| She dances, plays the piano and composes breathtaking scores, but does
she sing? That's been one of the questions often asked by fans of Yoko
Kanno, known for her soundtracks for memorable anime movies and TV series.
Kanno, enthusiastic as ever, was coy about that question. "Me? I can not
tell you. Gabrielle Robin? It's a top secret...imagine," Kanno said during
an interview session. |
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| Kanno dancing? She said that she took ballet lessons once, and that
she often composes music as if it was for a dance instead of a film. "Sometimes
I imagine dancing along with the theme, or if it's a military theme, I
see a military parade to my music. If the music is serious, I end up crying
while I compose it." Kanno sees colors in the many key signatures: D-major,
known to most as the key of the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah by Georg
Friderc Handel, has a "lonely feeling" for Kanno. |
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| "I can't imagine how I got so famous," Kanno said, yet that fame has
led to a busy life. Along with her anime and live-action film soundtracks,
Kanno writes music for two or three Japanese TV commercials a week, very
important in that nation where the "TV tie-up" can make a song into a hit.
When Kanno creates an album, she takes control to the point of writing
the liner notes and producing the album covers. |
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| Yet, for all of Kanno's fame in writing anime scores, she doesn't watch
any anime - or television for that matter - other than the shows that feature
her music. Perhaps that's to keep the music flowing through her head. "I'm
still not at the level I can be," she said. Now, it's very low. There is
more cool and beautiful music in my brain, but I can't express it." |
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