Mamoru Fujisawa, professionally known as Joe Hisaishi, was born December 6th 1950 in Nakano, Japan. He is a Japanese composer, musical director, pianist and conductor. Since 1981, Hisaishi has scored over 100 films and has made his own albums. His personal music and film scores are recognized for their creative mix of genres which include minimalist, experimental electronic, Western classical, and Japanese classical. Not only is he a producer, director, and instrument player (piano, keyboard, and violin), but we has also worked as a musical engraver and arranger.
Joe Hisaishi has been in close association with director and friend Hayao Miyazaki, who is the creative mind behind the well known and stunning Studio Ghibli films like “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Spirited Away”, “Ponyo”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, Porco Rosso”, “Princess Mononoke”, “Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind”, “The wind Rises”, “The Boy and The Heron”, and more. Hisaishi has scored all, except one, of Hayao Miyazaki’s films and has scored many of Takeshi Kitano’s films, such as “A Scene At the Sea”, “Sonatine”, and more.
Hisaishi’s interest in music began at the age of four when he started to learn the violin using the Suzuki method. He also had an interest in films early on in this life as he watched hundreds of movies with his father every year. He went to Kunitachi College of Music, where he majored in music composition. During his time there, he worked with multiple minimalist artist as a music engraver. one of his first out of many major works was in 1974, when he wrote music from the anime series “Gyaturuzo”. In 1985, he founded his own record studio and in 1989 he released his first studio album.
Hisaishi’s work has been recognized through multiple awards and honors like winning 7 Japanese Academy awards for Best Music, being awarded Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Music Prize, receiving the Medal of Honor with purple ribbon from the gouvernment of Japan, being nominated for a Golden Glob for Best Original Score for “The boy and the heron, and much more.
