I think the reason why I can forgive Kalafina's faults so easily is just because of things like this - the emotion in their singing just shines through, and their performances it's clear to me how much they love singing and love the music they're making. Not only that, you can tell that they genuinely want to share these feelings with their fans and audience. So I find that Kalafina really
do reach out to their listeners and they
do get those feelings across and touch people with their music.
I know not everyone thinks this way but I personally never thought I could be so moved watching a live singing performance. But...I’m not a particularly artistic, creative or sensitive person (unlike those people who look at artworks, listen to music, watch a dance performance etc., get moved to tears, write pages of emotional critique saying things about ‘feeling raging inferno of existential angst from this magnificent masterpiece’ and ‘oh I feel like my heart moves to the drumbeat of this symphony blah blah etc.’) and I never used to really get ‘emotional’ about music; to me, it was just things like ‘oh this song is pretty’, ‘this song sounds nice and catchy’, ‘this song has a nice melody’, ‘this song is too loud and crashy’ etc. Even my old piano teacher mentioned I was kinda music ‘insensitive’ (could never put ‘emotion’ into my playing…or listening haha) But after discovering Yuki Kajiura, FictionJunction and Kalafina, I finally experienced what it meant to be ‘moved’ by music, what those artsy people meant when they said ‘aahhhh I feel the music’. And I believe it’s because of the way Yuki puts everything into composing her songs, and how she tries to make her vocalists understand and personally appreciate the songs, e.g. how Wakana said when Yuki told her the meaning of vanity’s lyrics, she felt like crying every time she sang the song. And because the girls themselves have such personal connections with their songs, they can pour that emotion through to the audience, and it’s as if they really want to share how they feel with the audience.
I know Kalafina aren’t the best, have lots of flaws, and make mistakes; there are probably many other singers and artists out there who are much more polished and perfect performing live. But I really can’t help but feel moved by their sincerity, and I think that’s important in a performance too, even if singing everything perfect without mistakes during live is undeniably amazing and awesome and what all singers should probably try to do. Because, as cliché as this sounds, part of the whole point of music is the expressing emotions to people, isn’t it? So even if Kalafina slips up on a few harmonies or wanders off-tune now and then, at least their performances and their singing are heartfelt. I think that’s really why I can still love them, including their live performances, regardless of their faults.
I don’t think they ‘fail’
that much anyway, usually they’re pretty decent, considering how it’s much more difficult to get all three singers in harmony with one another, especially compared to some singers who struggle singing in tune just by themselves, never mind in harmony with someone else.
Oops…sorry, before I even noticed it, I was ranting again…
but I guess this is just a sort of justification of my viewpoint on them since Kalafina’s vocal quality has been under such scrutiny recently, what with the Wakana affair and the divided opinions on After Eden (which, btw, was far better than what my expectations had been).
Compared to Red Moon, it’d be hard actually for me to choose which one I like better because both have their better and worse points. Red Moon had better Wakana, who didn’t look like she was about to collapse and die on stage, but then Hikaru was so amazing in After Eden, I think having improved by truckloads since Red Moon. Likewise, Red Moon had probably slightly less ridiculous choreography (still pretty hilarious in some parts though) but in After Eden it was nice seeing the girls switch stage positions for a change, and despite the choreo (which had me roflmao-ing and going ‘OHMIGOD REALLLLYY????’ all over the place most of the time) each of the girls actually did have some really KYAA moments where they just happened to catch the perfect cool/epic pose/expression/movement.
Oh my god I did it again... Okay. I. Will. Stop. Ranting. Now.
Sorry. Everyone.
/will try to stop taking up so much posting space