Quotes from Ryuichi Sakamoto

I hope to record the perfect album, my masterpiece, before I die.

That's the meaning of 'The Revenant': It's a return from death.

Time in our universe is always one way: no going back, no reverse. In music, you can reverse it!

Although I don't understand Russian, I like the sound.

Art is often defined as a famous masterpiece in a gallery, and we are meant to visit the work and view it to appreciate it. But that is not all there is.

I have a cultural map in my head, where I find similarities between different cultures. For example, domestic Japanese pop music sounds like Arabic music to me - the vocal intonations and vibrato - and, in my mind, Bali is next to New York. Maybe everyone has these geographies in their head. This is the way I've been working.

The first music I got really into was Bach.

I don't get so much inspiration from other musicians. Especially alive musicians. Late musicians are good - Bach, Beethoven - yes, good.

I know Brazilian music. I have worked with Brazilians many times.

I honestly like any sound. Birds. I have a very broad space to accept or enjoy anything except quiet.

We musicians often get inspiration from films and books or photographs, not only by music.

The piano is the instrument I can play the most.

All the kids at the kindergarten had to play, or at least touch, the piano. It was a good start. Then, after kindergarten, all my friends took piano lessons, so I joined them.

The global view of cultures is part of my nature. I want to break down the walls between genres, categories, or cultures.

In the 1980s, Josef Beuys planted the seed that activism could be considered as art. I am influenced by the idea of his idea of social sculpture.

I want to be lazier. This is the luxurious dream I have: Doing nothing all day, just watching the clouds and DVDs.

Time is the main subject for any musicians, music writers, composers.

The key concept is to open your ears. Music can be here and there, anywhere surrounding you.

I've worked with the same Prophet 5 Synthesizer by Sequential Circuit synthesiser for 40 years.

I was really into the music of Cream after I finished composing the music for 'BTTB.'

Our body is part of nature. Our creations, they're not natural. We build things that aren't natural, but our bodies, they're part of that system.

You're changing every day, right? Your curiosities and ambitions change, your ear changes, the music you like changes - and the music you want to make, too.

People don't buy CDs so much anymore because it's easy to download everything. So, while the record industry is declining, the music is heard a lot more than before.

Hollywood is a double feeling. Love and hate. With a talented film director, I cannot resist. They are such charming and intelligent people. But each time, it is very difficult to deal with other people. I have to satisfy other people. The director or the producer. Not me. I have to satisfy myself. But then I have to deliver my music.