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

I am having some thoughts about this whole debacle. It is highly probable that all this drama we are having about Kajiura and Kalafina is a massive misunderstanding of (and possible misdirection and false flags regarding) the hard decision Kajiura had to make to begin to take control of her own career, and not just about her pride or attitude or beef, and unwillingness to play fair with SC, as many people erroneously imagine is the case.

I know this is a bit off-topic to the thread, but it's related to the decisions every one may be making, individually and collectively, and our perceptions about them.

I am watching content from a music producer, talking about how music labels effectively enslave artists (singers, writers, composers, etc.) to keep them producing music without end (Kalafina's endless touring and Kajiura's churning out compositions), while they make all the money on masters and publishing, and how it's only a few artists that find a way to make it out, or don't enter the game in the first place. It's talking about it from the American context, but we know these industries imitate themselves.

This are a couple of the videos and they make sense to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLJBrYrJWJM
Here’s Why Artists Are TERRIFIED of Sony (MJ Tried to Warn...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCHyz3YCkUg&list=TLPQMDYwODIwMjXfuKgw3MVZqQ&index=2
Artists Who Tricked the Music Industry (And Got Rich Doing It)
"In music, it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you own" (from the channel above)
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One of the options mentioned in the second video was an artist re-recording their songs again (prime example, Taylor Swift) after they had lost control of their original recordings (i.e., masters, in Kajiura's case probably with Sony) and publishing (compositions, in Kajiura's case maybe with SC, correct me if I'm wrong).

Kajiura said something critical - anyone anywhere can record her music, and essentially she doesn't have the power (couched as not wanting) to prevent them if they got the right from SC by paying them.
It even feels like a hint to the Kalafina ladies (HKW) that it is possible they can creatively work with Kajiura's existing melodies and create something new.

Kajiura saying she wanted to work on revitalizing Kalafina was probably completely genuine - I suspect she was testing the waters after several years of leaving her discography.

  1. Was there a clause preventing Kajiura from performing their music for some years when she left SC? Keiko was there all along, why not just do a Kalafina song, if there was no legal block? 🤔
  2. Was there an NDA in her exit terms? Since we know SC could force an NDA on HKW for the reunion live, it's not out of the realm of possibility they had one for Kajiura when she was leaving too!

Hikaru, Keiko, and Wakana (I always arrange them alphabetically and in order of their positions facing the audience during Kalafina lives), are actually free to record together and sing together as individuals (not Kalafina) and own that creation outside of SC influence. Of course, that's assuming Wakana is allowed contractually to do anything outside of SC without their approval/"cut".

Look, Kajiura might even be willing to work with the three of them (after Wakana is freed, and without the "Kalafina" name), since Kajiura now has her own studio now, and can record ANYTHING and own/share rights with her own performers. Building her home studio was not a vanity project, it's strategic!!!

Who knows maybe Kajiura can even work it out with all the ladies (and I mean all the FJ ones too) to work on new songs at her studio, if she's so inclined!
 
I was actually looking since Aug. 6.
Just want to ask. Did any of the Kalafina girls greet Yuki Kajiura on her birthday? Keiko posted on that day but it was all about her new promoting her “dream team”. But maybe they posted something like in an exclusive fanletter, etc.?
 
toshiroukajiura said:
I was actually looking since Aug. 6.
Just want to ask. Did any of the Kalafina girls greet Yuki Kajiura on her birthday? Keiko posted on that day but it was all about her new promoting her “dream team”. But maybe they posted something like in an exclusive fanletter, etc.?
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That's a good question.
 
toshiroukajiura said:
I was actually looking since Aug. 6.
Just want to ask. Did any of the Kalafina girls greet Yuki Kajiura on her birthday? Keiko posted on that day but it was all about her new promoting her “dream team”. But maybe they posted something like in an exclusive fanletter, etc.?
Click to expand...
I guess it's a no?
 
Second Installment of Ghibli Songs Tribute Album: Aina The End, Kalafina, and 13 Other Artists Participate!
<<https://natalie.mu/comic/news/637835>>
GzWd1XRbsAASjOL.jpg
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GzWd1XRbsAASjOL.jpgGzWd1XObAAAtdeE.jpg
 
genesiƨ said:
Second Installment of Ghibli Songs Tribute Album: Aina The End, Kalafina, and 13 Other Artists Participate!
<<https://natalie.mu/comic/news/637835>>
View attachment 25923View attachment 25924View attachment 25923View attachment 25924
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OK, this is COOL!

Kalafina singing non-Kajiura for the first time in a long while is good. Ghibli anime and music is universally loved, and the ladies get to focus on the harmony they are known for, so I hope they are able to give their best and do it justice.

I am guessing SC is involved since they can't use the "Kalafina" name without them, right? Just that the songs are not SC-related.

Hope this is a sign of more frequent performances for them as a unit, and eventually they can do an acoustic mini-lives of Kajiura's music again.
They should do a cover album of the favorite artists they've said they have over the years (Keiko did lots of classic covers on her channel).
 
genesiƨ said:
I guess Wakana was the one who invited Keiko and Hikaru to come along, because I've never seen either of them express any clear interest in Ghibli.:confu:
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I would say it's more than Wakana. Satoshi Takebe is also involved and Kalafina can't act with the name without SC awareness.

