I was saddened to hear of the passing of Japanese composer, record producer and actor, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Eric Clapton covered a song by the Yellow Magic Orchestra or YMO for short, on his 1986 album August. The track was called Behind The Mask.

YMO are considered influential and innovative in the field of popular electronic music. They were pioneers in their use of synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, and digital recording technology, and effectively anticipated the “electropop boom” of the 1980s. (source – Wikipedia).

Ryuichi Sakamoto also scored film soundtracks and went on to win an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards for his film-scoring.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983). His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), although he won accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), and The Revenant (2015). (source – Wikipedia).

Here he is playing Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on solo piano. Rest In Peace, Mr. Sakamoto. Thank you for the music and the memories.