KOKIA

[george1234]

really touching entry, I with to Kokia the best of luck and strength *sniff*

 

[valeriana runa]

yes... :'( I was so excited to wait until her new album released...and I will get my copy on this weekend...but I bet I will cry when I listen to her songs in this 「where to go my love?」album.

I will post the song preview from the site when Im online with pc.

 

[valeriana runa]

As promised, the preview of kokia's new album songs

http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Discography/A012051/VICL-64011.html

where to go my love~


Finally my favorite song ~ ai wa kodama suru (track 02) is in an album

 

[george1234]

From the samples my favourite seem to be

liar liar ～ロマンティックワルツ
something blue & something red
One by one, Day by day（The 5th season concert ver.）

are these already released or are new ones ?

I am most looking forward to to the 1st song because its jazzy and have never heard Kokia singing jazzy song

 

[valeriana runa]

liar liar
something blue and something red, both of them are new songs.
kokia said that she want to try to compose and sing jazz song (and she did through this album)

one by one day by day supposedly it eas an outtake from her 「moment」 album, but since KOKIA had performed it on stage (in 5th season live concert), the ancoros (kokia fans) have been asking KOKIA if someday she could include it in one od her albums and here it is now it is included as bonus track in the limited edition album.

 

[george1234]

nice :)

that fans name sounds so spanish

 

[waihong]

is very nice song i just today download and listen can keep relax my self
and my headache is stop pain to....

 

[george1234]

coverart

LOL she's cheating her lover with an elephant



also found the album here http://www.hikarinoakariost.com/2013/03 ... album.html

 

[valeriana runa]

KOKIA BLOG POST - A sensation I didn’t know before - 30 MARCH 2013

It’s a time where I have to explain things in words.
And when I put things in words, I feel like that’s all they become, just words…
It’s also a time during which I’ve been silent, without finding the words that said it right.

I am a person who never think that being silence is a bad thing.
But then, when I’m silent, I make you worry, so…
I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me.
Because although I’m sad because something sad has happened, I also have a lot of completely wonderful memories with all the sadness.

Right now, I feel like he is right here by my side, like how you can feel you’ve crossed the distance and feel someone who’s far away close by you.

I wonder if he’s better now? Thoughts like these cross my mind all the time.

I put down flowers, feel the wind, eat delicious food…
And suddenly, waa, I’m overcome by tears, and it’s inevitable again.
It’s because, up until now, I’ve never known this feeling, this sensation.

Besides, I really don’t have free time soaked in sadness, because I’m so busy…
Surely, I think I can’t shut myself off in my shell forever, and I wonder if I’m ready again?

I know that many people who read this are people who are waiting for my songs.
That’s why I have gentle news, as everyone’s worries reach me. ^^

After he passed away, honestly, I didn’t have the self-confidence I’d soon be able to sing my songs the same way I did until now, but the other day, I went into recording.

♪ ‘Kasa o kashite agete’ (‘please lend me your umbrella’) . That’s the name of one song I recorded.
From my head phones, I could sense his concern and it was like I could hear his gentle voice.

It was just my own voice, but it seems different from before.
Strange.
‘Yes, I can sing properly.’ That was the first thought in my heart.
While he was alive, he was always there for me, supporting my activities.
Now that he’s gone, I feel like maybe he continues to look after me in an unseen force in my songs?

Right now, I can’t yet express everything in words, but I will perform my fifteenth anniversary concerts in the Orchard hall on April 28 and 29. That’s the thought I want to let everyone know.

I’m full of gratitude for all the support I’ve received until now, and I want to get on stage.

-KOKIA-


(translation by Mizumi chan, with some minor changes by valeriana runa)

KOKIA! You are such a strong woman >_< She even recorded new song already >_<

 

[ShadowAlex]

Re:

Spoiler

KOKIA BLOG POST - A sensation I didn’t know before - 30 MARCH 2013

It’s a time where I have to explain things in words.
And when I put things in words, I feel like that’s all they become, just words…
It’s also a time during which I’ve been silent, without finding the words that said it right.

I am a person who never think that being silence is a bad thing.
But then, when I’m silent, I make you worry, so…
I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me.
Because although I’m sad because something sad has happened, I also have a lot of completely wonderful memories with all the sadness.

