Finnish hip hop is mostly sung in Finnish though also some English recordings have been made. Some Finnish rap was already recorded in the early 1980s and some popular artists emerged in the early 1990s but it was not until the 2000s that it became finally a more lasting phenomenon in a form of wider scene and numerous popular performers.

The first recorded Finnish rap song was song "I'm Young, Beautiful and Natural" in English language which was made by artist called General Njassa in 1983. Rap music in Finnish language made its first breakthrough in 1990 when groups Raptori and Pääkköset and artist Nikke T got their records to Finnish charts. Especially Raptori created a nationwide phenomenon. These artists had a style greatly different when compared to American rap music. Their music was highly influenced by the dance pop of the 1980s and their approach to music was largely humouristic. Later Finnish rappers tend to despise this wave of early 1990s. Niko Toiskallio (Nikke T) himself has later stated that he regrets his humoristic dance-influenced rap recordings and he claims that so-called humour-rap deprived the credibility of Finnish rap scene which did not recover until many years later in the late 1990s.

Fintelligens started the new wave of Finnish rap in the late 1990s, and soon many other groups followed. Finnish rap was again seen on national record charts. This time Finnish rappers used a style which was much closer to American hip hop music. Popular artists and groups of this era included Asa (then known as Avain), Ezkimo, Flemaatikot, Kapasiteettiyksikkö, Paleface, Seremoniamestari and Tulenkantajat. These got their albums published by large record companies.

These days many Finnish rappers release their music as self-published albums or through small indie labels such as Monsp, 3rd Rail Music, Rähinä Records or Numbers Entertainment. Also some of these artists have climbed to official music charts, for example Ruudolf, Kemmuru, DJPP, Notkea Rotta, Steen1, Reilukerho, Jontti & Shaka, Hannibal ja Soppa, Gee, Elastinen & Iso H, Triologia, Cheek and Stigg Dogg.

Like in the United States, Finnish rappers also divide into underground and mainstream. Underground rappers or gangsta rappers, such as Asa, Julma-Henri, Steen1, Petos, Heikki Kuula or Puukko-Allu, rap about drugs, living in the suburbs, legalizing of cannabis, gangs and the oppressing attitude of policemen and other authorities, while mainstream rappers, such as Fintelligens, Cheek, Ezkimo and others rap about partying, women and cars.

Artists

;Mainstream rap artists and crews:

Aste

Fintelligens

Elastinen

Cheek

Ezkimo

Skandaali

Kapasiteettiyksikkö

Kymppilinja

Royal Family

Petri Nygård

;Underground rap artists and crews:

Asa

Heikki Kuula

Notkea Rotta

Steen1

Petos

Jontti & Shaka

Panama Rayo

Julma-Henri & Syrjäytyneet

Juno

Ceebrolistics

Leijona

Juju

Konala Cartelli

OG Ikonen

Pyhimys

Laineen Kasperi

Kosola

Solonen

Ruudolf

Rölli Kuopiosta

Timi Lexikon

Edorf

Memmy Posse

Huge L

Tommishock

Eino Antiwäkki

References

External links

Finnish hip hop portal based around the "Basso" magazine

http://syvallapelissa.com

*

Name	Timbaland
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Timothy Zachery Mosley
Born	March 10, 1971Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Origin	Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Instrument	Guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, keyboards, synthesizer, rapping, vocals, beatboxing, vocoder, drums
Genre	Hip hop, electro house, R&B;, hip hop soul, pop rap
Occupation	Record Producer, Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Rapper, Actor
Years active	1990–present
Voice type	Bass
Label	Blackground RecordsMosley Music GroupInterscope Records
Associated acts	Timbaland & Magoo, Danja, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Tweet, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, Madonna, Playa, OneRepublic, Bubba Sparxxx, Chris Cornell
Url

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper. As a DJ known as "DJ Tim", or "DJ Timmy Tim" Mosley began making hip hop backing tracks on a Casio keyboard. While in high school, Mosley began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff, who performed under the name of Magoo. The teenaged Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell. When he was 15 in 1986, he was shot during a robbery and was partially paralyzed for nine months. He spent this time learning how to deejay using his left hand.

Singer and rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and began working with him. She and her R&B; group Sista auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the successful R&B; act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after Timberland construction boots.

