Kajiura Family Media Appearances

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She also said that the reason why she doesnt listen to her own songs when CD is out is that she ends up nitpicking and regretting of not doing this or that change to each music track ^^; Another thing she said i found interesting is that at first she doesnt need to do lives for income as she earns enough as a composer. Apparently lives make her reduce the rate of composing by about half. What makes her do lives is that even if she doesn't really like her own musics (doesnt find them as special) she enjoys seeing others liking them and this is what makes her do more lives. But she has now set a limit of 10 years of more YKLs and this is the 1st of those. She also explained the "precious pieces" title as "precious songs/ notes" and they plan to focus on certain tracks instead of aiming for a specific number of songs like they did last year with the 60 songs. But even her was tired with 60 songs n kinda regretted it.
 
"Last year, when I was working on various Japanese songs, I did a lot of covers of YUUKA's songs. I wasn't aiming for anything in particular, but I believe that the soul of a song changes when the singer changes, so I personally find covers very interesting and fascinating. I thought, "If this person sings this song, it will definitely become a different song, so let's have them sing it." After doing that in various ways, I thought it would be nice to go back to the originals and try that again.

It's not about whether the original is better or the cover is better; covers have their own merits, and originals have their own merits. I thought it would be kind of interesting to invite YUUKA back and do an original song after all the previous attempts."
 
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"A song isn't a song unless it's sung. Even if you play the melody on the piano, it might be beautiful in its own way, but it's still not a "song," is it? What makes a song a song is the human voice and the singer's performance of the song. No matter how good a song you write, it will never become a good song unless the singer actively sings it and says, "Listen everyone!"
 
"When we lined up the songs last year, I didn't think it would turn into such a festive atmosphere. I think that was partly because EMIKO worked so hard to liven things up, and we all worked together to bring it in a positive direction."


"EMIKO really got the crowd going with the first song, so I felt like, "If we start off like this, we can't drop the energy next time!" (laughs)."
 
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grunty said:
Didn't read the whole thing, just the bits about YUUKA and nothing interesting TBH.

paraphrasing> "I thought I should perform Seiya at a christmas live so I asked YUUKA if she would do it again, she accepted. I then asked if she wanted to do a tour, she accepted."

That's such a nothing burger, lol. I don't know what I was expecting...

paraphrasing> "I did a lot of YUUKA covers last tour so I thought it would be nice to hear the original singer again."

That's uh... weaksauce... Hopefully it does not mean she wants to do the same songs again... Not that I'm going to any of these lives... Maybe that's exactly what YKL attendees would want from it... so I'm sorry for speaking for others.
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It was an interesting read-through. The Yuuka part had the least insights about their relationship as collaborators. I think she was downplaying it though.
 
george1234 said:
She also said that the reason why she doesnt listen to her own songs when CD is out is that she ends up nitpicking and regretting of not doing this or that change to each music track ^^; Another thing she said i found interesting is that at first she doesnt need to do lives for income as she earns enough as a composer. Apparently lives make her reduce the rate of composing by about half. What makes her do lives is that even if she doesn't really like her own musics (doesnt find them as special) she enjoys seeing others liking them and this is what makes her do more lives. But she has now set a limit of 10 years of more YKLs and this is the 1st of those. She also explained the "precious pieces" title as "precious songs/ notes" and they plan to focus on certain tracks instead of aiming for a specific number of songs like they did last year with the 60 songs. But even her was tired with 60 songs n kinda regretted it.
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Interesting look into Kajiura's views on her own music and the future of her career.

This was the first I've read of Kajiura speaking about her younger sister at all, including about her love for purely instrumental music and classical ballet.
 
Her thoughts on the npr tiny desk show's format and concept contrasting with her longstanding musical philosophy - from her amateur days, to studio work, to live music, even Ohiro-san's input - were fascinating.
 
george1234 said:
I think by producer she means Yasunori Mori, Ohira is the manipulator.

