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Roland Schmidt

“We never wanted David to write the score. It would have been a cliché”: Why Ryuichi Sakamoto’s spellbinding theme from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence remains so captivating

Ryuichi Sakamoto THe Lawrence David Bowie Claude Debussy David Sylvian Japan Yamaha

Bowie/Sakamoto.

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a man of numerous gifts; a pianist, keyboard player and musician, producer, singer, songwriter, composer and even an actor. Despite considerable success as a solo artist and founder member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, the Japanese artist made his acting and film scoring debut in 1983, in the feature film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

Directed by Nagisa Ōshima and starring in the film himself alongside David Bowie and Tom Conti, Sakamoto not only played the pivotal role of Captain Yonoi, but bagged a BAFTA award for his original score. Not bad for a first outing in two different feature film camps!

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