Leaving the hall where they showed the film “Under the cover of the sky” – “Tea in the Sahara” in Greek, the music continued to play in my head. Bertolucci’s film kept up with cinematic value, sound and beauty, but the soundtrack took on a parallel life in me.

The next day I bought a record and learned the name of the composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Since then, I have met him again many times in amazing compositions, in his constant experimentation, and later I found out that it was he who hugged David Bowie on stage, which unites the star of the East on equal terms – as a Japanese musician. There was then—and one West in the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.

Sakamoto said in an interview that the film’s music, which he never forgot in his life, was composed by Nino Rota. When he was 5 or 6 years old, his mother took him to the cinema to see a film by Federico Fellini. According to him, he understood little from the film, but thanks to the music, he retained the memory of the all-pervasive sweetness.

It may have been a more personal reason why he composed the soundtracks himself, although he admitted that this work filled him with anxiety. But he never turned down an interesting offer. He was once asked to single out among the many directors with whom it is most difficult for him to work. He replied that these were the two most difficult, but also the most interesting: Bernardo Bertolucci and Alejandro Iñárritu. Both were well versed in music and both were demanding in collaboration, challenging and inspiring at the same time.

Sakamoto was nominated for BAFTA, Grammy and Golden Globe awards for the soundtrack to Iñárritu’s The Return. He was also nominated for music for Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Sahara Tea, Little Buddha. In 1987, he received an Oscar for Best Original Score for The Last Emperor, an award that made him famous in the West.

Ryuichi Sakamoto, born in Tokyo in January 1952, passed away a few days ago at the age of 71, having achieved many of his wishes. A unique musician, a versatile creator, an anti-nuclear activist, an excellent conversationalist, a courageous person, he lived through art with his soul and managed to calmly and philosophically talk about his illness, cancer.