Sista, Timbaland, and Magoo became part of SCI Zakys School stable of Swing Mob signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B; singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah.

Career

1994-2002

Timbaland began his producing career strictly for R&B; acts. In the early to mid 1990s he produced a few songs for R&B; acts such as Jodeci and Sista. In 1996 he made his mainstream breakthrough by producing the majority of both Aaliyah's sophomore album One in a Million and Ginuwine's debut album Ginuwine...the Bachelor. This included the major hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew" by Aaliyah and "Pony" by Ginuwine. While Timbaland was initially producing for R&B; artists, his trademark sound was very much rooted in hip-hop with its fast-paced nature and clear drum breaks. He was taking a hip-hop sound and applying it to R&B;, and in this way his sound was instrumental in blurring the distinction between hip-hop and R&B; production.

In 1997 he fully produced Supa Dupa Fly, the debut album of Missy Elliott, who had been a childhood friend of Mosely. In this album Timbaland continued with his now trademark electronic production style, but since Missy frequently rapped the music was considered hip-hop. Timbaland's sound was something very different from typical hip-hop up to that point, which often had a "grimey" sound and used samples. Timbaland's clean, electronic, and non-sample based productions were something very new to hip-hop audiences. Also in 1997 he released his first album with his partner Magoo, Welcome to Our World, also a hip-hop album. In the late 1990s his hip-hop production sound would become very influential and common as he produced for many high profile hip-hop artists including Jay-Z, Nas, and The LOX. In 1999 he scored a major hit with Jay-Z and rap group UGK with the hit "Big Pimpin'". He also fully produced Missy's second album in 1999, Da Real World.

Still Timbaland in this period produced primarily for R&B; artists. He continued to produce for Ginuwine and Aaliyah, as well as contributing significantly to albums by Xscape, Nicole, Playa, and Total. He remixed Usher's major hit "You Make Me Wanna".

In the early 2000s Timbaland became an even more high profile and highly sought after producer for both hip-hop and R&B; artists. He produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah’s self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in Aaliyah's single "Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote.

Timbaland & Magoo’s second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Tims brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck’s vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah.

The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights. The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:

|Timbaland|MTV}}

2003–05

Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet’s début album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Elliott’s fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not A Test!. He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil’ Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake’s solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".

Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community.

In 2004 Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy’s fourth album, Afrodisiac.

Timbaland co-wrote two tracks (Exodus '04 and Let Me Give You My Love) and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada’s debut English album, Exodus. He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott’s sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth).

2006–07: Timbaland Presents Shock Value

Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group, bringing some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label are Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E..

performing "SexyBack" during Timberlake's 2007 FutureSex/LoveShow concert tour]]

In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs "SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" and on the prelude to "My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You."

In early 2007, Timbaland mentioned he wanted to work with female artist Britney Spears on her album Blackout.

Timbaland provided vocals on the singles the Pussycat Dolls's "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack", and "Ice Box" by Omarion. In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk’s new album, Volta, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs N Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent’s album Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)".

On 3 April 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Timbaland Presents Shock Value.

A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously called out Storch, rapping, "I'm a real producer and you just the piano man". Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch in an interview with MTV News. This partly stemmed from a dispute over the writing credits for Justin Timberlakes - Cry Me A River.

Plagiarism accusations

Timbaland's plagiarism controversy occurred in January 2007, when several news sources reported that Timbaland was alleged to have plagiarized several elements (both motifs and samples) in the song "Do It" on the 2006 album Loose by Nelly Furtado without giving credit or compensation. The song itself was released as the fifth North American single from Loose in July 2007.

2008

In 2008, Timbaland helped produce many albums for various artists that include Madonna's Hard Candy, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World, Flo Rida's Mail On Sunday, Letoya Luckett's Lady Love, Lindsay Lohan's Spirit in the Dark, Chris Cornell's Scream, JoJo's All I Want Is Everything, Nicole Scherzinger's Her Name is Nicole, Missy Elliott's Block Party, Matt Pokora's MP3, Keithian's Dirrty Pop, The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination, Busta Rhymes's B.O.M.B, Lisa Maffia's Miss Boss, Teairra Mari's Pressed For Time, Jennifer Hudson's début album, Dima Bilan's Believe , Samantha Jade's, My Name Is Samantha Jade, New Kids on the Block's The Block and Keshia Chanté's new Album.

