Ryuichi Sakamoto Music Sets You Free

《音乐使人自由》并不是一本被精心包装的“大师回忆录”，它更像坂本龙一坐在钢琴前，随手翻开的一本旧乐谱：有清晰的旋律，也有留白和停顿。作为他唯一的口述自传，这本书从童年写起，穿过巴赫、德彪西、披头士、现代音乐、YMO、电影配乐，一直走到2008年前后。它没有急着证明坂本龙一多么伟大，而是让人看见一个人如何被音乐、电影、朋友、时代和好奇心一点点塑造。读到最后你会发现，所谓“音乐使人自由”，并不是说音乐能立刻改变现实，而是说当个人情绪进入音乐之后，会被抽象、被共享、被带向更远的地方。

这本书最动人的地方，是它的克制。坂本龙一写自己并不用力，也不刻意制造传奇。他写幼儿园里第一次写出《小兔之歌》，写少年时同时迷恋古典乐、摇滚和篮球，写大学时期接触现代音乐、民族音乐和学生运动，写后来与细野晴臣、高桥幸宏组成YMO，又写《战场上的快乐圣诞》《末代皇帝》等作品如何进入他的生命。很多读者会期待更多幕后故事、创作秘辛或音乐技术分析，但书中这些内容往往点到为止。它更像一段段回忆片段，而不是严密的传记叙事。正因为如此，它读起来有时显得平淡，甚至像流水账；但也正因如此，它保留了某种真实感：一个音乐人并不是每一步都胸有成竹，他也会迷路、转向、被偶然推着往前走。

书名：Music Sets You Free

作者：Ryuichi Sakamoto

简介：A bestseller in Japan, a remarkable reflection on making art, living life, and accepting death, from the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto, the world-renowned musical genius and godfather of electronic music.

One of Japan's most influential artists and composers, Ryuichi Sakamoto was a man of multitudes. Perhaps best known as the Oscar-winning composer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor and a founder of the groundbreaking electronic music group Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto was a pop icon, an avant-garde visionary, a techno innovator, and a proud environmentalist. While his unique brilliance transcended mediums as well as borders, Sakamoto himself was curious about how he came to be the complex phenomenon known as "Ryuichi Sakamoto”—a journey to answer the question, "Why do I lead this life?"

Filled with candid photos, Music Sets You Free is the incredible chronicle of a life excitingly lived: an intimate, contemplative, and fascinating recounting of his life story as a musical journey, from his first childhood encounter with a piano to his rise as a global pop star and award-winning composer. Sakamoto's boundless curiosity led to myriad experiences: producing catchy yet experimental hits with YMO, starring with David Bowie in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, collaborating with pop geniuses such as David Byrne, Iggy Pop, and Brian Wilson, appearing in a Madonna music video, and even modeling for the Gap.

Throughout his career, Sakamoto was also a dedicated social activist, avidly protesting nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, and restoring a tsunami-damaged piano for his 2017 album async. While the pain of surgeries and treatments left him both emotionally and physically vulnerable in his later life, Sakamoto pushed through the pain to record his final artistic evolution into more avant-garde work after a transformative trip to Greenland during which he witnessed the effects of global warming first-hand.

Music Sets You Free is both a self-reflective testament and thought-provoking meditation on life, mortality, and the enduring power of art. It is the memoir of a visionary whose life and work embodied the aphorism Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (“Art is long, life is short”). The final published work from a creative genius, it is a rare and lasting performance in words that beautifully accompanies Sakamoto's eternal, moving performances in music.