A famous jazz pianist from Japan has expressed his burning passion for music by playing a flaming piano.

Dressed in a flame retardent suit, Yosuke Yamashita, 66, played an improvised jazz piece as waves lapped at his feet.

The sunset performance took place in front of about 500 spectators on a beach in Ishikawa Prefecture, western Japan.

The piano burst into flames as soon as Mr Yamashita started playing and he continued for a full ten minutes until all the strings were burnt out and the piano went quiet.

Mr Yamashita said: "I did not think I was risking my life but I was almost suffocating from the smoke that was continuously getting into my eyes and nose.

"I had decided to keep on playing until the piano stopped making sounds, so though I did not mean it but it ended up having a life-or-death battle between the piano and myself."

Mr Yamashita said he had performed the same stunt in 1973, but that time it had been the idea of graphic designer Kiyoshi Awazu for the subject of his short film, Burning Piano.

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