Timbaland produced the Russian entry the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, Believe by Dima Bilan, which was co-written by Bilan and Jim Beanz. The song then won the contest when it was held in Belgrade, Serbia in May 2008.

In February 2008 the first 'Fashion against AIDS' collection -an initiative of 'Designers against AIDS' and sold in H&M; stores in 28 countries- was launched, for which Timbaland designed a T-shirt print, posed for the campaign and spoke out in a video, to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness among urban youth and to advocate safe sex.

On 8 February 2008, it was announced that Timbaland would be releasing an album exclusively for Verizon Wireless's V CAST cell phone service and was designated its very first "Mobile Producer in Residence." Timbaland will be joined by Mosley Music Group/Zone 4 singer/songwriter Keri Hilson to begin work on the mobile album’s first track aboard the fully equipped Mobile Recording Studio. The only track to surface so far is Garry Barry Larry Harry "Get It Girl". In his first effort within the video game industry, he worked with Rockstar Games to produce Beaterator, a music mixing game for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Network, iPhone OS released in the September 2009.

In September 2008 it was announced that Timbaland would be inducted into the Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin as an Honorary Patron in October 2008.

Timbaland is producing the movie “Vinyl” which follows the lives of 5 young women facing life-altering decisions about their relationships to members of a rock band. Timbaland’s Mosley Media Group is teaming up with Effie T. Brown's Duly Noted Inc. to create the movie. Marcus Spence, President of Mosley Music, Timbaland’s wife and publicist Monique Idlett Mosley, will be producing the film. Shooting starts in spring with Richard Zelniker as director.

2009–2010: Shock Value II & Robbery Case

Timbalands spoke to MTV's Shaheem Reid back in July 2008 to confirm that he was working on the follow up to his platinum selling Shock Value. At the time he confirmed that he had one track with Madonna which although recorded for her album Hard Candy it had not been used and could end up on this album instead. In March 2009, he filed a lawsuit against his label, Blackground Records, alleging that they attempted to blackball him after he decided to move from music performance into production.

In September 2009, Timbaland announced that Shock Value II will be released on 23 November in Europe and 24 November in North America. However it was pushed back to 8 December, preceded by the first single which features a new recording artist named SoShy entitled "Morning After Dark". New featured guest appearances on the album include DJ Felli Fel, Justin Timberlake, JoJo, Bran'Nu, Drake, Chad Kroeger, Sebastian, Miley Cyrus, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry, Esthero, The Fray, Jet, Daughtry, OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Attitude and D.O.E.. Ultimately Madonna, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Usher, Jordin Sparks, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects, Paramore, Gucci Mane, T-Pain, T.I. and Akon never appeared on Shock Value II. Shock Value II is infamous for its use of over-the-top vocal effects. Despite charting low, Timbaland has had three top forty singles to date.

"Morning After Dark" featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado is the lead single from Timbalands' Third studio album, was written by Tim Mosley, Jerome Harmon, Deborah Epstein, Michelle Bell, Keri Hilson, Nelly Furtado, James Washington, John Maultsby and produced by Timbaland and Jroc. The Single premiered on October 16, 2009 on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest with Timbaland describing it as the kick-off song from the project. Following her performance, the song was sent for radio adds on May 25. The song peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. With this success, the song became Sparks' fifth consecutive top 20 hit and third nonconsecutive top 10 hit. On May 24, Sparks headed to Europe to begin promotion for the single."Say Something" featuring Canadian rapper Drake was released to US iTunes on November 3, 2009. It was officially sent to U.S. radio on January 5, 2010. It is the album's second single and has so far reached number 23 on the Hot 100, making it the second most successful single on the album. "Carry Out" featuring Justin Timberlake is the third single from the album but was initially only released in the U.S. It was sent to US radio on December 1, 2009. It is the most successful single on the album, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered on February 18, 2010. It was released as the third UK single on April 26, 2010. "If We Ever Meet Again" featuring Katy Perry is the album's fourth single. The music video premiered on January 18, 2010. In the UK, it was released February 15, 2010 and reached number one in New Zealand and number three in the UK and Ireland. The song has reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 so far.

