Rei Harakami

Who was Rei Harakami?

Rei Harakami was a Kyoto-based electronic musician from Hiroshima, Japan. He composed and mixed on two Roland SC-88Pro sound generators, at times supplemented by the Roland SK-88Pro keyboard model. He suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage on 27 July 2011.

Rei released his debut album in 1998 on Sublime Records. Follow-up albums, opa*q in 1999 and red curb in 2001 showcased his skills as an artist and producer. Rei's growing reputation resulted in his becoming in demand as a producer and collaborator for artists such as UA, Great 3 and Coldcut. His recent collaboration as an artist and producer was on Akiko Yano's 2004 album, Honto no Kimochi, and resulted in widespread recognition in Japan.

Rei regularly performed at some of Japan's big festivals such as Fuji Rock Festival, Rising Sun Rock Festival, and Sonar Sound Tokyo. Rei had also actively participated in several music showcases in France and Germany and in Sonar 2005 in Barcelona, Spain where he appeared with Shiro Takatani.

His fourth album in 2005, lust, quickly gained popularity in a variety of music scenes. In 2006, Harakami released new and past works on the compilation album Wasuremono and a project CD Colors of the Dark for the Planetarium. In 2007, he composed the music for the film Tennen Kokekko based on Fusako Kuramichi's novel of the same name, centered around a group of teenagers in rural Japan. Harakami also started a project with Akiko Yano, called yanokami, which debuted in 2007.