I guess so (or actually the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic medal/a World title with the help of an all Japanese team, including his coaches, physical tainer, choreographer, nutritionist, manager etc. while using music by a Japanese songwriter). The music itself is probably best described as “cross-cultural” as Coba incorporates non-Japanese influences into his songwriting, having lived and studied in Europe and worked with artists like Björk. The accordion itself is an instrument that originated in Austria. “Eye” was definitely an original choice by figure skating standards though!
"
Sonatina for violin in C-sharp minor" was still written by a Japanese composer (
Takashi Niigaki), just not the one it was originally associated with (
Mamoru Samuragochi).
Niigaki used the attention the piece received thanks to being skated to at the Olympics to reveal that he had been ghostwriting for Samuragochi for 18 years. Daisuke got caught in the middle of the fuss and had to speak out about it, even if the matter had nothing to do with him.
For his comeback in 2018 he also skated to "
The sheltering sky" by Ryuichi Sakamoto. (I didn’t include it, because it’s the score for a British-Italian movie set in North Africa.)
Thanks to both of you for pointing these programs out – I think there are several more, probably even quite a few from before the 2000s. It’s not easy to find them, because program lists from that time are hard to come by. Maybe people who watched figure skating before the 2000s remember some of them.
Two more:
- In 2011/12 Takahiko Kozuka skated to “Fantasia for Nausicaa“ by Joe Hisaishi.
- And thanks to the mention of Tatsuki Machida, I realized he also skated to “Zatoichi” – even before Nobu did!
If we include exhibitions the list gets veeery long. I focused on competitive programs, because it has been theorised that skaters from non-Western countries don't choose music from their own culture because they fear that it might negatively impact their scores.
The same applies to “Memoirs of a geisha” programs – Japanese theme, but the music was written by an American composer for an American production.
I used to love Muse (mainly from "Showbiz" to “Black holes and revelations”) and saw them live many times. For me the problem is that in skating they are nearly reduced to “Exogenesis part 3”, which has been skated to to death to the point I can’t stand listening to it anymore – it has become a modern warhorse (still love part 1 "Overture" though). Unfortunately few of their other songs have ever been selected. Off the top of my head I recall “Butterflies and Hurricanes” (great choice by Sergei Voronov!), “Supermassive black hole”, “Uprising” and “The Void/Madness” (and I think Bekker/Hernandez are doing a Muse medley this season).
If skaters want to be truly original they should skate to "Micro Cuts" or "Execution commentary".
On a serious note: I would love to see programs to "Knights of Cydonia" or "Map of the problematique"!
