Famous Japanese musician and composer ryuichi sakamoto died on March 28 at the age of 71 due to a colorectal cancer which he has suffered since 2020, as confirmed by his agency this Sunday.
“While being treated for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works whenever his health allowed. He lived with music until the very end,” his agency, commons, said in a statement.
According to the agency and according to the will of the artist, the funeral service would have taken place with his close relatives, although he did not provide further details and asked that the privacy of the family be respected.
“Ars longa, vita brevis. Art is long, life is short”, text by commons highlighted as one of the composer’s favorite phrases.
The pianist, who suffered from throat cancer in 2014 from which he managed to recover, confirmed in early 2021 that he had colorectal cancer, which had spread to other organs in the form of metastases.
Awarded an Academy Award for Best Original Score for “The Last Emperor,” Sakamoto underwent six surgeries last year, including a 20-hour one to try to remove a primary tumor on his rectum and other metastatic products.
Sakamoto was one of the most international Japanese creators of his time, with a complex work that spanned several stages, from his first successful group, the experimental Yellow Magic Orchestra, to creating soundtracks.
In this section he received numerous awards and wrote the music for well-known titles such as “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (“Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”, 1983), in which he also performed as commandant of a Japanese prison camp during the War Pacific, “The Last Emperor” (“The Last Emperor”, 1987) or “The Revenant” (“The Revenant”, 2015).
His last concert was on December 11, in an “online” format so that his fans in different time zones could hear him, and when his cancer was already stage IV, so many of his followers thought it might be the last one. .
Source EFE
Source: Clarin
