Ryuichi Sakamoto Announces Live Streaming Concert and Box Set Compiling 2020 Releases

Renowned musician Ryuichi Sakamoto will be live streaming his final concert of 2020, titled Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 12122020, via MUSIC/SLASH, a video streaming platform that is said to broadcast using the highest sound quality available in the industry. It will be broadcast from a studio in Tokyo on December 12th at 19:30 (JST).

The live performance will be directed by Rhizomatiks, a multimedia art group led by artist Daito Manabe that focuses on "the relationship between analogue and digital, real and virtual, for works of design, art, and entertainment". They will work with New York-based artist duo Zakkubalan to deliver a challenging visual project that brings the worlds of Sakamoto and Rhizomatiks to life.

This will be Sakamoto’s first piano solo concert performed in Japan since 2013. It will be available exclusively in the following eight countries and territories: Japan, the US, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Canada and Australia. Tickets are 5,000 yen, and they are available for purchase now. Sales will end on December 7th at 23:59 (JST). There will be no archive or rewind function, so viewers must ensure that they are able to watch the live broadcast.

When purchasing a ticket, viewers must first watch a test video to confirm their setup is working correctly. Details can be found on the official MUSIC/SLASH website. A special site for the live stream event featuring a message from Sakamoto can also be found here.

In addition, Sakamoto will be releasing a complete box set titled 2020S that collects all of the music he produced and released in 2020 across a total of seven vinyl records. A new song based on the concept of "fragments of memory", one of the set's themes, will also be included.

In keeping with this theme, the box includes a fragment of pottery smashed as part of the new song’s recording. The box set is limited to 300 copies and will be released on March 30th, 2021.

The set was first announced on September 18th as a collaboration with art director Shinichiro Ogata, along with a special site featuring an interview discussing the box set’s concept. The website has since been updated to include details of the box set's contents and an interview with potter Shingo Oka.

The pottery fragment included in the set is a piece of a plate crafted by Oka and hand-painted by Sakamoto, then smashed as part of the recording process; the sound of the pottery breaking forms the basis of a new song. The pottery fragment included in the box is, therefore, also said to be a part of the music itself.

Pottery is made from soil, and the act of breaking it returns it to nature, symbolizing Sakamoto’s desire for a return to the natural world. In addition, the shard of pottery is a “fragment of memory” of the year 2020 and is intended to "connect the creator and the owner in a direct and lasting way".

Sakamoto commented:
"It starts with destroying.
For over 30 years, I’ve wanted to make a musical composition that was art in itself.
There used to be all sorts of rules that made this impossible, but the time has finally come to make this happen."