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

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I am not sure how much our FJ singers can create their own complex harmonies, if they had to continue without Kajiura in some alternate universe. Since they are all primarily solo artists, and I do not think they are embedded in continuous harmony work outside of FJ (apart from Joelle and Kaori that sang Revo's stuff in the past), it's interesting to consider how Kajiura's music has influenced their own musicality in their solo work when they have to sing multiple vocal parts.
Wasnt Remi in SH as well ? (But yea she isnt in FJ)
 
it's amusing for me how many find Kalafina speciality is somehow harmonies. Back before the forming if kalafina/Live YK didnt have any group at all. Only Yuuka, some Kaori, some Keiko. And how I wished that they formed a group. Only to find out that I prefer solo singer since that way we can enjoy more of their voice fully. And I will get flamed for writing this:
I think a lot of Kalafina's songs can be sing for solo. I cant think any song in the moment that is like Kotonohoka Yawarakai. Which truly needs multiple singers. One Light maybe?
 
it's amusing for me how many find Kalafina speciality is somehow harmonies. Back before the forming if kalafina/Live YK didnt have any group at all. Only Yuuka, some Kaori, some Keiko. And how I wished that they formed a group. Only to find out that I prefer solo singer since that way we can enjoy more of their voice fully. And I will get flamed for writing this:
I think a lot of Kalafina's songs can be sing for solo. I cant think any song in the moment that is like Kotonohoka Yawarakai. Which truly needs multiple singers. One Light maybe?
A lot of their songs lol. But to name a few:

- Sprinter is probably the song with the most overlapping vocals, especially overlapping melody lines
- Aria - The 4-man live with Maya is still the best version of the song because there are 4 vocalists
- Eden - a very vocally demanding that absolutely drains your stamina if you're alternating between two lead vocalists (like seriously try singing Eden solo, it's a much harder song that you think)
- Hikari Furu with the section from "hakanasugite" onwards
- Signal - overlapping melody lines with Hikaru's Engrish and Wakana's siren wails

Keiko (and occasionally Hikaru) on lower harmony IS the "Kalafina sound" and is like 99% of the reason why the melody lines sound so much better than if they were sung solo all the time. Add to the fact that Kalafina's songs are much more vocally demanding than your average Jpop songs and you need 3 people on stage to last through a 22-song set list, which is also on average longer than most concerts that typically have 15-18 songs and usually have audiences singing along so artists do less work (insert Justin Timberlake memes here). You need a LOT of vocal stamina for Kajiura songs. Remember that one FJ live which was basically Kaori and her 3 backup singers? Yea she didn't sound so good by the end of that, and Kaori is already someone with incredible vocal stamina.

The intention when they first did lives according to Kajiura is to best recreate the studio sound on stage, which they quickly found impossible with just 3 vocalists (even with FJ and its 4 vocalists it's just not possible to do so live without a bigger ensemble, which Kajiura has learnt and thankfully incorporated more of in recent years).
 
A lot of their songs lol. But to name a few:

- Sprinter is probably the song with the most overlapping vocals, especially overlapping melody lines
- Aria - The 4-man live with Maya is still the best version of the song because there are 4 vocalists
- Eden - a very vocally demanding that absolutely drains your stamina if you're alternating between two lead vocalists (like seriously try singing Eden solo, it's a much harder song that you think)
- Hikari Furu with the section from "hakanasugite" onwards
- Signal - overlapping melody lines with Hikaru's Engrish and Wakana's siren wails

Keiko (and occasionally Hikaru) on lower harmony IS the "Kalafina sound" and is like 99% of the reason why the melody lines sound so much better than if they were sung solo all the time. Add to the fact that Kalafina's songs are much more vocally demanding than your average Jpop songs and you need 3 people on stage to last through a 22-song set list, which is also on average longer than most concerts that typically have 15-18 songs and usually have audiences singing along so artists do less work (insert Justin Timberlake memes here). You need a LOT of vocal stamina for Kajiura songs. Remember that one FJ live which was basically Kaori and her 3 backup singers? Yea she didn't sound so good by the end of that, and Kaori is already someone with incredible vocal stamina.

The intention when they first did lives according to Kajiura is to best recreate the studio sound on stage, which they quickly found impossible with just 3 vocalists (even with FJ and its 4 vocalists it's just not possible to do so live without a bigger ensemble, which Kajiura has learnt and thankfully incorporated more of in recent years).
I mean where you can carry the main melody of those songs alone.

Sprinter ... true. Forgot about it. Although it has been done by maya alone.
Aria can also be done alone ( disregarding the overlapping 2nd verse)
After eden... havent heard about it for a while. Dunno.
Hikari furu, maybe... I feel like the overlapping section can be omitted.
Signal ... no, can be solo.

Anyway, I dont find anything interesting about lower harmony, nor I care much about live rendition actually. For me the main attraction of Kalafina is just YK's composition unfortunately. Of course vocal plays a role, but I will even like it if Oblivious came out with Lino Leia first
 
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