Timbaland worked with Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis on their upcoming projects. He has also produced tracks for Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Stufje Aburkina, Keshia Chanté and Jay-Z's upcoming albums. Timbaland also produced Chris Cornell's 2009 album Scream. Shakira was asked to record vocals on the song "Give It Up to Me" to be included on Timbaland's forthcoming album but it was placed on her third studio album She Wolf and released as the second US single instead. Additionally it was revealed that one of the songs Timbaland had produced for Beyoncé's 2008 album I Am... Sasha Fierce was reworked by Keri Hilson and Jay Z for Shock Value II but not included. He was a guest host of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw on 28 December 2009. Timbaland appeared on the 25 March 2010 episode (titled "Blowback") of FlashForward as an evidence agent. His songs, "Morning After Dark" & "Symphony", appears on the video game,

On 26 March 2010, it was reported that Steven Tyler, intrigued by the 2009 Chris Cornell record Scream, would be teaming up with Timbaland to record a rap album. Guest appearances by Reverend Run and Darryl Mac of Run-D.M.C., Kid Rock, and T-Pain are rumored to be featured on the new project.

In April 2010, a feud between the producer and R&B; singer, Ginuwine, arose after Timbaland failed to make an appearance at the singer's music video shoot of "Get Involved".

Later in April, Timbaland released a new single featuring T-Pain and Billy Blue titled "Talk That".

In June 2010, when questioned by RWD magazine about the UK music scene he made the bold claim to be the inspiration for the dub-step music scene. “The UK scene… they’re always telling me that I started it. You have Dub-bass…”. When questioned further about it he went on to say: "It’s funny cos they went back to some of my old music that really created that sound and just, instead of going fast, they went slow with more bass."

In August 2010, a "possible suicide attempt" APB was put out for Timbaland after his home was burgled. When his family were unable to contact him, they called 911 and a manhunt began. Police eventually found his car and brought him back home, where paramedics examined him, before declaring he was not a threat to himself. When questioned, Timbaland said he only took a drive to think about the robbery as he thought the possible thief could have been someone close whom he trusted.

2010–present: Shock Value III & Timbaland thursdays

In November 2010, Timbaland announced that he would be releasing a new song every Thursday, called Timbo Thursday like artists such as Kanye West who has G.O.O.D. Fridays and Swizz Beatz who claimed Monster Mondays. In an interview with Rap-Up.com Timbaland stated “So my brother told me Kanye is puttin' out a new song every Friday called G.O.O.D. Fridays, Swizz got Mondays,” who recently joined Twitter. “I don't know if they are on Twitter but can you hit them up, and tell them reserve that Thursday for Timbo the king baby. We’ll call it Timbo Thursday, cool?” Timbaland plans to release his next album Shock Value III in 2011. Some artists that will appear so far on the album will be Keri Hilson, Missy Elliott, and Chris Brown. Timbaland is featured on Chris Brown's new album F.A.M.E producing the song Paper, Scissors, Rock.

On January 13, 2011, Timbaland began his Timbaland thursdays, free music initiative. The first song released was "Take Ur Clothes Off" featuring Missy Elliott. This was followed by "Round Da Way Tim", "Lil' Apartment" featuring rapper Attitude and singer 6 Two and "808" featuring Brandy Norwood. Hilson revealed that the songs that Timbaland was releasing through the initiative come deep from within his vast back catalogue and so there was a good chance that one of the records could feature her vocals. And, indeed, a track entitled "You Lied, You Cheated" was released on 10 February 2011. On 17 February 2011. Timbaland collaborated first time with Lyrica Anderson on the song entitled "Mentally". According to the official website, Timbaland posted that "Anderson is currently working with Timbaland on his new project". On 25 February 2011, a song that features indie pop artists J'Royal Price from Memphis, Tennessee & JimmyCodean from Norfolk in Virginia on the song entitled "Hot Mess". "Whenever You Like" featuring Brandy Norwood was released on March 3 via Timbaland Thursdays. On 17 March 2011, he released another installment titled "All Yall" featuring Attitude and Young Money's Short Dawg. And, on 21 March 2011, he released an official track called "Automatic" featuring Attitude and 6 Two, both of whom collaborated on another Timbaland Thursday track, "Lil' Apartment". On 24 March 2011, he released yet another collaboration with Attitude (previously worked on Automatic, All Yall and Lil' Apartment) titled "F*ck You". On 31 March 2011, he released another track, titled "Not My Happiness" and on 7 April 2011, he released "I Won't Board This Plane", both of which are solos by him, following "Round Da Way Tim". On 15 April he released a snippet of Timbaland and Blind Fury.

