NHK World documents recordings of the grand piano that were integrated on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s latest album, async, released on Milan Records in 2017.
Ryuichi Sakamoto made several trips to some of the most damaged areas by the 2011’s earthquake and tsunami in his birthplace Japan—and made visits to local schools to find instruments he could use. One of the instruments he came across during his visits was a grand piano found in a school gymnasium in Miyagi Prefecture, to which minor repairments were made, such as attaching sensors to the keys to adapt the instrument into a machine that converts seismic waves into sounds. Sakamoto in this way intends to use the Tsunami Piano as a work of art to present the idea that the disaster should not be forgotten.
Watch the 30 minute documentary by NHK World here.
