Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum
Manchester International Festival
I AM sitting at Ryuichi Sakamoto’s feet, watching the legendary musician and composer play his prize-winning score for the 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence on a grand piano. I watch his fingers move precisely on the keys, his concentration, the folds of his jacket as he hunches over the instrument. Tears well in my eyes inside the headset I am wearing, and I am only vaguely conscious of the battery processor around my neck like a pendant.
When the piece ends, Sakamoto dissolves and I am left gazing into empty space, alongside other spectators. This is Kagami (“mirror” in Japanese), a “mixed-reality” concert staged at the Manchester International Festival, UK, this month. It is the result of a collaboration between technology collective Tin Drum and Sakamoto, and was recorded early on in the pandemic.
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To experience it, we have all been sitting in a circle around the darkened performance space, wearing Magic Leap 2 augmented reality headsets. When Sakamoto first materialised, the effect wasn’t perfect. His 3D form occasionally froze and the 70-degree field of vision meant that when you turned to look at the surrounding effects, such as cascading snowflakes and constellations, the artist himself disappeared – but it was still quite mesmerising.
Kagami creates an exceptional intimacy with the virtual artist, as spectators are encouraged to leave their seats and move around so they can see from any perspective during the show. While conventional gigs generally feel communal, Kagami draws us both closer to Sakamoto and into ourselves. The headsets create weird effects: they enable you to look right through fellow gig-goers, and even your own hands. Suddenly, virtual Sakamoto is the realest thing in the room.
Even though Sakamoto died earlier this year, Tin Drum founder Todd Eckert says that the project wasn’t intended as a memorial to him. “It’s meant to be an energetic connection,” he says. “It’s about the relationship between Ryuichi and an audience that will keep coming to his work.”
Kagami reflects Sakamoto’s keen curiosity about technology throughout his career, both as a solo artist and as a co-founder of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. He agreed to work with Tin Drum after seeing This Life, its 2019 mixed-reality work with performance artist Marina Abramovic.
Creating something that feels as real as Kagami takes techniques such as volumetric capture, which uses cameras and sensors to film a subject, creating a “full volume” recording rather than a flat image. As Eckert says: “That’s why, when you look at Ryuichi, you think ‘that’s really him’, because it is.” But, of course, it is data from a 48-camera rig at Crescent Studio, Tokyo. “We simultaneously captured the audio MIDI data, so we know which key on the piano is being pressed at what intensity and for what duration,” he explains. “We had to capture him with markers on his fingers, then get light box data of his hands.”
Sakamoto’s facial features were also created using motion-capture sensors, and months were spent adding more data to recreate details such as his glasses and the texture of his silver hair.
As well as the enhanced realism of the event, there is also a ritualistic quality to it – much more than at a conventional gig. When we entered, it was through a specially fragranced anteroom via a pathway inspired by a Japanese torii gate, which symbolises the transition from secular to sacred worlds. Images of Sakamoto were everywhere, alongside his droll quote: “There is, in reality, a virtual me. This virtual me will not age, and will continue to play the piano for years, decades, centuries. Will there be humans then?”
The current generation of fans are likely to see more virtual stars at concerts, from ABBA in 1970s disco mode to holographic versions of Maria Callas. And while it is hard to imagine a world without the spontaneity and atmosphere that makes live music joyous, such concerts offer new possibilities – including headlining dead performers.
Kagami is scheduled for the 2024 Sydney Opera House and Tennessee’s Big Ears Festival; other international dates are to follow.
Arwa Haider is a music and culture writer based in London
