WHAT A LONG, strange journey it's been for Ryuichi Sakamoto. A revolutionary Tokyo firebrand in the 1960s, he morphed into a 70s techno pioneer with the seminal Yellow Magic Orchestra, a movie actor in the 80s in films including Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie, and then Oscar-winning soundtrack writer. He enjoyed a creatively fertile period as a sort of Japanese Brian Eno, collaborating with everyone from rock's wild-man Iggy Pop to Brazilian pop muse Caetano Veloso. Today, he lives in New York as an avant-garde composer of ambient music.
'The global view of cultures is part of my nature. I want to break down the walls between genres, categories or cultures,' says Sakamoto, who has composed soundtracks for directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodovar, Oliver Stone and Nagisa Oshima.
At 54, Sakamoto is a long way past his pop idol prime with the Yellow Magic Orchestra. But he's never been afraid to wander far from the mainstream spotlight, and is now collaborating with cerebral German ambient musician Carsten Nicolai, who works under the pseudonym Alva Noto.
On stage in Tokyo, the two are a study in contrasts: the classically trained Sakamoto sways and bows in concentration over his acoustic piano as Nicolai stands almost unmoving, like his fellow German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk, coaxing electronic blips and bleeps from his computers.
At an interview just days before they wind up a short Asian tour in Hong Kong on Saturday as part of the New Vision Arts Festival, the contrasts are even more evident. The short-haired, blue-eyed Nicolai speaks in the clipped, precise cadences of a scientist, while Sakamoto comes across as more of a dreamer.
Neither is sure how they first heard about each other, but their six-year collaboration has been creatively profitable, yielding three albums including the acclaimed Vrioon (2003). 'I'm always looking out for interesting people,' says Sakamoto, describing his friend as an 'energetic minimalist'.