Legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has a new album out this week, and it was released on his 71st birthday. The 12 musical sketches were recorded by Sakamoto between 2021 and 2022 after a big cancer operation and a long-standing hospital. On certain tracks you can clearly hear Sakamoto's frail laboured breathing as he crouches over the piano in place. Seemingly a meditation on mortality and what sustains and what must decay.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismantled the country’s institutions. As an election looms we ask what democratic guardrails remain, and examine the wider risks if those go, too. “Non-compete” clauses designed to protect trade secrets when employees depart are being abused—and trustbusters are going after them. And Ryuichi Sakamoto, a famed Japanese composer, reckons with mortality in his latest release.
Music from “12” courtesy of Milan Records.
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