Motoi Sakuraba
{{short description|Japanese composer and keyboardist (born 1965)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Motoi Sakuraba
| native_name = 桜庭 統
| native_name_lang = ja
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|8|5}}
| birth_place = Akita Prefecture, Japan
| alma_mater = Meiji University
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Composer
- keyboardist
}}
| years_active = 1984–present
| module = {{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes
| genre = {{flatlist|
}}
| instrument = {{flatlist|
}}
| label = TEAM Entertainment
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
}}}}
{{nihongo|Motoi Sakuraba|桜庭 統|Sakuraba Motoi|born August 5, 1965}} is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, including the Tales, Star Ocean, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Golden Sun, and Dark Souls series, as well as several other anime series, television dramas, and progressive rock albums.{{cite web|last1=Person|first1=Chris|title=From Dark Souls to Valkyrie Profile: The Motoi Sakuraba Mixtape|url=https://kotaku.com/5920067/from-dark-souls-to-valkyrie-profile-the-motoi-sakuraba-mixtape|website=Kotaku|date=June 22, 2012 |access-date=15 July 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Urrea|first1=Sebastian|title=Composer Analysis: Motoi Sakuraba Composer Analysis: Motoi Sakuraba|url=http://www.originalsoundversion.com/composer-analysis-motoi-sakuraba/|website=Original Sound Version|access-date=15 July 2017}}
Career
Sakuraba was born on August 5, 1965, in Akita Prefecture, Japan.{{cite web|url=https://www.sakuraba-motion.com|title=Motoi Sakuraba Web Site 〜motion〜|access-date=2021-11-19}} While attending Meiji University, Sakuraba began to take music composition seriously and formed the progressive rock band "Clashed Ice" in 1984, consisting of him on keyboards and Genta Kudo on drums and vocals.{{cite web|last1=Chris|first1=Greening|title=Motoi Sakuraba Profile|date=January 20, 2013|url=http://www.vgmonline.net/motoisakuraba/|publisher=Video Game Music Online|access-date=25 August 2014}} After the duo had graduated the following year, they were noticed by music producer Shingo Ueno, and ending up signing with Made in Japan Records. The band had then added bassist Tetsuya Nagatsuma, and was renamed as "Deja Vu".{{Cite web |url=http://www.team-e.co.jp/sakuraba/sakura_pro.html |title=Motoi sakuraba Web Site |access-date=February 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125040032/http://www.team-e.co.jp/sakuraba/sakura_pro.html |archive-date=January 25, 2013 |url-status=dead }} In 1988, the band would release their only studio album, Baroque in the Future, composed by Sakuraba. Although the band disbanded in 1989, Sakuraba would later go on to release another solo album, Gikyokuonsou, in 1991.
In late 1989, Sakuraba began working as a composer for Wolf Team, joining Masaaki Uno and Yasunori Shiono. The professional friendships formed here in Sakuraba's early years have resulted in a great demand for his composing and arranging abilities. In 1994, former Wolf Team director and composer Masaaki Uno started working at Camelot Software Planning as a coordinator and sound director, developing games for Sony, Sega and Nintendo. Sakuraba has been called upon as a composer for many Camelot games, including all of the games in the Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Golden Sun series.
In 1995, Wolf Team developed the breakthrough game Tales of Phantasia for Namco. This and other early games in the Tales series primarily featured Sakuraba and fellow Wolf Team co-worker Shinji Tamura as composers. Also in 1995, former Wolf Team director and producer Jun Asanuma, as well as Tales of Phantasia writer and programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda, founded tri-Ace with financial backing from Enix. The Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile games have been their main franchises. Sakuraba has been the composer for nearly all of their games.
In 1999, long time Sakuraba sound designer and programmer Hiroya Hatsushiba, a former member of Wolf Team and tri-Ace, founded tri-Crescendo. While initially continuing to contribute sound work to tri-Ace games, tri-Crescendo began game development in 2001. Together with Monolith Soft, tri-Crescendo started working on Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean; Namco provided the financial backing. Hatsushiba, as director and main programmer of the project, again called upon Sakuraba's composing services. This has extended to the sequel, Baten Kaitos Origins, and Eternal Sonata. The remnants of Wolf Team later morphed into the Namco Telenet joint subsidiary Namco Tales Studio in 2003.
In 2007, Sakuraba was selected to join a long list of video game composers to arrange music for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He chose to arrange the famous "Menu Theme" from the game's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee. He also arranged "Gourmet Race" from Kirby Super Star, "Jungle Level Ver.2" from Donkey Kong Country, "Mario Tennis / Mario Golf" from Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis, "Victory Road" from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the "Airship Theme" from Super Mario Bros. 3, the "Battlefield Theme", "Final Destination", and "Battle Scene / Final Boss (Golden Sun)" from Golden Sun: The Lost Age''.
