Fireside Chat

Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto

Raster-Noton, Tokyo, Berlin

Ryuichi Sakamoto came to worldwide fame as a member of influential Japanese synth pop outfit Yellow Magic Orchestra. Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers and recording technology, they pioneered a new electro-pop sound, with tracks like ‘Firecracker/Computer Game’ becoming electro classics in the East and West. Sakamoto also pursued his own solo work, achieving commercial breakthrough as YMO split up, with his score to the film ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’ (which he also acted in). This also marked one of his finest musical unions with Japan frontman David Sylvian. Sakamoto has collaborated with many others since then, including David Byrne, Thomas Dolby, Iggy Pop, and Berlin based electronic music artist Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai). The pair met when Carsten was performing in Tokyo, and the introduction led to them working together and forming their own unique electronic sound, with Sakamoto’s minimal piano complimenting Nicolai’s glowing digital tapestry. Consistently pushing boundaries in electronic music, these are two musicians who will always be ahead of the game.