Wednesday’s Agence France-Presse (2/5) reports that Mamoru Samuragochi, “a deaf composer known as Japan’s Beethoven, has confessed to hiring someone to write his most famous works…. Samuragochi, 50, shot to fame in the mid-1990s with classical compositions that provided the soundtracks to video games including Resident Evil, despite having had a degenerative condition that affected his hearing. But in a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Samuragochi has apologised to his ‘betrayed fans’ over the fraud. Samuragochi (who also spells his name Samuragoch) became completely deaf at the age of 35 but continued to work as a composer, notably producing Symphony No. 1, ‘Hiroshima,’ a tribute to those killed in the 1945 atomic bombing of the city…. Viewers [of Melody of the Soul, a documentary aired on NHK last March] flocked in their tens of thousands to buy his Hiroshima piece, which became an anthemic tribute to the tsunami-hit region’s determination to get back on its feet…. The broadcaster [NHK] quoted Samuragochi as saying his deception had begun nearly two decades ago.… Nippon Columbia Co, which has sold his CDs and DVDs, said in a statement that the company was ‘flabbergasted and deeply infuriated’ by his revelation.” The real composer has not yet been identified.
Posted February 6, 2014