I havent finished reading yet so i didnt reach the part about her sister yet. But yes opera n instrumentals are known for long time.
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Yes, I meant Ohira when I was typing. I was referring to him cueing in Kajiura and the entire group on their in-ears, on when he's about to start the performance with the click and all that other necessary glue to the live presentations (lighting, etc.).

Of course, it was delightful to hear that Mori was the one who pushed her to go for live performances, when she thought that her music couldn't translate to a live stage, including suggesting to her about having 4 singers standing in front of her to handle the live harmonies and polyphony of her studio vocal arrangement. He's been such a backbone to how her music has developed. I believe he was the one who also convinced Hikaru to go for Kalafina, if I recall correctly. Or was it Keiko? Anyway, he was instrumental to a lot of things taking shape the way they did.
 
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george1234 said:
She also said that the reason why she doesnt listen to her own songs when CD is out is that she ends up nitpicking and regretting of not doing this or that change to each music track
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I can totally understand that. Even as a beginner I say to myself "Couldn't I have waited another week until this would have sounded better?".
But that's how things are. : ) - Musicans are never satisfied. There always are ways to improve a piece. Even after one or two weeks already. - In my case because skills are building, and in Ms. Kajiura's case more likely because she's got more ideas when listening to an old recording. "Wait.. let's try it this way.. how's that?"


CloisteredFlame said:
I think she was downplaying it though
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as usual.. ^^'


george1234 said:
But she has now set a limit of 10 years of more YKLs and this is the 1st of those.
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Ohhh no... :o - These aren't good news.
But completely understandable. She's 60 now.. imagine in 10 years she's 70 already. And who knows her health state.. Let's all hope she's still in a good shape in 10 years. 😉

🔴 Cif ~
 
george1234 said:
Some musicians are holding concerts until the day they pass away, like Savopoulos or Arleta in Greece, but i completely understand if she wants to relax n enjoy her family or make world travelling instead.
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Yes, I remember she once said "I wish I had time to make the music that *I* like". Maybe that's where she's trying to free up time.

And.. atlast two more reasons might come in also:
1) the constant hassle with the other musican's promoting companies and rights holders
2) concentration might decrease with age. So good chance she felt that she couldn't concentrate as good as in younger years. I remember she said something like this after the 60 songs weekend.. (like "it was the most exhausting thing I have ever done" or similar)

Appears like my fear to miss the chance to vistit one of her live events atleast once is getting more real quicker than I have thought. ;o
 
His_Cifnes said:
Even as a beginner I say to myself "Couldn't I have waited another week until this would have sounded better?".
But that's how things are. : ) - Musicans are never satisfied.
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I can attest to this, though I've just sung. There are some things you do that feel timeless and others that you feel could be improved.

His_Cifnes said:
in Ms. Kajiura's case more likely because she's got more ideas when listening to an old recording. "Wait.. let's try it this way.. how's that?"
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That's why her self-covers are so important, especially when she switches up the instrumentation a little, or changes the lead vocalists and vocal arrangement.

I'm personally still a fan of what I heard in the last YKL finale - the surprising selection of singers on many of the songs performed.
 
CloisteredFlame said:
I can attest to this, though I've just sung.
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"just" ;^^ - I suspect also singers have this. - Every time. :D
Singing is SO difficult as it's requires so many levels of skill and experience in so many different facets. - Highly respected!!

CloisteredFlame said:
That's why her self-covers are so important, especially when she switches up the instrumentation a little, or changes the lead vocalists and vocal arrangement.
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Uhh yes. I know exactly what you mean. Other singers make the whole experience feel different.
Two days ago, I found a new version of Roxette's "Wish I could fly". Tried to accompany her (not Roxette), and it felt different. - But also cewl. She's got another style of singing. That was exciting!

In Ms. Kajiura's case, she did swap singers often in many YKL'es, like you said. - This will definitely feel quite different for her, as every singer has his/her own way. This will keep things fresh for everybody. ^____^ - So cewl!!

CloisteredFlame said:
I'm personally still a fan of what I heard in the last YKL finale - the surprising selection of singers on many of the songs performed.
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Ohhh yes! And they ROCKED! :D - Different, but great!
 
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