'Japan's Beethoven' not even deaf: ghost composer
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TOKYO - The man who was the musical brains behind a supposedly deaf composer dubbed "Japan's Beethoven" claimed Thursday that the mock maestro was not hearing-impaired -- and couldn't even write sheet music.
The startling allegations come a day after composer Mamoru Samuragochi, 50, confessed to hiring another man to write his best-known works, as he shot to fame in the mid-1990s with classical compositions that provided the soundtrack to video games including Resident Evil.
Samuragochi has not responded publicly to the fresh allegations.
In an interview with weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun published Thursday, ghost composer Takashi Niigaki painted the picture of a carefully orchestrated fraud which saw Samuragochi -- who once called his hearing loss a "gift from God" -- play the role of tormented artist.
Niigaki, who said he became fed up with the fictitious story of a "digital-age Beethoven", said the composer would frequently slip out of his deaf persona.
"He may use some hand signs or read lips at the beginning, but he starts carrying on normal conversations as the discussion gets going," the part-time Tokyo music school teacher was quoted as saying.
"I think he had tough time pretending to be completely deaf. Recently, when I met him alone at his home, we talked normally from the start."
AFP
