ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Just a few months earlier than his loss of life, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto sat down on the piano and carried out a closing, personal live performance.

(SOUNDBITE OF RYUICHI SAKAMOTO’S “TONG POO”)

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

It was late 2022. Sakamoto performed choices of his beloved movie scores like “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” together with new compositions he had by no means beforehand recorded.

SHAPIRO: He was too sick to play the entire set with out taking breaks. By then, Sakamoto had battled most cancers for years, and he later wrote that, quote, “as a result of exertion, I felt totally hole afterwards.” He died in March of final 12 months. He was 71.

DETROW: Right now, Sakamoto’s property introduced a brand new album of songs from that live performance, referred to as “Opus,” and can come out in August. This is the primary tune that is been launched, a sluggish, meditative model of his 1978 basic “Tong Poo.”

(SOUNDBITE OF RYUICHI SAKAMOTO’S “TONG POO”)

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