「Kalafina Anniversary LIVE 2025」15th January Tokyo Garden Theater (NO KAJIURA INVOLVEMENT)

juchanx3 said:
This would be perfect if had the caption "just met with Kajiura-san to talk about a new album" 🥲
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I was thinking yesterday, as I tend to do from time to time, about Kalafina and Kajiura. I was again reminded of the fact that it takes a particular type of composer to create a particular style and expression of music. Composers are not stylistically interchangeable, not even in classical music.

Kajiura's music is only possible because it comes from her. She is the only person really writing her style of music including the layered live vocal harmonies in her particular structure, AND her particular chord progressions. It's part of the reason I always chuckle internally when some people act like Kalafina's music can just exist going forward (as it has been) sans Kajiura. It will become something different.

I am really curious about them working with another composer, and whether that person will attempt to emulate Kajiura's vocal harmony sensibilities (which is a major part of Kalafina's signature, or rather Kajiura's signature on Kalafina vocals 😉 ), or just have them sing basic straight harmonies throughout.

Even if they get eminent composers like Yoko Kanno, or Sawano, or Revo, to write for them as Kalafina, HKW’s blend would sound very different from the music they've been known for all these years. It's just inevitable. It could still be epic, but it would be very different.

Oh, and this applies (though, to a much lesser degree) to the FBM as well. A veteran music unit plays in a way that is recognizable, with their own imprint/fingerprint.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
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Even if they get eminent composers like Yoko Kanno, or Sawano, or Revo, to write for them as Kalafina, HKW’s blend would sound very different from the music they've been known for all these years. It's just inevitable. It could still be epic, but it would be very different.
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Tbh, maybe change is good? They have a TON of Kajiura material already. Maybe a different composer brings something new out of them that surprises us pleasantly I think Kalafina needs a post YK arc. In a way it’s be nice the girls have songs that fit their current voices and needs rather than trying to mimic a different time where their bodies were different
 
Lúa said:
Tbh, maybe change is good? They have a TON of Kajiura material already. Maybe a different composer brings something new out of them that surprises us pleasantly I think Kalafina needs a post YK arc. In a way it’s be nice the girls have songs that fit their current voices and needs rather than trying to mimic a different time where their bodies were different
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i agree that Kalafina probably needs a non-Kajiura (and I would say non-SC, just for the way they handled the group) discography to prove their pedigree and clout as a group, outside of Kajiura's overwhelming musical influence and the safety and familiarity of working with SC.

SC own the trademark of the brand (and of course of the music, partly), so I guess they're stuck with them. This is part of the issue with artists having much of their identity and discography owned by corporations: little-to-no wiggle room to negotiate and take your destiny in your own hands.

Kajiura's music will always be their guaranteed bread-and-butter though, in my opinion. Just too formative and influential/known for the group, and they have generations that have grown with the music/tie-in shows, who will always want to hear those songs when the group performs.
 
I prefer, if they do any new projects or lives, they use their names and not Kalafina. While the name does carry some marketing weight, I feel it's done as a working entity.

If they do any new recordings, using their names would be best. Maybe they can do some soft selling of the idea with trio songs on their solo projects.
 
Yes Kalafina had a certain alure and atmosphere, artistic and music stlyle , kinda mysterious, magical etc You can grab it seeing the coverarts and MVs for their debut promo photos, oblivious sprinter fairytale or even magia. In contract what the 3 tried to do in their solo careers was totally different entirely and they give off the same kind of style on their IRL pics. So yea i think they need to find a new name, maybe Kalapername ('we have fun' in greek :ohoho: )
 
Ghost Reaper said:
I prefer, if they do any new projects or lives, they use their names and not Kalafina. While the name does carry some marketing weight, I feel it's done as a working entity.

If they do any new recordings, using their names would be best. Maybe they can do some soft selling of the idea with trio songs on their solo projects.
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Interesting... I like the idea.

It's kind of how Kajiura went to the FSN 20 with just their names (her, Hikaru, Keiko, LINO LEIA) to do a cover of a "Kalafina" song (which went over many fans' heads 🙄).

So as I imagine it, if at all possible, they can do grand "Kalafina" concerts with the usual SC support to keep the nostalgia money and fandom group alive, and for new songs (from other composers) just do like acoustic lives like JUMP OUT! with just their names and sing re-arrangements / covers of popular/classic non-Kajiura songs + introducing new songs and concepts.

They can even have sections in the same H+k+W concert where they sing solo spotlights, like blending in a bit of Keiko's Japanese classic stuff on her channel (and maybe have the others sing an arranged harmony section out of frame or something), then some duet songs (Keiko/Wakana of course) then come back to do songs with all three of them.
 
I remember Kajiura saying somewhere (maybe when she was leaving SC?) that she "forced" them to sing only her songs for a decade. Though, I think that was just a face-saving tactic to say "mea culpa" (it's partly my fault), and show some remorse for the fact she was leaving the group back then, but it also showed that she believed in them to forge their own future together, even if she was no longer there.

She really didn't force them to do anything. She created the group in collaboration with the powers that be that also required them to keep performing songs (which were written by her, of course), and the ladies got to develop into a respected and beloved group releasing top-charting songs and albums.
 
