POP MUSIC REVIEW : East Meets, Then Meshes With West in Ryuichi Sakamoto Band

It looked as if the United Nations was in session Tuesday at the Wiltern Theatre. On the right of the stage was a trio of doll-like Okinawan singers, a koto player and an Indian tabla player; on the left a rock band featuring a funk/metal bass-guitar team and a soulful American R & B singer.

This stunningly lit tableau was part of the 11-piece band assembled by Japanese composer-keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto as a showcase for his unique blend of musics from around the world.

In the two-hour show, Sakamoto employed the Okinawans as an Oriental version of the reggae vocal group the I-Threes (on several whopping funk tunes) and the Supremes (on the rocking “Behind the Mask,” a Sakamoto original with lyrics co-written by Michael Jackson), as well as purveyors of traditional Japanese melodies. And guitarist Eddie Martinez was just as likely to be called on to provide delicate Japanese lines as hard-edged funk/metal, while singer Bernard Fowler switched effortlessly between Japanese lyrics and melodies and English-language soul ballads.

But Sakamoto proved the most versatile of them all in a program that showcased the full range of his compositional and performing skills, from the stirring, Oscar-winning score he co-wrote for “The Last Emperor” to complex pop/funk fusion. And despite several mundane slices of straight disco, it was a package of impressive scope and vision.

To drive the “world music” point home, in the middle of the song “Fieldwork” the performers started singing simultaneous renditions of children’s songs from their native cultures (the Americans offered “Shortnin’ Bread”). Though a bit on the cutesy side, the gesture was as effective a one-world statement as any speech at the real U.N.