Right now, I feel like he is right here by my side, like how you can feel you’ve crossed the distance and feel someone who’s far away close by you.

I wonder if he’s better now? Thoughts like these cross my mind all the time.

I put down flowers, feel the wind, eat delicious food…
And suddenly, waa, I’m overcome by tears, and it’s inevitable again.
It’s because, up until now, I’ve never known this feeling, this sensation.

Besides, I really don’t have free time soaked in sadness, because I’m so busy…
Surely, I think I can’t shut myself off in my shell forever, and I wonder if I’m ready again?

I know that many people who read this are people who are waiting for my songs.
That’s why I have gentle news, as everyone’s worries reach me. ^^

After he passed away, honestly, I didn’t have the self-confidence I’d soon be able to sing my songs the same way I did until now, but the other day, I went into recording.

♪ ‘Kasa o kashite agete’ (‘please lend me your umbrella’) . That’s the name of one song I recorded.
From my head phones, I could sense his concern and it was like I could hear his gentle voice.

It was just my own voice, but it seems different from before.
Strange.
‘Yes, I can sing properly.’ That was the first thought in my heart.
While he was alive, he was always there for me, supporting my activities.
Now that he’s gone, I feel like maybe he continues to look after me in an unseen force in my songs?

Right now, I can’t yet express everything in words, but I will perform my fifteenth anniversary concerts in the Orchard hall on April 28 and 29. That’s the thought I want to let everyone know.

I’m full of gratitude for all the support I’ve received until now, and I want to get on stage.

-KOKIA-


(translation by Mizumi chan, with some minor changes by valeriana runa)

KOKIA! You are such a strong woman >_< She even recorded new song already >_<

Wow so very moving. Love KOKIA she has a way of words even taking something like that and translating it into her musical works. Can be hard to find motivation sometimes and she finds it. Her love of music is boundless.

 

[valeriana runa]

^ Sure she is!

KOKIA appeared in Issei Tomisawa’s radio program ‘Age Free Music!’ on May 2. Pasha’s blog has posted a summary of the show; the translation follows below. KOKIA and Tomisawa have apparently already known each other for a while, hence the interview getting rather personal later on.

Nack5 「Age Free Music!」

♪ Dance with the wind

Let’s talk about the new album Where to go my love?.
First, let’s talk about the cover.

Tomisawa: ‘why an elephant?’

Well, I’ve written a song titled pinku no zou (‘pink elephant’); I personally think of elephants as very symbolic for me. I really love them, I draw them a lot, and I’ve used them in my logo. As this 15th anniversary album is a turning point for me, I really wanted a picture that leaves me with the memories, like no other cover. That’s why I wanted to have a picture together with an elephant.

Tomisawa: ‘the lyrics are printed on the back of a very large photo, where was that taken?’
It was taken on Bali.

Tomisawa: ‘What are you feelings on the theme for this album?

As I made this album into a turning point for the 15 years since my debut, I also asked myself ‘what kind of album will I make?’, and I considered things like sound directions and the world of lyrics the whole time.
Well, it’s not just limited to this album in particular I suppose. In general, I end up with a difference between what I actually imagined on one hand, and what I had in mind from before I started until I started working on the album and finished it on the other.
This album was an extreme case of that. Just as I got started working on this album, wondering ‘what will this be?’, I got a terrible shock in my personal life.

Because of that, it became very personal… my life was greatly shaken by a lot of events while I worked on the album, and as a singer-songwriter, I certainly weaved my personal feelings into words and sounds. So, things happening in my personal life certainly made it into the songs directly.
Well, with this album in particular I could become really honest with myself in sounds every time I took place behind the piano. It’s become personal that way. Whenever I think about it normally, I don’t quite understand, but through the music I’ve written myself, I’m able to notice ‘ah, so that’s what I was thinking’.
So, it was when I listened to the finished album that I thought ‘ah, I’ve made a really good album, haven’t I’.

♪ Ai wa kodama suru (‘love echoes’)

Tomisawa: ’KOKIA, your director passed away, right. That must have been horrible.’

When I started working on the album, I’d only decided on about two songs. I created songs for the album later on, but didn’t record them yet because that’s when his sickness was discovered.

