“Music, work and life all have a beginning and an ending. What I want to make now is music freed from the constraints of time.”
—Ryuichi Sakamoto

As we near the one year anniversary of his death, Left Handed Dream: Celebrating the Music & Film of Ryuichi Sakamoto offers an illuminating program centring the lasting influence of Japanese composer-musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and his contributions to contemporary culture. Comprising both film screenings and specially commissioned music performances, audiences are invited to experience the musical sensitivities of an artist at pace with the present, yet never out of pace with history.

Join Sydney-based, Tokyo-born synth artist and vocalist Elmo Aoyama as she explores her musical connection to Ryuichi, which she likens to a bird’s nest of cables.

Playing live using a combination of synthesisers, samplers, drum machines, as well as electro-acoustic instrumentation, the result will be a journey through time, space and moods — cinematic and sombre; sometimes playful, sometimes hypnotic with a pulsating beat underneath.

For Aoyama, the opportunity to pay homage to an artist with such a singular influence on her practice is significant: “It takes a rare talent like Sakamoto to borrow a brand-new electronic sound and return it with elements of Japanese Folk and Western Classical, layered with a cascading brightness to create something uniquely Japanese.”

Expect a performance that is part recital, part DJ set; crossing bridges of influence to compress geography and time on the floor of Phoenix.

About Elmo Aoyama
Elmo Aoyama is a Sydney-based, Tokyo-born synth artist and vocalist curiously exploring the relationship between memory, time and space. Layering synths, tuned percussion and vocals, Elmo’s live sets take you on a sensory journey through organised chaos and nostalgia.