ZOMG, Gabriela Kanno?!

[greywing]

Oh. My. God.

"On July 7, 2009, Yoko Kanno herself performed as Gabriela Robin on her stage and the rumor proved to be true." - wiki's Yoko Kanno page"As many fans would have known by now, Kanno has indirectly admitted that she is Gabriela Robin during the July 7, 2009 Superdimensional Tanabata Sonic concert, where she personally sang "Moon" in

Comments

[greywing]

Yoko Kanno is probably my favorite anime composer. Even anime that I didn't finish watching--Sousei no Aquarion--had such epically beautiful music across the OSTs (the strings, the orchestra, the Warsaw Chorus <3, it sounds like a war opera). The popularity of Cowboy Bebop (and her collaborative work on Escaflowne) means that practically every anime fan has heard Kanno, combining every genre from jazz to rock to just WTF (all of Ed's songs). And Ghost in the Shell manages to jump from ethereally resonant to battlefield frantic. Arjuna, too, manages to be evocative of earthly tones and sounds. And who doesn't know Maaya Sakamoto in the anime world? Those two have done some amazing collaborations together (the opening of Record of Lodoss War TV pops into my head first); I think Kanno is considered one of her mentors. And it doesn't hurt that Kanno collaborates with great foreign singers: Italian singer Ilaria Graziano ("I Do", "dew" are two of my faves of their collabs) and English-speaking singers Steve Conte, Scott Matthew ("Beauty Is Within Us" <3), Russian group Origa (GitS openings "Inner Universe" & "Rise"--so epic).

I'm not sure what Kanno calls her nonsense language or if it's an official "language" at all or just random sounds she decides sounds good in any given song. It's true that the songs she seems to use it for are kind of slow and melancholy. I find them indescribably beautiful, always hitting me right in the heart. I love how it reduces the voice to just another instrument and it's all about the emoting.

I love Kanno for the atmosphere she can create and establish as you watch a scene. Just what you want in a soundtrack--music that makes something already awesome even more awesome.