When creating the album itself, i wondered if I couldn’t making it into something to support our feelings as he battled his sickness, and because he was someone who’s always really supported me, we made the album together until the very end.
Well, as he’s passed away, of course all the memories and our time together are vividly etched into every single sound, every single word, so it’s a little… It truly was my 15th anniversary turning point, but the album became something more than that to me.

Tomisawa: ‘He was there until the end, watching over the song recording, right?’
That’s right. The very next day after we finished recording the singing of all songs, he…

Tomisawa: ‘What, really?’

I still can’t really believe it, whenever I listen to the songs I truly… Right now, whenever I listen to them, I remember things like ‘Ah, that time we were talking about that song’ or ‘Ah, we created these sounds together in that room’… So I feel like he lives on in the music, though I can’t really put it into words.

Tomisawa: ‘KOKIA - all this happened to you, but you have to look ahead again. I think that’s what your director wants, too.’

That’s what I think too, I want to keep going.

———
Last year’s concert’s DVD ‘History’ is now on sale, and the 15th anniversay concerts from April 28 and 29 at Orchard Hall will be released on DVD somewhere around the end of summer.
Many people have wished KOKIA the best and voiced their concerns, so the next song lets us know ‘I’ll keep going’.

♪ Yume no tochuu (‘on the way to my dream’)

I would also like to share some of KOKIA's update!
She will release her 15th anniversary DVD on this summer!
and she is composing a song for Shimatani Hitomi 15th Anniversary CD (there will be 3 CD) as it appears that Shimatani Hitomi is a KOKIA fans too.

She just went to England few weeks after her anniversary concert. Due to all things that happened to her recently, she went for a vacation to calm herself and gain energy to keep moving forward!

And! This is the most important one~

KOKIA birthday will be on 22 July~ I am working on an art book project! Anyone who want to join and share their art/ story/ poem/ photos/ picture/ everything can contact me and send me Private Message in CPM or reply this thread! the deadline will be on 5th July since I will need more time to compile everything. Please let me know!

 

[george1234]

new Live DVD

http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/-/Information/A012051.html

KOKIA 初のライブ・アルバム 「COLOR OF LIFE」発売決定！

国内はもとより海外でのライブも評価の高いシンガーソングライターKOKIAが2013年4月28日、Bunkamuraオーチャードホールで行なった15周年記念コンサート<KOKIA 15th anniversary concert～COLOR OF LIFE～>を記録した、キャリア初のライブ･アルバムを2014年2月12日に発売することが決定した。
2013年の4月にリリースした最新アルバム｢Where to go my love?｣を中心に、15年の歩みの中でKOKIAが大切に紡いできた想いが1曲ごとに込められた、心を揺るがす感動のライブが最新デジタル・リマスタリングによって鮮やかに鳴り響く。
KOKIAがこの先も歌う人として歩んでゆく大きな意味をもたらしたこのステージは必聴だ。

【商品情報】
「COLOR OF LIFE」
2014年2月12日発売
VICL-64132～3　\3,300(税抜)／￥3,465(税込)

【収録曲】
＜Disc-1＞
1. Dance with the wind
2. 愛はこだまする
3. you are not alone
4. something blue & something red
5. ヒトの中にあるもの
6. 心のロウソク
7. 音蒔き 歌蒔きのうた
8. 歌う人
9. life goes on
10. 安心の中

＜Disc-2＞
1. INFINITY
2. 夢の途中
3. 祈り
4. moment～今を生きる～
5. 映画のような恋でした
6. where to go my love
7. 傘を貸してあげて

Recorded Live at Bunkamura Orchard Hall / April 28, 2013.

I would be glad if someone could provide info about her other releases.

 

[valeriana runa]

^ first of all, georgie, it's a new CD album, and not DVD. hehe.

Okay, I'll start with her upcoming release and live schedule for 2014~

Releases

January 22 - Yuri Hiranuma Figure Skating Music Compilation “PRISM”
KOKIA has translated the song Hana ni nare (‘become a flower’, original by Fumiya Sashida) into English by herself, and did the recording in London. The album features songs all used in figure skating, with Hana ni nare used by Yuzuru Hanyu, currently Japanese national champion.
(Source, official website)

February 12 - COLOR OF LIFE live album
KOKIA’s first live recorded album, and a double album at that. The songs were recorded during her 2013 15th anniversary concerts COLOR OF LIFE back in April. The track list mostly features the tracks from the Where to go my love? album, but also some older songs and brand new ones.

