Chiaki Ishikawa

Chiyo the cat passed away on Saturday night 15 March 2014:

https://twitter.com/ishikawachiaki3/status/445157749174071296

ishikawachiaki石川智晶 ‏@ishikawachiaki3 3h
昨夜、飼い猫チヨが亡くなりました。 Twitterに何度も登場させ皆様から温かい言葉もらいました。16才。寂しいです。ほんとに。寂しいと思えることを逆に濃密に過ごした証などだと思い抱きしめていこうと思います。ありがとうございました。 http://ow.ly/i/4UQ1a

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:omg::omgz:Sayonara Chiyo and welcome to Heaven for cats! She was so furry and cute... but no one is eternal
 
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Just to preserve the two articles above:

Otakon 2013 – Ishikawa Chiaki Q&A
Posted on August 25, 2013 by I-hsiu Lin
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When I got to the panel room, I asked the staff about the photo policy for Ishikawa-san. (For singers, you can never tell.) At first, the manager stated that there’ll be a specific photo time at the end, but since it was such a small crowd, Ishikawa-san allowed everyone to take photos. *audience applauds*




  • Ishikawa: I look like this, but if you want to take my photo, go ahead!
    Fans: Thank you!


    Ishikawa: I’m Ishikawa Chiaki. Konnichiwa! Are you have fun here? Thank you for asking me to come for Otakon’s 20th Anniversary. I’m so happy to be here. I’m having a great time. This is 20th for me too so I’m really happy to be here. *fans applauds*


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We jumped right in to the Q&A.




  • Q: I’m a fan of See-Saw so it is great to meet you. What do you think of your music right now in comparison to when you started?
    Ishikawa: Thank you! I had fun creating music with See-Saw and Kajiura Yuki. However, now that I’m by myself, I can create my own vision and to be able to do that is so much easier on me.
    MC: Does everyone know See-Saw? *audience cheers*


    Q: You have themes for many anime. Have you watched any of those shows? Which is your favorite?
    Ishikawa: I actually try to watch all the anime that I sung for. I enjoy that. A favorite for me is Bokurano. But I also like Majestic Prince.

    Q: You worked with Kajiura Yuki in See-Saw. How did you end up collaborating?
    Ishikawa: How it started was that my sister was in a band with Kajiura-san. In that band, the vocalist suddenly quit. I understand that there was some sort of trouble. There was a date when they had a live. I was the last minute replacement. Most bands sang songs that are by other people. In this band, I was singing songs that Kajiura-san created. We started the band and at the beginning, there were alot of J-pop songs. I started performing and I was singing J-pop songs with See-Saw and the type of voices that Kajiura-san and I had did not go so well. We didn’t sell that well. We tried our best to create new songs and we gave it a shot. Before, we weren’t very successful and we decided to suspend the group. We were doing different work for awhile. There were songs that she was singing and approached me saying that there may be songs that I should sing. That’s how See-Saw changed their direction and we started signing anime songs. It seems to be a better match for both of us and our voices. Anime seems to match the kind of tone that we have.

    Q: About the uniqueness of ‘Namida’….
    Ishikawa: The song that you mentioned, ‘Namida’ can be done with just the piano. Usually when you think of anime songs, you would think of songs with a fast tempo, rock-types. My songs aren’t like that. Usually I would just stand straight and move my feet.

    Q: Is there a singer who you always want to collaborate with
    Ishikawa: There is an event in Japan called Anime Summer. It is a large anime song event and I recorded with several different musicians there including [Minori] Chihara. I had a chance to work with various female artists, but now there are some good looking male artists. *audience laughs*

    Q: Work that she is doing recently….
    Ishikawa: Recently, the new thing that I’m trying to get into more is to work with new artists and producing them. There are many new artists that want singing anime songs. My specialty is working with multiple voices.

    Q: You have scored alot of anime songs. Have you ever thought about scoring soundtracks? If you did, would you become Kajiura’s rival?
    Ishikawa: I don’t think I can be the rival of Kajiura-san. I actually started to do a bit of soundtrack work. One of recent works that I have done is an anime called Kamisama Dolls. I was asked to express a sound with my voice. I did that as part of the soundtrack. Perhaps this is my entryway into the world of soundtracks.

    Q: Alot of people on youtube and Nico nico douga has done covers of your songs. Have you ever listened to a cover of your own songs? How do you feel about it?
    Ishikawa: I have heard and seen the songs. I heard them and alot of times, I just go ‘wow….’ Alot of them I watch and say, ‘if you keep on singing the melody, you’ll do really well….’

    Q: Which artists or musicians do you listen to?
    Ishikawa: It is not very difficult to find songs that I can listen to or relax to. One of kind of music that I do listen to is the Irish fiddle.

