It turns out that Mamrou Samuragochi, a deaf composer who’s most famous for his work scoring video games like Resident Evil and Onimusha, um, wasn’t actually composing his music. From Japan Times:
“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.”
Recently, Samuragochi “composed” a violin sonatina that will accompany Japanese figure skater Daisuke Takahashi’s performance at the Sochi Olympics.
Samuragochi’s been using a ghostwriter for at least 10 years, meaning his Hiroshima Symphony, a tribute to atomic bomb victims in the composer’s home city, was also written by someone else. I’d encourage fans of that work who feel defrauded to check out Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, which, for my money, is a much more interesting piece anyway.