(Source, preorder: CDJapan, Neowing, Amazon, YesAsia)

Performances

January 10 and 11 - New Year concert 2013 musical greetings vol. 3
For the third time in a row, KOKIA will be greeting the new year with a concert (with the performance on the tenth being an additional one after the original concerts sold out). The concerts will be held at the Suntory Blue Rose hall, Tokyo.

January 25 and 26 - KOKIA ‘flavored like this!’
KOKIA announced she would hold a live performance to sing old songs, songs she hasn’t performed in a while for whatever reason, or songs she has never sung live before. These performances will be held at Haremame (short for haretara sora ni mamemaite), Shibuya, Tokyo.

January 31 - smoothes feat. KOKIA
KOKIA will be performing with the jazz band smoothes at Roppongi STB Sweet Basil. Instead of singing her own songs, she’ll be singing jazz standards.

May 17 and 18 - ~Release~ 2014 spring concert
KOKIA’s annual spring concerts will this time be held at the Tokyo International Forum on May 17 and 18. She wishes to pour out the feelings that have accumulated in her mind after last year’s events.

For our report about her 15th live anniv concert can be seen through our newsletter~

Download Link

KOKIA'S HAPPY NEW YEAR BLOG POST~
2013　→　2014

After spending Christmas in London, I returned to Japan at the end of 2013.

It’s been a year in which many things have happened, and many feelings have come over me.

It’s been a year in which I’ve been able to keep going, with the strength and kindness everyone gave me during my 2013 spring concerts in my heart.

I’m sure that the songs I’ve created since are packed with the fragments of everyone’s feelings.


Thank you.


I have a lot of performances in January.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again after a while.

Things happen during a life time that surely are hard to just put in terms of black and white, or say whether they’ve been bad or good; you just can’t put a meaning on them.

I’ve cried a lot in 2013, but for 2014, I feel ready to have my heart filled with laughter.

Because making your own life enjoyable is something only you can do yourself.


If my heart can overflow with feelings of music and kindness and the beautiful colours of the sky, then no matter where I am, I feel I can become happy no matter what, with just that.


Let’s slowly, calmly look for the beginning of a smile.

New Year’s Day, 2014
KOKIA

 

[valeriana runa]

sorry for double posting, but this post will be for her released and live concert during 2013~ Just in case that any of KOKIA fans here in CPM missed something~ hehe :D

RELEASES~
KOKIA’s original releases of 2013 have been focused on the first quarter of the year, with two singles and an album coming out in just a month time.

Battle of Destiny was released as a single on February 20, both songs serving for the game Dragon Nest. The B-side, Aete ureshii nyan (‘happy to meet you, meow’) is a character song for Nyan Nyan, the cat character KOKIA voices in the game. She talked about the single on her blog for a bit.

March 20, her album Where to go my love? was released, originally to serve as her 15th anniversary album, but also influenced by recent events. Two versions were released, with the limited release featuring the extra song One by one, day by day (the 5th season concert version) as the final track instead of the title song.

Only a week later, on March 27, the single Kioku no hikari (‘light of memories’) came out. The title track is again a tie-up, this time for the forth part of the Battleship Yamato 2199 movies. The B-side is the single version for Where to go my love?, the title track of her album, which itself featured the piano version instead. She mentioned this single in the same entry as Battle of Destiny

First for sale at her 15th anniversary concert, KOKIA released a photobook to accompany her album and concert, the COLOR OF LIFE PHOTOBOOK. KOKIA went to Bali, Indonesia last year to find inspiration for her album, and the photos taken there are collected in this photobook. It also features the song Kasa o kashite agete (‘please lend your umbrella’), which was cut from the Where to go my love? album.

Later this year, KOKIA released the Color of life 15th anniversary concert 2013 DVD on September 10, featuring a recording of, you guessed it, her 15th anniversary concert COLOR OF LIFE. She talks a bit about the DVD release on her blog on August 19.

KOKIA has also worked for other artists this year. KOKIA Collaboration Works!

KOKIA collaborated with Paul Ruskay, the composer, for the official soundtrack of the Strike Suit Zero game. The soundtrack was released on January 24, featuring not one, but four songs for which KOKIA provided the vocals.