There have been rumors that singer Dev will feature on Timbalands first single from the next installment of Shock Value, these are however false. Timbaland has not yet decided on the first single for Shock Value 3 but 'Break Ya Back' is being considered, a track which Missy Elliott claims will "change music once again".

Thomas Crown Studio

Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley built a private recording studio in Virginia Beach. The studio was conceived and developed with long time engineer, Jimmy Douglass. The studio is managed by Garland Mosley and Brian Byrd. This full service audio production center has been created in an existing (about) 5,000 sq. ft. two-story industrial park building. A complete renovation of the building resulted in a two-studio recording and post production facility, and continues the growth of the Virginia Beach music community, that has spawned the likes of The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Nate "Danja" Hills.

Discography

;Solo albums

(1998)

Shock Value (2007)

Shock Value II (2009)

Shock Value III (2011)

;Timbaland & Magoo albums

Welcome to Our World (1997)

Indecent Proposal (2001)

Under Construction, Part II (2003)

Awards

References

External links

Official site

Timbaland's Blog

Timbaland at Yahoo! Music

Timbaland at iLike

Timbaland at Billboard.com

http://www.timbalandthursdays.com

Category:1971 births Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:African American rappers Category:African American singers Category:American dance musicians Category:American male singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American record producers Category:American shooting survivors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop record producers Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Virginia Category:Rappers from Virginia Category:People from Norfolk, Virginia Category:People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Category:Swing Mob artists Category:Pseudonyms

Name	Ryuichi Sakamoto坂本龍一
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	January 17, 1952Tokyo, Japan
Instrument	Keyboard, piano
Genre	Electropop, Synthpop, Electronica, World, Classical
Occupation	Musician, composer, record producer, actor
Years active	1977–present
Label	Columbia Music Entertainment(1978–1979)Alfa Records(1979–1983)MIDI(1984–1986)Sony Music Entertainment Japan(1986–1987)EMI(1989–1991,1993)For Life Records(1994–1997)Warner Music Group(1998–2006)commmons(2006–present)A&M; RecordsRestless Records
Associated acts	Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kiyoshiro Imawano

is an Academy Award-winning Japanese musician, composer, record producer and actor, based in New York and Tokyo. He plays keyboards in the influential Japanese electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra. His 1999 musical composition "Energy Flow", also known as the alternative title of the single disc Ura BTTB, is the first number-one instrumental single in Japan's Oricon charts history.

Biography

Early years and Yellow Magic Orchestra

Sakamoto attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he earned a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music.

After working as a session musician, he formed the internationally successful synthpop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra, with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi.

Solo career

Sakamoto released his first solo album, The Thousand Knives of Ryūichi Sakamoto, in 1978. The album includes the songs "Thousand Knives" and "The End of Asia".

Following the disbanding of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto released a number of solo albums in the 1980s. While primarily focused on the piano and synthesizer, this series of albums boasted a roster of collaborators that included David Sylvian, David Byrne, Thomas Dolby, Nam June Paik, and Iggy Pop, among others. Sakamoto would alternate between exploring a variety of musical styles, ideas, and genres — captured most notably in his groundbreaking 1983 album Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia — and focusing on a specific subject or theme, such as the Italian Futurism movement in Futurista (1986). At times, Sakamoto would also present varying interpretations of technology's intersection with music: He would present some pieces, such as "Replica", with Kraftwerkian rigidity and order, while he would infuse humanity and humor into others — "Broadway Boogie Woogie", for example, liberally lifts samples from Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner and pairs them with a raucous, sax-driven techno-pop backdrop.

