Dai Sakakibara

Dai Sakakibara is a professional pianist/composer/music arranger.
Born in Chiba, Japan in 1967, Dai started playing the piano at the age of 4.
After entering Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music,
Japan’s most prestigious institution of higher education in music, in 1986,
he formed an instrumental band G-CLEF with his friends in 1989.
They made a striking debut with their first album Pell-Mell from Sony Record.
Blessed with their extraordinary musical sense and remarkable performance ability,
G-CLEF broke into new ground of the instrumental fusion music
field and received high appraisal.
In 1990, G-CLEF won the Album Project Award of the Japan Record Awards
for their second album, Goemon (Sony Record).
G-CLEF’s colorful achievements include 7 national tours,
album recording in Los Angeles, and collaboration with top musicians such as
Kazumi Watanabe, one of the most renowned guitarists in Japan.
Dai Sakakibara pursued his career in music further after G-CLEF broke up in 1994,
touring with numerous recording artists including Taro Hakase (violinist) and
playing on their records.
He also composed and did arrangements for TV drama and featured film soundtracks.
Dai has established a reputation in the Japanese music scene for
his powerful playing on the keys and the outstanding ability to
compose and arrange regardless of genre.
With his classically trained skills and high popularity,
Dai launched an eagerly awaited solo album named Trans- (BMG Japan) in January 2001.
His second album Tomorrow followed in 2002, which extended its market to South Korea.
Furthermore, he was part of the arrangement team in
a worldwide-release compilation album,Pachelbel’s Greatest Hit: The Ultimate Canon.
As evidenced by his contribution of the theme music for
a 2004 movie, Magic Kitchen, which hit the screens in Hong Kong and
mainland China, Dai’s career is expanding internationally.
Dai’s third album, As for You was released in 2004.
His Blue Note tour (Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka) was a great success.
In 2005, Dai wrote the score for Fight, an NHK’s “television novel”,
a TV series recognized as among the most popular and emblematic in Japan.
He composed and played the piano for the theme song as well as
the other music for every episode.
The original soundtrack CD for Fight was released in May and was followed by
Dai’s forth album, Piano +, in July.
His nationwide concert tour had a strong turnout at each venue.
Dai’s fifth album, Kazeiro- was released in 2007, and his concert DVD released in 2009.
Official Website: http://www.sakakibaradai.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dai.sakakibara
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DaiSakakibara

Dai Sakakibara