March 13, the third part of Tokyo Café Style #3: fantasies came out. The series features covers of Japanese (you guessed it) café style songs, and KOKIA can be heard twice on the album, making this the first time she’s plainly covered songs instead of making them her own, according to herself. KOKIA’s solo track is Toki o kakeru shoujo (‘the girl who leaps through time’); the other track is BLIZZARD, a duet with Ayako Ikeda.

Fellow singer Hitomi Shimatani also celebrated her 15th anniversary this year, albeit a bit early (she officially debuted in 1999). For her 15th anniversary SUPER BEST, KOKIA wrote and composed a song especially for Hitomi, called Anata o mune ni ikite yuku (‘I’ll live on with you in my heart’). She talks a bit about it here. It turns out Hitomi is a fan of KOKIA’s and also went to watch her 15th anniversary concert!


KOKIA’s earlier songs also appeared on collection albums, like All my loving, a Beatles’ cover album released on November 13. KOKIA’s cover of the song The long and winding road was featured as the final track.

CONCERT AND PERFORMANCES

New Year Concert 2013: musical greetings vol. 2

January 12, KOKIA held the second edition of her New Year Concert to greet her anniversary year of 2013. This year, she held it in the Blue Rose (small hall) of the Suntory Hall in Tokyo. As mentioned in her blog entry of January 13, she performed her song eiga no you na koi deshita (‘it was a love like in the movies’), which would later feature on her album Where to go my love?.

Symphony of Cherry Blossoms event

Just a week before her big concerts, KOKIA attended the Symphony of Cherry Blossoms event held on April 20, on mount Yoshino in the city Nara, at the Zaou-hall of the Kimpusen temple. The performance was outdoors, and KOKIA posted her thoughts and a couple of photos on April 20 on her blog.

COLOR OF LIFE 15th anniversary concert 2013

KOKIA’s big spring concerts were on April 28 and 29 this year, held in the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo. Due to recent events, this was an especially emotional performance. She talked about it extensively in her blog entry of May 3.

Ancoro Hide-Out Concert in the City

For the eighth time, KOKIA organized a special performance exclusive for members of ancoro, the official KOKIA fan club. They were in September this time, and all performances she was accompanied by pianist Seta, as she mentioned October 13.

Katsushika Hokusai Exhibition opening

KOKIA revealed she was allowed to sing on the opening of the Katsushika Hokusai Exhibition in London, on October 26.

Shinjuku Yunika Vision

From April 25 to May 5, KOKIA was featured on the Yunika Vision screen in Shinjuku, Tokyo, right during the Golden Week holiday. It showed snippets from her concert DVD History that was released the previous year (specifics here). She was very proud of this and went to see for herself!

Age Free Music! Guest appearance

On May 2, KOKIA showed up in Issei Tomisawa’s radio program ‘Age Free Music!’. The two have apparently known each other for a while, so the interview as summarized got rather personal after a while.

KOKIA goes London

May 15, KOKIA updated her blog and let us know she’d gone to London to catch her rest. She was still in London by June 6, and revealed she would only return to Japan by her birthday, on July 22. She went back straight after her Hide-Out concerts as she revealed in October, and she’s been staying in London for the rest of the year. It appears she’s inspired again to write new songs, so let’s see what she comes up with!

So those are the releases, collaboration, LIVE performance that KOKIA did in her entire 2013~
Hope this information helps~

Special thanks for my friend, Mizumi and all of KOKIA fans community for the information~

 

[Kugayama]

Kokia song "Believe in the spirit" features in this forthcoming game and OST:

http://www.jp.square-enix.com/seiken_rom/

30 second sample about 2 minutes 40 seconds into this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omllJJzuK6Y

 

[george1234]

^ thanks for the info. I guess well when, while watching it I thought that this must be a mobile game, so low graphics can only be seen in the old final fantasies. Looks like they like her song for FF XIII-2. Not my type of game so far though.

 

[waihong]

 

[valeriana runa]

The movie ‘Harmonie’ was created for the Anime mirai 2014 project, and KOKIA was allowed to sing a song in it.

It had been a while for KOKIA to perform a song without having written it.

It opened in theaters at March 1.

↓　For more information, please check out the official Anime mirai website below.

http://animemirai.jp

 

[grunty]

Does anyone want the Harmonie song?

 

[george1234]

^ Interested if its not a boring ballad :)