As his solo career began to extend outside Japan in the late 1980s, Sakamoto's explorations, influences, and collaborators followed suit. Beauty (1989) boasted a tracklist that combined pop and traditional Japanese and Okinawan songs, yet featured guest appearances by Jill Jones, Brian Wilson, and Robbie Robertson. Heartbeat (1991) and Sweet Revenge (1994), meanwhile, looked to international horizons and worked with a global range of artists such as Roddy Frame, Dee Dee Brave, Marco Prince, Arto Lindsay, Youssou N'Dour, David Sylvian, and Ingrid Chavez. 1996 saw the appearance of two notable albums: Smoochy, which fused pop and electronica with bossa nova and other South American forms, and 1996, which featured a number of previously released pieces arranged for solo piano, accompanied with violin and cello.

Following 1996, Sakamoto simultaneously delved into the classical and "post-techno" genres with Discord (1998), an hour-long orchestral work in four parts. Here he evoked the melodic qualities of his film score work, imbued with the influence of 20th century classical composers and spoken word. The Sony Classical release also featured an interactive CD-ROM component and website that complemented the work. Shortly thereafter, the Ninja Tune record label released a series of remixes of various sections, produced by a number of prominent electronica artists, including Amon Tobin, Talvin Singh and DJ Spooky.

The next album, BTTB (1998) — an acronym for "Back to the Basics" — was a fairly opaque reaction to the prior year's multilayered, lushly orchestrated Discord. The album comprised a series of original pieces on solo piano, including "Energy Flow" (a major hit in Japan) and a frenetic, four-hand arrangement of the Yellow Magic Orchestra classic "Tong Poo." On the BTTB U.S. tour, he opened the show performing a brief avant-garde DJ set under the stage name DJ Lovegroove.

1999 saw the long-awaited release of Sakamoto's "opera" LIFE. It premiered with seven sold-out performances in Tokyo and Osaka. This ambitious multi-genre multi-media project featured contributions by over 100 performers, including Pina Bausch, Bernardo Bertolucci, Josep Carreras, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie.

Sakamoto later teamed with cellist Jaques Morelenbaum (a member of his 1996 trio), and Morelenbaum's wife, Paula, on a pair of albums celebrating the work of bossa nova pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim. They recorded their first album, Casa (2001), mostly in Jobim's home studio in Rio de Janeiro, with Sakamoto performing on the late Jobim's grand piano. The album was well received, having been included in the list of New York Times's top albums of 2002.

Sakamoto collaborated with Alva Noto (an alias of Carsten Nicolai) to release Vrioon, an album of Sakamoto's piano clusters treated by Nicolai's unique style of digital manipulation, involving the creation of "micro-loops" and minimal percussion. The two produced this work by passing the pieces back and forth until both were satisfied with the result. This debut, released on German label Raster-Noton, was voted record of the year 2004 in the electronica category by British magazine The Wire. They later released Insen (2005) — while produced in a similar manner to Vrioon, this album is somewhat more restrained and minimalist.

Meanwhile, Sakamoto continues to craft music to suit any context: In 2005, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia hired Sakamoto to compose ring and alert tones for their high-end phone, the Nokia 8800. A recent reunion with YMO pals Hosono and Takahashi also caused a stir in the Japanese press. They released a single "Rescue" in 2007 and a DVD "HAS/YMO" in 2008.

Sakamoto's latest album, Out Of Noise, was released on March 4, 2009 in Japan.

In July 2009 Sakamoto was honored as Officier of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French Embassy in Tokyo.

Film composer and actor

Moviegoers may recognize Sakamoto primarily through his score work on two films: Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), including the duet "Forbidden Colours" with David Sylvian, and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987), the latter of which earned him the Academy Award with fellow composers David Byrne and Cong Su. In that same year he composed the score to the cult-classic anime: .

Frequent collaborator David Sylvian contributed lead vocals to "Forbidden Colours" – the main theme to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – which became a minor hit. Sixteen years later, the piece resurfaced as a popular dance track called "Heart of Asia" (by the group Watergate).

Other films scored by Sakamoto include Pedro Almodóvar's Tacones lejanos (High Heels) (1991); Bertolucci's The Little Buddha (1993); Oliver Stone's Wild Palms (1993); John Maybury's (1998); Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998) and Femme Fatale (2002), and Oshima's Gohatto (1999). He also composed the score of the opening ceremony for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, telecast live to an audience of over a billion viewers.

