YMO, as they came to be known, would become a seminal influence on what would later be called synth-pop and electronica.
It was while playing on other people's albums that he met two other session men, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, and the three would form one of Japan's best known electronic music acts, Yellow Magic Orchestra. Starting out by studying enthnomusicology at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music during the early 70's he ended up working as a session musician. Ryuichi Sakamoto is so much more than just a film composer. Of course writing about music is like the proverbial dance about architecture (or the blog about film-making), so for each entry you'll find a link to a classic composition by this talented group of musicians. It's to honour these moments and the composers that helped create them that we offer you this month's top ten - Our Top Ten Favorite Japanese Film Composers. Obviously Japanese film has these same moments, when the music and the images fuse together as one in viewers minds. The classic examples given by cinephiles of music's power in film are many - imagine watching a film like "Jaws" without the suspenseful, every-increasing strings and brass theme by John Williams, or the appearance of The Man with No Name in "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" without the raspy whistle and reverb of Ennio Morricone's iconic composition. While the director, actors and cinematographers job is to deliver unforgettable images and performances it is the job of the film composer to heighten the emotions or mood onscreen.
Music has the power to make or break a scene in a film.