Sakamoto Ryuichi heard how the world sounds—and changed it

SAKAMOTO RYUICHI, who died on March 28th after a long battle with cancer, once described his musical method thus: “I open my ears to the world.” But what Mr Sakamoto heard, few others could. As a member of the Japanese techno-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra, he helped pioneer modern electronic music. As a composer of epic film scores he enlivened the work of directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci and Alejandro Iñárritu. In his later solo work, he grappled with mortality in haunting ambient soundscapes. His passing elicited tributes from musical luminaries around the world, testimony to the influence of his genre-spanning career.