Despite all of my complaints about the original Resident Evil, I thought the music was deftly made. As it turns out, it wasn't even "deafly" made.
I didn't even know that one of RE's main composers was deaf, let alone that we actually praised in the same breath as Beethoven. To hear someone of that prominence admitting to basically defrauding the artistic community for ten (or twenty, depending on the source) years, that's pretty shocking.
The backlash has been pretty severe so far; his label dropped him, his publisher has cancelled one of his upcoming releases, and prospects are grim for his ongoing concert tour. It seems that fans of Mr. Samuragochi will be hearing a very different sound of silence.
The Japan TimesMamoru Samuragochi, a deaf composer of classical music and soundtracks for video games, had someone else write his pieces for more than 10 years, including his best-known score, “Hiroshima Symphony,” a lawyer representing him said Wednesday.
Samuragochi, 50, dubbed a modern Beethoven by the media because of the deafness he shares with the legendary 19th-century German composer, is also not the author of Sonatina for Violin, a piece that will accompany the short program performance of Japanese figure skater Daisuke Takahashi at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, according to the lawyer, who wished to remain completely anonymous.
“I’ve been told that there are certain circumstances that make it hard for the person (who composed the works) to come out in public, and Samuragochi has come to describe himself as the sole composer,” the lawyer said.
Samuragochi is believed to have given his ideas and images for the work he wanted to that person, who then composed the work, according to the lawyer.
Samuragochi “says it is totally inexcusable and he deeply regrets (what happened),” the lawyer said. “He is mentally distressed and not in a condition to properly express his own thoughts.”
I didn't even know that one of RE's main composers was deaf, let alone that we actually praised in the same breath as Beethoven. To hear someone of that prominence admitting to basically defrauding the artistic community for ten (or twenty, depending on the source) years, that's pretty shocking.
The backlash has been pretty severe so far; his label dropped him, his publisher has cancelled one of his upcoming releases, and prospects are grim for his ongoing concert tour. It seems that fans of Mr. Samuragochi will be hearing a very different sound of silence.