind of performance, which is 100 percent improvised, will be interesting for you,” said the musician in an interview with Chinese media platform, Chengdubased Red Star News, on March 4.
“It was so warm and surprising when ‘Wuhan’ appeared in his performance. It means a lot when we are struggling with the outbreak,” commented one viewer of Sakamoto’s performance.
“I have lots of musical instruments made in Wuhan and they are great, with high quality,” he said. “I don’t think music can cure people but I believe that music keeps you company, especially when you are struggling with your life. Music can soothe an anxious mood.”
Since the outbreak began, Sakamoto has been voicing his concern about public safety, especially that of children, in China. On Feb 3, he said on the Chinese microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, that “it is a time when you are faced with a series of difficulties but don’t panic … stay together and help each other.”
On Feb 22, he was invited to take part in an online charity event co-organized by the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation (BCAF), which aims to help Chinese parents and children pull through the influence of COVID19. During the event, Sakamoto played the song a famous piece from his 1999 album
Sakamoto rarely performs in China. He performed in Beijing in 1996 as part of his Trio World Tour, in support of his album, titled arranged for piano, cello and violin.
In December 2018, invited by Chinese music critic and DJ, Zhang Youdai, Sakamoto gave an impromptu performance at Zhang’s Cloud Nine live bar in Beijing, alongside Chinese musicians, including pianist Xiao Ying and singer-songwriter Zhu Zheqin, better known by her stage name, Dadawa.
“My friendship with Sakamoto dates back to 1996 when I watched his performance at a music festival in Denmark. The same year, he performed in Beijing and I interviewed him. We stayed in touch via fax for years and he introduced me as ‘the first Chinese man to fax me’,” said Zhang.
Because of the viral outbreak,
Sakamoto had to postpone a much anticipated concert, which was set to feature Japanese artist Shiro Takatani and was scheduled to take place on April 3 and 4 at the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.
“It has been many years since I’ve performed in Hong Kong and I’ve been longing to meet you all again. I’m looking forward to bringing this performance to you in September. We can overcome these tough times by standing together,” he told his fans in the city.
Born in Tokyo, Sakamoto was introduced to the piano as a toddler and studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. However, he was drawn to the sounds that filled his teenage years. As a high schooler in Tokyo, he had to ride a commuter train to get to class. Unable to move due to the crowded train, all Sakamoto could do was listen. He amused himself by counting the sounds the train made every morning. In 1978, he co-founded techno-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra with Japanese musicians Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi.
The 68-year-old musician was the first Japanese winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the 1988 movie,
directed by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci.
Sakamoto moved to New York in 1990 and, in 1993 he appeared in Japanese director Nagisa Oshima’s film alongside British rock legend David Bowie. Sakamoto also wrote the film’s musical score.
His 2017 album, titled paints an audio portrait of the passing of time informed by his recovery from throat cancer, which he was diagnosed in 2014.
“You have to open your ears all the time because anything can happen unexpectedly,” he has said of his approach. “Anything can be music.”
“A wrong note could be the right way into a fresh musical idea. The sounds of a city at night might inform the architecture of a new album” he said.
Sakamoto’s Feb 29 performance was part of the “Voluntary Garden Online Concert: Sonic Cure”, which was launched by UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. Nine musicians of different styles, backgrounds, and generations, from multimedia artist Feng Mengbo to master Guo Yazhi, gave impromptu performances during the 4-hour-long concert, which attracted over three million viewers.
The concert is an extension of the UCCA exhibition, titled
which is currently closed to the public due to the ongoing epidemic. The project has a series of improvised performances made in a traditional Chinese garden, which are presented as a composite video and sound installation.
Late last year, a floating stage was built in a traditional Chinese garden nearby the Forbidden City in Beijing. Thirty-nine musicians, from different music genres and styles — including Chinese folk and classical music, jazz, rock, metal, and electronic — were invited to perform there. The entire process was filmed, recorded and has been displayed at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art since Dec 12.