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His free-spirited music ignored the boundaries of the genre. “If you’re an artistic person,” he once said, “it’s to break the rules. “
By Mike Rubin
Damo Suzuki, a Japanese singer best known for his role in the respected and influential German experimental rock band Can, his most important period, died on February 9 at his home in Cologne, Germany, at the age of 74.
His death was announced through Can’s label, Spoon Records. No cause has been given, but Suzuki was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014. Initially endowed with a 10% chance of recovery, he underwent more than 40 surgeries over the next decade.
Mr. Suzuki was a free spirit who left Japan as a teenager to lead a nomadic life in Europe. His music ignored genre boundaries and the fact that he made a song sounded like shamanic incantations in a made-up language.
“If you’re an artistic person,” he said in a 2013 interview with The Japan Times, “it’s breaking the rules. If you’re in the middle of the system, you can’t create much. But if you’re outside, you can skip it, start from scratch, and create your own stuff without any influence.
With Can, his enigmatic words, rarely indecipherable, made their way through fluid grooves. His voice can be as melodious as a lullaby (Can’s guitarist Michael Karoli once called him a “loud whisperer”) or as startling as a scream. While his bandmates concentrated on their instruments, Mr. Suzuki moved around the level like a psychedelic imp, barefoot and bare-chested, his face hidden behind a wavy mane of long black hair.
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