While there’s no shortage of shows currently boasting world-beating holograms and augmented reality – the wildly successful Abba Voyage and an Elvis hologram set to thrust his pixels in London – Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum’s Kagami is one of the most intriguing. This is not a sparkling, boozy night out, nor a cash grab by a hungry estate, but something in the middle: intense and dazzling, but equally mournful and pointedly minimal. There’s a good chance you’ve seen little like this before, or will again.
Famed Japanese composer Sakamoto died in March 2023 following a long battle with cancer. Tributes came from Massive Attack, Johnny Marr and Japanese Breakfast, recognising a true original across his pioneering work with Yellow Magic Orchestra and later in motion pictures and the avant-garde scene. Before he passed, he collaborated with digital producers Tin Drum on this mixed reality show, which simultaneously premiered to the public at the Manchester International Festival and in New York this past summer, and is now running at London’s Roundhouse this January.
Kagami – which translates as mirror – was filmed towards the end of Sakamoto’s life. Speaking to The Guardian, Tin Drum’s Todd Eckert said that news that Sakamoto’s cancer had returned came on their first day of filming. Even so, he says “Kagami is not meant to be a historical overview of his career at all,” Eckert says. “It’s supposed to be an energetic snapshot.” Sakamoto has his say in a quote that sits by the entrance to the space: “There is, in reality, a virtual me. This virtual me will not age and will continue to play the piano for years, decades, centuries.”
Kagami rewards those familiar with his work, though the entrance to the performance space provides a brief overview. There’s a photograph of Sakamoto hoisting an Oscar above his head having won Best Original Score for The Last Emperor in 1987; a collection of videos show Sakamoto experimenting with field recordings, tapping objects in the woods, fishing for bubbles in an arctic stream, or placing a bucket over his head in search of the perfect alchemy. His unending quest now continues in this new dimension.
What gives Kagami its resonance is the interactivity with the technology and its subject. The audience is, at first, arranged in a circle in what the New York Times likened to a séance. Overhead glasses place Sakamoto in the middle, his black piano glistening – you are encouraged to walk around the performer, to observe his hands delicately move and his silver hair flop over his face. The occasional bump into a fellow audience member over the 55-minute runtime is expected and grounding, a reminder of who and what is real.
A tentative visual start builds with each song, even if the music – largely reminiscent of his Playing The Piano lockdown session – remains austere: 1999’s ‘Energy Flow’, a surprise Number One hit in his native Japan he tells us, is a welcome change of pace. His best-known theme tunes for the David Bowie-starring 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and The Last Emperor retain their majesty in solo form, but later compositions ‘Aoneko no Torso’ and ‘Aqua’ may leave you moist of eye, his playing so delicate and emotive. The headsets’ whirring noises will disguise any sniffles.
These moments of music magic are supplemented by visuals that push the technology to its limits. There’s nods to Sakamoto’s varied habitats both natural and urban: falling leaves dancing up above and raindrops tumbling into pooled water give way to photos of his native Tokyo whirring past. During ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’, a tree evolves into an image of the whole planet as stars envelope the entire Roundhouse. It is a breathtaking moment that will linger long after the goggles come off. A voice at the beginning warns that there may be imperfections in the images projected, but seldom do you look for or notice them, such is the intensity of the experience.
Beyond the music itself and the technical capabilities, Kagami comes with ethical relief. To know that Sakamoto was engaged with the project at the end of his life and openly pushed its attendees to question the validity of the images in front of them – his resurrection, namely – only strengthens the experience. It’s one that could possibly only work for a master as restless and inventive as himself.
‘Kagami’ by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tin Drum runs at London’s Roundhouse until January 21. Further details