Several tracks from Sakamoto's earlier solo albums have also appeared in film soundtracks. In particular, variations of "Chinsagu No Hana" (from Beauty) and "Bibo No Aozora" (from 1996) provide the poignant closing pieces for Sue Brooks's Japanese Story (2003) and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel (2006), respectively.

Sakamoto has also acted in several films: perhaps his most notable performance was as the conflicted Captain Yonoi in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, alongside Takeshi Kitano and British rock singer David Bowie. He also played the roles in The Last Emperor ( as Masahiko Amakasu) and Madonna's "Rain" music video.

MTV Award

The music video for "Risky", written and directed by Meiert Avis, won the first ever MTV "Breakthrough Video Award". The ground breaking video explores transhumanist philosopher FM-2030's (Persian: فریدون اسفندیاری) ideas of "Nostalgia for the Future", in the form of an imagined love affair between a robot and one of Man Ray's models in Paris in the late 1930s. Additional inspiration was drawn from Jean Baudrillard, Edvard Munch's 1894 painting "Puberty", and Roland Barthes " Death of the Author". The surrealist black and white video uses stop motion, light painting, and other retro in-camera effects techniques. Meiert Avis shot Sakamoto while at work on the score for "The Last Emperor" in London. Sakamoto also appears in the video painting words and messages to an open shutter camera. Iggy Pop, who performs the vocals on "Risky", chose not to appear in the video, allowing his performance space to be occupied by the surrealist era robot.

Selected discography

Original studio albums

Several albums exist in 2 versions, the original Japanese version and the international version, each having differences in tracklistings.

Thousand Knives (1978)

Tokyo Joe (1978, with Kazumi Watanabe, more a compilation than a proper album, featuring an odd mix of tracks from Thousand Knives and from the eponymous album by Watanabe's short lived Kylyn band)

Summer Nerves (1979, with The Kakutogi Session)

B2-Unit (1980)

Left-Handed Dream (1981) (Tracklistings differ between Japanese and international issues)

The Arrangement (1981, with Robin Scott) (originally released as an EP, later expended into a full album containing the complete sessions)

The End of Asia (1982, with Danceries)

Ongakuzukan (1984) with the single Replica (the international release from 1986 is titled Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia, and has a different tracklisting)

Esperanto (1985)

Futurista (1986)

Coda (1986)

Neo Geo (1987)

Playing the Orchestra (1989)

Beauty (1990)

Heartbeat (1991)

Benedict Beauty (1992)

Soundbytes (1994, compilation of tracks recorded 1981–1986)

Sweet Revenge (1994)

Smoochy (1995)

1996 (1996)

Discord (1997)

BTTB (1999)

Cinemage (1999)

Intimate (1999, with Keizo Inoue)

L I F E (2000)

In The Lobby

Comica (2002)

Elephantism (2002)

Moto.tronic (2003, Compilation of tracks recorded between 1983 & 2003)

Love (2003)

Chasm (2004)

/04 (2004)

/05 (2005)

Cantus omnibus unus; for mixed or equal choir (2005)

Bricolages (2006)

Out of Noise (2009)

Playing the Piano (2009)

Original soundtracks and event scores

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Works I – CM (released in 2002, featuring commissioned works from 1981–1984)

Koneko Monogatari (A Kitten's Story) (1986)

Ôritsu uchûgun Oneamisu no tsubasa – (1987)

The Last Emperor (1987) (Won Oscar)

Fantasy of Light and Life (1989)

The Sheltering Sky (1990)

''The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

Peachboy (Momotaro)

High Heels (1992)

Wuthering Heights (1992)

"El Mar Mediterrani" (composition for Barcelona Olympics opening ceremony) (1992)

Topazu / Tokyo Decadence (1992)

Wild Palms (1993)

Little Buddha (1993)

Music for Yohji Yamamoto Collection 1995

Stalker (1997)

Snake Eyes (1998)

Love is the devil (1998)

Gohatto (1999)

Poppoya (Main theme) (1999)''

– Dreamcast video game (2000)

Zero Landmine (2001)

Minha Vida Como Un Filme (2002)

Femme Fatale (2002)

Century Of Reform

Derrida (2002)

Seven Samurai 20XX – PlayStation 2 game (2004)

Shining Boy & Little Randy (2005)

Tony Takitani (2005)

