Life, Life – Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian

Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Sylvian, both my very favorite artists, collaborated again on this video – the music, poem and time-lapse photographed images of New York City. Meditative and beautiful.

How did I miss this by almost three years? It was released in 2017 when Sakamoto’s “async” came out. And I just discovered this video. See bottom of page for more music.

Don’t forget you can enter full screen. More immersive on headphone. Hope you enjoy it as much as I (Chris) do.

music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
voice by David Sylvian
poem from Andrei Tarkovsky’s father,
the famous Russian poet Arseny Tarkovsky.
video by Cameron Michael

The text of the poem:

And this I dreamt, and this I dream

 
And this I dreamt, and this I dream,
And some time this I will dream again,
And all will be repeated, all be re-embodied,
You will dream everything I have seen in dream.
.
To one side from ourselves, to one side from the world
Wave follows wave to break on the shore,
On each wave is a star, a person, a bird,
Dreams, reality, death – on wave after wave.
.
No need for a date: I was, I am, and I will be,
Life is a wonder of wonders, and to wonder
I dedicate myself, on my knees, like an orphan,
Alone – among mirrors – fenced in by reflections:
Cities and seas, iridescent, intensified.
A mother in tears takes a child on her lap.
 

. . .

Apparently, the press release for the album states that async was a soundtrack for an imaginary Andrei Tarkovsky film (who made Solaris), and there is a track named Solari.

“async” was released in 2017, the first after 8 years and a battle with throat cancer. Mindful of his mortality, in the track “fullmoon”, Sakamoto included the author Paul Bowles reciting “Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, …” which came from Bowles’s book – “The Sheltering Sky” that was also made into a movie. Sakamoto wrote the soundtrack and won a Golden Globe award for Best Original Score. See our earlier post (here) about this book which Chris read during the Morocco trip.

Some of you may remember their collaboration from 37(!) years ago – “Forbidden Colours” for the 1983 movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence also known as Furyo. It won a BAFTA award for Best Film Music.

As a bonus, here is another collaboration by the two – “World Citizen” from 2003.

A slightly different version of “World Citizen – I won’t be disappointed” was included in the soundtrack for the 2006 movie “Babel” by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

A version of “World Citizen” remixed by Taylor Deupree appeared in Sakamoto’s 2006 album “Bricolages”.

They have more collaborations – I will let you discover them.

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