He went on to study electronic music at Tokyo's University of Art, and after graduating formed Yellow Magic Orchestra with Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono.

Exposed to everyone from the Beatles to Beethoven and John Cage, he was also heavily influenced by avant-garde filmmaking. Born January 17, 1952, in Tokyo, Sakamoto took up piano at the age of three, and regularly performed in jazz bands while in high school. His discography is immense and varied, including solo piano works, proto-techno, experimental ambient, and glitch. The driving force behind 'Neo Geo,' a cutting-edge fusion of Asian and Western classical music with other global textures and rhythms, he has been equally adept in electronic and acoustic settings, whether recording in solitude or in tandem, with decades of steady activity. Available on Vinyl LP, CD.Īs one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning composer for his work on the soundtrack for The Last Emperor, synth pop innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto is among the most groundbreaking artists to have emerged since the late '70s. Buy Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence OST by Ryuichi Sakamoto on Bleep. 1996 is a 1996 album by Japanese composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto.It contains a selection of Sakamoto's most popular compositions plus two new compositions, all arranged for a standard piano trio.