    Q: Have you met with any other artists after a concert for a drinking party? Do you have any stories to share from those experiences?
    Ishikawa: There was a 2, 3 day event with 28,000 people. It was a very large event and people stayed [to hang out]. We do getogether for a short while for kanpai, but than we go our separate ways.


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  • Q: You were a vocalist with See-Saw. But before you were a vocalist, were you making songs? How did you start composing songs?
    Ishikawa: I started out in the church choir and that led me to a chorus group. At that time, I imagined this is where I’ll end up. I met Kajiura-san and we made the band at first. As mentioned, it didn’t turn out so well. In order to try to sell our band, we made alot of songs. At that point, Kajiura-san was so exhausted that she couldn’t create any new songs. At that time, she was asked to compose a song for an actress. She said that she couldn’t do it so I said, ‘Maybe I can do it.’ So I bought a computer and started composing. The song is in the single cd with that singer. That was how I started composing.


    Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
    Ishikawa: To be honest, I don’t remember when I as young. There wasn’t anything that I really wanted to do as a child. However, I felt that I always had this passion inside of me. I would do something…if it wasn’t music, than it would be a painter. Something that I could spend on my energy on to work with my passion. *audience applauds*

    Q: You have a favorite character of an anime series that you worked on?
    Ishikawa: Characters hm….perhaps it would be the kids in Bokurano. Very interesting, it is a series with a character who is the hero that wants to save the whole world, but he actually dies in the first episode. So I really like the series.

    Q: Have you seen the anime Simoun? What do you think of it?
    Ishikawa: I have seen it as I have worked on it. Of course I like it!

    Q: What do you think of wotagei, people dancing with glowsticks at your concerts?
    Ishikawa: What I see more often in comparison to other artists, is that when I come out, everyone stops. Most people aren’t dancing…they’re just standing there. Kind of like their rest period. Sometimes they are standing for five hours, jumping very actively, drinking 2 liter bottles to stay hydrated. I don’t mind people dancing my songs. As long as they enjoy my music. If that is how they enjoy my music, that is fine.

    Q: Ishikawa-san, your lyrics are very deep. There are alot of meaning to it. It feels like you overcome the barrier of language since your songs are sung here too. How do you feel about that?
    Ishikawa: I seem to be doing alot of series with boys in anime like Gundam Seed. I feel like I am creating songs about the feelings of the characters. I am sensitive about that and of course, characters have different feelings with themselves and I want to express them. I think when people create songs, they try to put feelings into it to express themselves. That puts the soul into the lyrics, and that may be why it overcomes the barrier of language. *audience applauds*

    Q: You do a lot of amazing anime songs. How are you picking songs for your concert tomorrow?
    Ishikawa: Before I sing, I try to find out what is popular there. I sing alot of Gundam songs, but in China Sengoku Basara is very popular. I try to put that into my performance. I had a hard time deciding on what is popular here. I didn’t put alot of Gundam Seed songs in…I wonder if that is okay. *audience laughs*

    Q: As a result of your success, have you ever gotten recognize by fans?
    Ishikawa: I don’t seem to be recognized on the street. Its not that I wear anything fancy. I usually don’t want to be recognized, I look just like a regular woman.

    Q: Have you ever considered working with someone like Gackt or other artists?
    Ishikawa: Gackt does fantastic work. But for collaborations…maybe younger guys. *audience laughs*

    Q: As a Gundam otaku, I am disappointed that you didn’t include Gundam songs. But do you do anything, have a hobby to relieve stress?
    Ishikawa: I don’t do alot, but I like to do lacework…and drinking to relieve my stress.

    Q: You write your own music, but has there been a time when the director ask you to change your music?
    Ishikawa: With works like Gundam, the director has alot of ideas that he wants to accomplish. He would look at my ideas and suggest ‘maybe a piano here,’ or ‘do this another way’. Of course, there are times I don’t want to compromise and it is something that I do bring up. It’s a process where we go in discussion. It was never that I create one thing and I’m okay from the start.
    Fan: I’m young…would you collaborate with me? *audience laughs*

    Q: What is the composing process for you?
    Ishikawa: The process is a collaboration work between me and the director. He presents me with a scenario and some images, sometimes it’s one picture that I can work off of. Based on what I’m presented with, I try to imagine the story plays out at the end. And than I work with that, imagining how it would be on tv. Animation has a progressive creative process. *audience applauds*


My question (at the end) closed out the Q&A.




