Japanese composer Mamoru Samuragoch has revealed that he paid another person to write his most praised music.
Samuragoch is a celebrated icon because he is deaf and has been hailed as the “Japanese Beethoven” according to CNN.
Samuragoch became famous after composing music for the Playstation 2 game Demon Warriors and the 1996 movie Cosmos.
His most famous piece, Symphony No. 1 Hiroshima, was released in 2011 and is a tribute to the people who died in the 1945 bombing. The Telegraph reports Samuragoch admitted this work was also written by someone else.
Takashi Niigaki, a lecturer at Toho Gakuen School of Music, is the man who claims to be Samuragoch’s ghost-writer, CNN reports.
Nijgaki was allegedly paid about 69,000 USD over two decades to compose the music. Nijgaki announced today he believes that Samuragoch isn’t deaf at all because he would regularly listen and provide feedback about the pieces.
Japanese Olympic figure skater Daisuke Takahashi is set to skate to one of Samuragoch’s work. He released a statement saying he did not know of the fraud but plans to use the work anyway.
