Japanese synth pioneer Ryo Kawasaki has passed away at 73

Japanese renowned guitarist and synth pioneer Ryo Kawasaki has passed away at the age of 73. Kawasaki's daughter, Tane Kawasaki Saavedra, announced the sad news on Facebook a few days ago. She said: “Just as your name suggests, you did illuminate, set it afire, and your fire will burn forever as your music plays on and we continue to carry your light.”

Ryo Kawasaki's name is synonymous with synthesizers back in the 80s, as he built the first guitar synthesizer with Korg and Roland for the Commodore 64 called the Kawasaki Synthesizer. After the Commodore was released in 1982, he bought it for $600 and thanks to his passion for music and physics, Kawasaki shad become fascinated with its possibilities. It allowed him to program work within two microseconds (we are talking back in the 80s!) and choose the variety of sounds like fugue and calypso to play with. Read an interview with Ryo Kawasaki done in 1984 here.

Besides his pioneer work with synthesizers, Kawasaki was also a lead and representative in the fusion genre. He started out as a jazz guitarist in Japan in the 60s, then he moved to New York in the 70s and worked with other popular jazz musicians like Gil Evans and Elvin Jones. It was then and there that fusion genre was developed and popularised through his work with the band. In the late 80s, Kawasaki dug into dance music and launched his own label, Satellite Records, to tour around nightclubs in New York. He is also the first Japanese Jazz musician to sign to an American label.

Recently, NuNorthern Soul released the back catalogue of Ryo Kawasaki's album 'Lucky Lady' that came out in 1983. All the sounds in the album were created from his custom guitar synthesizer. Listen it below:

[via Tane Kawasaki Saavedra]