Sakuraba then continued to write music for games in franchises he has worked with before, including Star Ocean: The Last Hope,{{cite web|last1=Kotowski|first1=Don|title=Motoi Sakuraba Interview: Diverse New Projects|date=December 15, 2011|url=http://www.vgmonline.net/motoisakurabainterview/|publisher=Video Game Music Online|access-date=March 11, 2016}} Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Mario Tennis Open, Mario Golf: World Tour, and many Tales series games, including Hearts, Graces, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. He has also contributed to other well known games such as the Dark Souls series, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Phantasy Star Nova.{{cite web|last1=Tong|first1=Sophia|title=Sound Byte: Meet the Composer of Dark Souls|url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sound-byte-meet-the-composer-of-dark-souls/1100-6337813/|website=GameSpot|access-date=18 March 2016}} In 2014, he was selected to provide musical arrangements for Brawl's successor, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.{{cite web|title=Musicians who worked on new arrangements for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U versions|url=http://www.smashbros.com/us/music/|website=SmashBros.com|access-date=25 August 2014}} For this title, Sakuraba arranged "Theme from Area 6 / Missile Slipstream" from Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Command, "Battle! (Team Flare)" from Pokémon X and Y, and "The valedictory elegy" from Baten Kaitos Origins.
In addition, Sakuraba has continued to write for non-gaming and anime projects, including solo albums such as "Forest of Glass", "What's Up?", and "Passage", as well as performing on several arrange albums. In the 2020s, he composed for games such as One Piece Odyssey and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.
=Live performances=
During July 2003, Sakuraba held a live concert in Tokyo, Japan. He performed progressive rock interpretations of his music from games Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Star Ocean: Blue Sphere and Valkyrie Profile. His bandmates for this concert were bassist Atsushi Hasegawa (a member of the band Gerard) and drummer Toshihiko Nakamura.{{Cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9493912/|title = Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile (Video 2003) - IMDb| website=IMDb }} As noted, this concert was released on DVD and CD. At the same time as they were rehearsing for the concert, Hasegawa and Nakamura assisted in recording new material for the Director's Cut of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.
The following year, the trio performed another concert. The venue was smaller, but included music from Baten Kaitos and a couple of new, non-game-related pieces. This concert was not officially recorded and released, however. However, in 2006, a new concert was given in celebration of tri-Ace's Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vgmonline.net/motoisakuraba2006/|title = Motoi Sakuraba Live 2006 -Valkyrie Profile-|date = August 2012}}
In September 2011, Sakuraba and his band joined up with the Earthbound Papas in Kawasaki, led by former Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, to perform at Fantasy Rock Fest 2011. The event featured game music performances, along with new progressive rock pieces from both bands. The first six tracks that Sakuraba and his band played were sold at the event as a preview CD for his then-upcoming solo album After all..., which was released by Strange Days Records on October 19, 2011.
In June 2015, Sakuraba performed at the Tales of Festival at the Yokohama Arena, being the first time he performed tracks from the Tales series at a live event.{{cite web|title=Tales of Festivle 2015 Cast|url=http://tof.tales-ch.jp/cast/|access-date=27 March 2015}} A selection of Sakuraba's music from the Dark Souls and Tales series was performed live at the Salle Pleyel concert hall in Paris in February 2017.{{cite web|last1=Osborn|first1=Alex|title=Dark Souls to Be Featured in Bandai Namco's Orchestral Concert in Europe|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/12/20/dark-souls-to-be-featured-in-bandai-namcos-orchestral-concert-in-europe|website=IGN|date=December 20, 2016 |access-date=17 January 2017}} The event, known as "Orchestral Memories", featured a guest appearance by Sakuraba. The 2020 Tales of Festival featured an original song by him called "Endless Journey", dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the series.{{cite web|first=Jenni|last=Lada|date=June 15, 2020|url=https://www.siliconera.com/tales-of-dream-project-the-tales-25th-anniversary-song/|title=Hear Leon, Lloyd, Zelos, Luke, Yuri, Sorey, and Mikleo Sing the New Tales of Festival Song|website=Siliconera|access-date=July 16, 2020}}
Notable works
=Video games=
=Anime / television / film=
| class="wikitable sortable" width="auto" |
| scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Title ! scope="col"|Role(s) |
|---|
| 2000
| Music |
| rowspan="2" | 2001
| Music |
| Saiyuki: Requiem
| Music |
| rowspan="2" | 2002
| Music |
| Weiß Kreuz Glühen
| Music |
| 2003
| Music |
| 2008
| Music |
| 2014
| Tales of Zestiria: Dawn of the Shepherd | Music with Go Shiina |
| 2016
|Music with Go Shiina |
=Independent albums=
| class="wikitable sortable" width="auto" |
| scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Album |
|---|
| 1991 |
| 2008
| Forest of Glass |
| 2011
| After All... |
| rowspan="2" | 2013
| What's Up? |
| Passage |
References
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://sakuraba-motion.com}} {{in lang|ja}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakuraba, Motoi}}
Category:Japanese film score composers
Category:Japanese male film score composers
Category:Japanese rock keyboardists
Category:Japanese rock musicians
Category:Japanese television composers
Category:Japanese video game composers
Category:Japanese male television composers
Category:Musicians from Akita Prefecture
Category:Progressive rock musicians
Category:Progressive rock keyboardists