Quotes (translated from the website):

"A tribute album of Studio Ghibli music, "Singing Ghibli Volume 2," is scheduled to be released on November 19th. The jacket illustration, drawn by Goro Miyazaki , and the participating artists have been announced.
https://natalie.mu/comic/gallery/news/637835/2673553
"This album is the second in the "Singing Ghibli" series, which was released in 2023. Following on from the previous album, it will be produced by Takebe Satoshi , who works as a composer, arranger, and music producer and was responsible for the music of Studio Ghibli films "From Up on Poppy Hill" and "Earwig and the Witch ." Takebe has provided a comment: '...Wakana will participate as Kalafina with Keiko and Hikaru...'"

Satoshi is producing and it's a follow up album to the first that I assume he also produced, but you're right that Wakana in a way "invited them" since she is already embedded (and recognized) in that Ghibli cover world. Satoshi highlighted her, while also naming the other ladies, as they are coming into that world for the first time.

Now, it's a matter of imagining the vocal arrangement, since harmony is the primary expectation of Kalafina (no kajiurago though, as that is a key part of Kajiura-style Kalafina).
 
Maybe it will be similar but it wont be same. other artist make giberish / pseudo languages too like the guy who did ArTonelico, or how Takumi Ozawa has her own words for chorus / bgms. I dont mind it unless its exactly the same stuff Kajiura uses which they can only do if she allows that.
 
I feel it's difficult to say.
If it's composed by someone who already used coined languages beforehand, then why not.
If it's someone doing it just "because Kalafina" then I'd probably feel it's cheap. Because it never was a Kalafina thing, it was always a Kajiura thing.
 
toshiroukajiura said:
Honest question.
Would you guys still accept it if in new Kalafina songs ( new non Kajiura music ) that they still recycled Kajiura’s style in using Kajiurago???
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Kalafina are free to create vocalizations if they so wish (whether or not as a homage to their roots with Kajiura) though I am sure it will be greatly inspired directly from their own experience with her (I suspect they never sang in another language before working with her). I have no problem with it, though I am sure fans will definitely analyze and compare whatever they come up with against what they've done already with Kajiura.

Any composer they work with that is so inclined could decide such worded vocalizations are an integral part of Kalafina's sound and encourage them to do it. It's also possible another composer/music producer might gently push against it so their music doesn't seem like a derivative or continuation of Kajiura's work. Composers want to stand alone and stamp their own identity and image (as seen from Kajiura's comments about the challenges of balancing her joint-composition with Revo - I would imagine it wasn't easy to balance since they each have a different musical/emotional framework).

Kajiura's harmonic DNA and personal feelings are all over the way she writes Kajiurago. It serves as another layer of her own self-expression as a composer within a song. It seems to come from another dimension (Kajiura warudo) at times! The fact that she named it is so interesting. I am not sure that is common among composer.

Thinking of other artists we are familiar with and enjoy who create their own vocalizations, I would highlight:
1. Haruka Shimotsuki, because she composes interesting musical changes that allow for her peculiarly whimsical feel with the vocalization. The effect of her vocalizations/music is mostly bright (also her vocal tone) with different emotional colors.
2. KOKIA has a more haunting and dramatic use of vocalizations and she's created her own musical world/feel with it. It's a more dramatic world with strong melancholic elements.

Now, I am curious how the two of them would write for Kalafina and include vocalizations.
 
Kajiura herself rarely uses Kajiurago in songs nowadays anyway (and if she does, it's formulaic as hell). Most of Kalafina's songs on the tail end of their discography barely contain any Kajiurago, if at all, so I don't think of it as a huge loss if they don't contain coined language of some sort.

I like this idea of going the cover route first. Most of their non-Kajiura involvement were covers in the first place, from Kalafina Club to most of their TV appearances. IMO some of their best performances were covers (Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki, Fuyu no Inazuma, Oath Sign with LiSA, just to name a few). Their Christmas album is something I listen to every year.
 
^ Recentl Lisa song disagrees with the statement that she barely uses it these days.
george1234

Thread 'LiSA - Zankoku no Yoru ni Kagayake / Shine in the Cruel Night lyrics'

Translation taken from the MV's closed captions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdtX8kRTuQ&t=0s

kanji https://www.uta-net.com/song/377038/

So that our song that transcends the night
will echo far and wide,
I reached out my hand
and I searched for a feeling stronger than hate

What shines in the darkness is small,
but it has always been by my side
While holding up the proof that connects hearts
I move forward

Go! Although the sadness of the endless world is too much,
for the palm of this little hand,
I can never go back to the gentle days
There is nowhere to return
Towards...
  • Love
 
That's why I said "rarely". She uses it sometimes nowadays, but compared to 10 or 20 years ago when it was in almost every song, it's not nearly as prevalent.
 
Because she composes less overall these days too. Back in her golden era (2001-2012) we d get , 3 soundtracks and 5-6 singles per year which included her own projects (FJY Saeko SeeSaw or Kalafina), plus Op/Insert/ED songs for made other artists (Yui Makino Kaori Hikita etc) and even back then some songs didnt have Kajiurago like Shinkai no Kodoku , Shoot!
 
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