  • Ishikawa: I’ll be performing tomorrow. I would love for you to be there. After Otakon, it may be awhile before I return. Since you are here, you must like anime and anime songs. Lots of people in Japan, the directors who are working with the animators, seiyuu work very hard at it. I want you all to learn more about each of those works and be more of a fan of those works. Thank you very much for being here!
Second article (Chiaki Ishikawa part only):

Otakon 2013 – Ishikawa Chiaki concert
Posted on August 25, 2013 by I-hsiu Lin
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Ishikawa Chiaki-san opened the concert with four songs. Press was allowed to take photos for the first two. The second song, ‘Uninstall’ was met with high cheers and chorused singing from the fans.

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She went into a special bridge for the song…but the security thought it was a new song so asked us to stop shooting. The video that accompanied the concert was grey ambiance and mixed scenes recorded scenes of flowers and trees. Unfortunately, what was shown on the side screens was what was shown in the overflow room. So for Ishikawa-san’s short opening concert, the audience in that room didn’t see Ishikawa at all. That was bad planning on Otakon’s part.

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  • 01. TW
    02. Uninstall (Bokurano OP)
    03. Gyakko
    04. Fukanzen Nenshow


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The song showcased Ishikawa-san’s beautifully strong voice, ethereal melodies. Unfortunately, the video that accompanied the pieces were not complimentary to the music that we are hearing live. But that is fine, as my focus was the music that flowed from the stage.

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Wow the See-Saw info in that interview was very juicy! :dote:
So it seems they are still friends (since they menthion each other, and their collab period with no problem in contrary with what Sony does for maya)
But Chiaki still didnt explain why they stopped working after Kimi wa boku ni niteiru, considering that the new scheme was successful @_@ and wow if Yuki was out of inspiration while she was only compsing See-Saw songs, how does she manage to find so much more inspiration now ?
 
^ I think she meant YK was trying to make a lot of songs that were tailored more to mainstream j-pop instead of her own style, and that's why she ran out of inspiration, since they weren't the songs she wanted to write
 
After finally opening the lyric sheet for Aqua Terrarium, I found out that Chiaki Ishikawa had written the music and produced the song, and that Nagi Yanagi had written the lyrics.
 
http://ameblo.jp/chiakiishikawa/entry-11801392594.html

2014年03月21日
今週末 3/23日（日）「タワーレコード新宿店　トーク&握手サイン会」！！
テーマ：ブログ
皆様、こんばんは。

3月も真ん中に来ましたが寒さが残りますね。
先週、飼い猫ちよが亡くなりました。16才まで立派に生きました。

最後まで気丈に毅然としていて、プライドを持った猫でした。
ちよのような猫に人生の中で会えたこと、長い長い間過ごしたことを喜びとします。

大変寂しいのですが、これは私がこのちよ猫と濃い時間を過ごしたのだという証でしょう。
なのでこの寂しさを何かに代えることは無理にしないつもりです。
香港から訳あって一日早く帰ってきて、そうでなけれれば最後にちよ猫に
会えなかったかもしれません。待っていてくれたのかなと思います。

ああすれば良かった、こうすれば良かったと、
たとえどんなに幸せな終わり方をしても後悔はどこまでも続きます。
それこそ愛と情いう姿なのです。
私の生活が新たになります。
この数ヶ月の間、あらゆる選択をせざる得ない状況と別れがいろいろとありました。
この大きな流れも石川智晶ならではと静かに思っています。

皆様に私がこれから目にしていくものと、皆様の毎日がどう繋がるかはわかりませんが
皆様の前に、または後ろに居るつもりで音を紡いでいきます。
ご心配かけました。

今週の日曜日、タワーレコード新宿店にて、アルバム発売イベントを開催します！
是非、会いに来てくださいね。
～裏窓からみえるモノ公演～

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石川智晶「前夜」3月5日発売記念イベントを開催！

タワーレコード新宿店
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3/23日（日）開演 18:00～「タワーレコード新宿店　トーク&握手サイン会」
場所 タワーレコード新宿店 7Fイベントスペース

参加方法：タワーレコード新宿店、渋谷店にて、
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アニメイト渋谷店
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3/30日（日）開演 14:00～「アニメイト渋谷店　握手サイン会」参加券配布終了
石川智晶アルバム～前夜】3月5日（水）発売中！

舞台「戦国BASARA宴弐」
劇中歌「青の中の青」「前夜」をはじめ、 銀河機攻隊マジェスティックプリンス
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Wow, I haven't visited this thread in quite a while. Shame on me.

Thank you for posting that interview; I loved it. It seems almost as insightful as the Kalafina Record interviews.

Also, I clicked on Ishikawa's newest tweet, and Google translate told me Chiyo had died....wow...I'm sorry for her loss.
 
:nophoto:
【大阪公演】4/6（日）大阪IMPホール
石川智晶「裏窓からみえるモノ」　
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