Silk (2007)

Indigo (Short-Film) (2008)

Dhobi Ghat (India) (2011)

With Morelenbaum² (Paula Morelenbaum and Jaques Morelenbaum)

Casa (2001)

A Day in New York (2003)

With Carsten Nicolai, as alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto

Vrioon (CD, 2002)

Insen (CD, 2005)

Revep (CD EP, 2006)

Insen Live (DVD, 2006)

Utp_ (CD+DVD, 2008, with Ensemble Modern)

With Fennesz

Sala Santa Cecilia (2005, live EP)

Cendre (2007)

Other collaborations

David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (1984, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano/synthesizers on 3 tracks)

David Sylvian: (1985, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano and strings on 1 track)

David Sylvian: Secrets of the Beehive (1987, featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto on all 10 tracks)

David van Tieghem: Safety in Numbers (1989, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on keyboards on 2 tracks)

Hector Zazou: Sahara Blue (1992, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano on 4 tracks)

Hector Zazou: Strong Currents (2003, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano)

Aztec Camera: Dreamland (1993, produced with Roddy Frame)

Holly Johnson: Love And Hate (1994), features Johnson on vocals

Arto Lindsay: O Corpo Sutil (1996, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on 4 tracks)

Red Hot + Rio, produced by the Red Hot Organization: É Preciso Perdoar (1996, Ryuichi Sakamoto performs keyboards for the duet sang by Cesária Évora and Caetano Veloso)

David Sylvian: Dead Bees on a Cake (1999, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on 7 tracks)

David Sylvian: Everything and Nothing (2000, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on 9 tracks)

Senor Coconut: Yellow Fever (2006, features Ryuichi Sakamoto on 1 track)

Willits + Sakamoto: Ocean Fire (2007, with Christopher Willits)

Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses: Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses (features Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano and backing vocals)

Rodrigo Leão: "Cinema" (features Ryuichi Sakamoto on 1 track)

Personal life

Sakamoto has been married twice. His first marriage took place in 1972 but ended in divorce two years later. Sakamoto has a daughter from this relationship. Sakamoto then married popular Japanese pianist and singer Akiko Yano in 1982, having collaborated with her on some of her recordings. Yano was also a regular touring member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. They finally divorced in August 2006, 14 years after a mutual decision to live separately. They had one daughter, J-Pop singer Miu Sakamoto.

In 1998, Italian ethnomusicologist Massimo Milano published Ryuichi Sakamoto. Conversazioni, a collection of essays and conversations.

He is also known as a critic of copyright law, arguing that it is antiquated in the information age.

He is a member of anti-nuclear organization Stop Rokkasho and demand the abolition of Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant.

Commmons

Name	Commmons
Parent	Avex Group
Founded	2006
Founder	Ryuichi Sakamoto
Status	Active
Distributor	Rhythm Zone
Genre	J-pop, Electropop, New Age music
Country	Japan
Location	Aoyama, Tokyo
Url	Commmons

In 2006, Sakamoto, with avex Group's help, founded , a record label promising change in the way music should be. For him, Commmons is not his label, but is a platform for all aspiring artists to join as equal collaborators and share for benefits of the music industry. The word Commmons has three M's because the 3rd M stands for music.

It is distributed by Rhythm Zone, Avex's urban and R&B; record label, and uses the catalog code RZCM-4****.

It also serves as a distributing label for Thrill Jockey and Raster-Noton in Japan.

Artists

Sakamoto (himself)

boredoms

Yellow Magic Orchestra

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Takeshi Ueda

Christian Fennesz

Asa-Chang & Junray

OOIOO

Sōtaisei Riron (Mirai Records/commmons)

See also

Stop Rokkasho

This Is The One

Avex Group

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

References

External links

The official Ryūichi Sakamoto web site

Commmons – Sakamoto's record label

Raster-Noton site

Fan Website

Ustream – Live Channel for RYUICHI SAKAMOTO NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2010

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:People from Tokyo Category:Japanese film score composers Category:Japanese dance musicians Category:Japanese composers Category:Japanese anti-nuclear power activists Category:Anime composers Category:Japanese record producers Category:Intellectual property activism Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Tokyo University of the Arts alumni Category:Japanese keyboardists Category:Avex