^ She wasnt the one who wrote their contract. She probably meant "they were forced to sing my songs" (i.e from the contract terms). Kajiura also had her own contracts with Sacra and SC i suppose, and its because they pressure her to do many projects that she didnt like is why she ended up leaving. (She talks about that in her recent interviews that in the past when she was 30 and 40s she was doing projects even she didnt like them to make money, but now that she has enough, she will focus on lives and only do stuff she enjoys to do)
 
Forced in a way that they are only known because of Kajiura’s music. To be honest, I don’t want to be brutal, but they can’t go big just by their solo works or if it’s not Kajiura’s music ( before and after Spacecraft ). The three of them can harmonize, but it takes a YUKI KAJIURA to make them sound like Kalafina.
If Kalafina does collab performances with other artists and they make up their own harmony ( Kotoko, etc ) their harmonies sound generic, easy and in some cases, unpleasant. Kajiura because of her expertise in making harmonies ( we can hear this in how she makes the strings section for her music ) she can make wonderful harmonies for Kalafina. What makes Kalafina better with Kajiura? Kajiura knows their voices. Kajiura is in love with their voices. Kajiura creates the music with Kalafina’s voices in mind. She knows how to properly place their voices. That’s why there is no such thing as a lead singer in Kalafina. Their roles kept switching up and their voices are properly executed because of Kajiura’s guidance.
Yes. They can harmonize. But Kajiura is the one that made the musical world building of Kalafina.

I am excited to hear how they would sound like post YK era. Their solo stuffs don’t impress me anymore. I mean I love them and support them but musically speaking, their solo works sound generic and doesn’t move me like how they sound like in Kalafina.
In their recent Kalafina live, Keiko is the one who can still sing well with consistency. Hikaru for reason can’t sing as powerful as before. Wakana can’t control her vibrato to the point that she sounded like a goat. It took so much editing to make them sound good in the live performance. I remember Kajiura guiding them in their previous performances. I hope a new composer will take care of Kalafina.
 
george1234 said:
^ She wasnt the one who wrote their contract. She probably meant "they were forced to sing my songs" (i.e from the contract terms). Kajiura also had her own contracts with Sacra and SC i suppose, and its because they pressure her to do many projects that she didnt like is why she ended up leaving. (She talks about that in her recent interviews that in the past when she was 30 and 40s she was doing projects even she didnt like them to make money, but now that she has enough, she will focus on lives and only do stuff she enjoys to do)
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Thanks for referring to the recent interviews. It was a challenging time for her as well, it seems.
 
toshiroukajiura said:
The three of them can harmonize, but it takes a YUKI KAJIURA to make them sound like Kalafina.
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I agree with this. Many fans don't realize how much Kajiura's musical philosophy shaped them, even as singers. Keiko went from being a generic pop/rock singer to embracing her control, depth/maturity and singing in the more classic style, that Kajiura required of her, which eventually defined her singing style.
toshiroukajiura said:
If Kalafina does collab performances with other artists and they make up their own harmony ( Kotoko, etc ) their harmonies sound generic
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Thank you! Kajiura's genius is in the way she hears the melodies and the vocal tones, and the harmonic structure/changes in her mind, and then selects her singers to deliver them. Not many composers, even the top ones we often mention have this skill (or have demonstrated it) to handle multiple vocalists with complex harmonies, wide ranges, and have the singers switch parts (Revo shows this to an extent). It's what Kalafina is known for, and it originates from Kajiura.
toshiroukajiura said:
That’s why there is no such thing as a lead singer in Kalafina.
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I would say Wakana was the representative voice of Kalafina since the others, more often than not, harmonized to her lead melody, especially in the earlier songs - most of the ballad-style tracks. The climactic or emotional parts were also mostly tuned to her delivery in that sense.

I think that is obvious because, in my mind, thinking about it now, she's the one with the strongest traditional diva/singing posture (note, I didn't say vocal consistency) as a soloist, especially in terms of classic/ballad-style songs. Yes, Keiko is more stable within her contralto range, but she's just getting used to handling that central lead singing position, while Wakana has always had that expectation from Kajiura on her since the Kalafina days.

Keiko's songs tend to be less demanding vocally to deliver than Wakana's, imo.
 
tsubasa said:
Add to the reason that there was a time she wasn't able to hold any YKL because of that
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I think she was just hesitant / scared / shy to hold her own lives until Dream Port rehearsals started which is proven by how few FJY and Saeko Chiba lives there were and the only performance of her music we had back then were by Eminence and the stuff she did with Bindiger in anime conventions. After Dream Port she was ok with Kalafina holding their own lives after the opening acts in YKvol#2, but SC people overdid it and scheduled 2-3 tours per year + numerous small lives between, and this is how wakana's voice was damaged.
 
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what I think will happen/wish to happen:

They wont drop kalafina brand as it is quite huge and beneficial for them.
If Keiko and Hikaru stay true to Kajiura as they have mentioned before, I think they will just release a cover album.

I do think they are cooking something here. Live or so. that's why Keiko is not in FJ, and Emiko is still a guest.

Kajiura unfollow them on twitter just for the sake not to be affiliated with Kalafina/bombarded with tweets about it.

and as much as I like Kajiua's songs and her role in Kalafina. I just wish that she experimented more with vocal distribution, especially when she made similar compositions 😅
 
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