Actually, literally 'Bird's Song', but when this song Tori no Uta was first recorded by 15-year-old Lia, some thirteen years ago, it was destined to become known as the 'poem' version of the title.
Some years later, the now grown-up – and very successful in the music business – Lia became the voice artist for Vocaloid IA's voicebank. IA (pronounced "Ee-Ah"), also known as Aria on the Planetes (yes, that is the correct spelling, 'planetes' being our version of how the Greeks spelled the original word for planets, or wanderers) also sang this song, and here it is in a nicely made video, lasting under three minutes. Her excellent voice (IA is known as 'The Diva with the Crystal Voice') is here expertly used to convey the feel of the song very well.
There are no English words provided, but this is worth just listening to as is the first time anyway, I have found. Later, if it turns out to be popular, I'll see if I can find either a version with subtitles/captions or the English lyrics separately...
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Monday, 8 July 2013
Memory (from 'Departures')
This Joe Hisaishi composition, here performed by (I believe) the London Symphony Orchestra and – of course – Joe himself both conducting and playing the piano part, is yet another of those excellent works of which most Brits have never even heard. Well, now's our chance to get acquainted with it! The original (Japanese) title is Okuribito.
Showcasing material that is relatively unknown here in the west is one of those activities in which I specialise, and am blessed with typically more pageviews than for most other posts I have ever written here during these past five years plus. It seems to be something that is well appreciated...
Inevitably, because of the language differences, a simultaneous interpretation system had to be put in place for this performance (and its rehearsals, no doubt) which explains all those headphones worn by many of the musicians and even Joe himself – something I have not encountered previously with him, because he usually performs with Japanese orchestras and soloists.
Here we have a very good featured 'cello part as well as Joe's exemplary (as ever) piano playing, so it is a treat indeed...
Showcasing material that is relatively unknown here in the west is one of those activities in which I specialise, and am blessed with typically more pageviews than for most other posts I have ever written here during these past five years plus. It seems to be something that is well appreciated...
Inevitably, because of the language differences, a simultaneous interpretation system had to be put in place for this performance (and its rehearsals, no doubt) which explains all those headphones worn by many of the musicians and even Joe himself – something I have not encountered previously with him, because he usually performs with Japanese orchestras and soloists.
Here we have a very good featured 'cello part as well as Joe's exemplary (as ever) piano playing, so it is a treat indeed...
Where It All Started
The Vocaloid era for me, that is: it started with the Sapporo 2011 concert, and I have just gone through it again. It genuinely was brilliant, helped a lot, I think, by the lighting that brought out the performers much better, brighter and clearer than in some other events of this nature.
I previously featured this here last year, so it merits a reprise – deliberately without the distraction of captions or subtitles as this is an event to be enjoyed as it stands. You'll understand as you go through it.
High spots for me, now that I am more familiar with the scene: Miku's wonderful blue yukata (and check out the back of it!), Rin's equally wonderful blue eyes and wavy bow in her hair, the sheer emotion in Time Machine and Even Though My Song Has No Form, Miku's a-capella section of the beautiful Starduster, and the fun stuff such as the 'Ohayo hayo' bits in Hello Planet and the upbeat, happy Yellow and Melancholic.
Do have a go at this, even if just for a short way in, or broken into chunks over a period rather than all in one go. The purity of the direct connection between composer and audience is something that no human performer can ever equal or even approximate – except possibly those who compose their own material, and even they are bound to have a 'performing ego' that can get in the way, as I suspect at least some of them would readily acknowledge.
I still find this familiar (to me) event makes my heart melt even more than ever, and all those hundreds of 'I love Miku' comments on YouTube become less surprising as time goes by. No wonder this is one of the very biggest phenomena in the sphere of music worldwide that there has ever been...
I previously featured this here last year, so it merits a reprise – deliberately without the distraction of captions or subtitles as this is an event to be enjoyed as it stands. You'll understand as you go through it.
High spots for me, now that I am more familiar with the scene: Miku's wonderful blue yukata (and check out the back of it!), Rin's equally wonderful blue eyes and wavy bow in her hair, the sheer emotion in Time Machine and Even Though My Song Has No Form, Miku's a-capella section of the beautiful Starduster, and the fun stuff such as the 'Ohayo hayo' bits in Hello Planet and the upbeat, happy Yellow and Melancholic.
Do have a go at this, even if just for a short way in, or broken into chunks over a period rather than all in one go. The purity of the direct connection between composer and audience is something that no human performer can ever equal or even approximate – except possibly those who compose their own material, and even they are bound to have a 'performing ego' that can get in the way, as I suspect at least some of them would readily acknowledge.
I still find this familiar (to me) event makes my heart melt even more than ever, and all those hundreds of 'I love Miku' comments on YouTube become less surprising as time goes by. No wonder this is one of the very biggest phenomena in the sphere of music worldwide that there has ever been...
Miku Wants to Find You
In practice, this is Miku's creators and associates trying to find out where her fans live, or at least the nearest major city to which they could travel, in order to work out where best to hold events and sell their products.
This is all part of the 'coming to the west' drive that has already begun with the Project DIVA-F game and the Los Angeles Mikunopolis and other American continent concerts that first happened some two years ago. Now they are looking toward the UK and Europe as well.
I have registered my 'location' as London from the UK cities provided, at this Web page, and I recommend any Miku/Vocaloid fans to do the same, to help build up a comprehensive picture of where we all are and how strong an interest there is here, rather than (say) France.
There is nothing ominous that I can perceive in any of this, as we will by now have realised from Crypton and the other players' track record within this strongly fan-driven market. We just need to show that it is worth their while mounting an official concert here in Britain one day, and marketing their merchandise here as well. There is even a draw for what look to be at least two prizes. Pass the word!
This is all part of the 'coming to the west' drive that has already begun with the Project DIVA-F game and the Los Angeles Mikunopolis and other American continent concerts that first happened some two years ago. Now they are looking toward the UK and Europe as well.
I have registered my 'location' as London from the UK cities provided, at this Web page, and I recommend any Miku/Vocaloid fans to do the same, to help build up a comprehensive picture of where we all are and how strong an interest there is here, rather than (say) France.
There is nothing ominous that I can perceive in any of this, as we will by now have realised from Crypton and the other players' track record within this strongly fan-driven market. We just need to show that it is worth their while mounting an official concert here in Britain one day, and marketing their merchandise here as well. There is even a draw for what look to be at least two prizes. Pass the word!
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Sunday Slot – 7 July 2013
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
I have mentioned before, not only here but elsewhere, how we need to be on our guard against false ideologies, especially those dressed-up to look authentic. The devil knows the forms to use, so is very much able to construct an authentic-looking alternative faith. In fact, he seems to have created dozens: essentially, everything that isn't either Judaism or Christianity, though I accept that there might be a few exceptions in the mix. I am not sufficiently expert to be able to separate those out from the rest.
Inevitably, and entirely predictably, there are many people within the Christian churches who are not truly Christian at all, though they tend (on the whole) play the part reasonably convincingly. Only the most alert will initially spot their falsity. A big clue is Lefties, as the political Left is demonstrably and implacably against Christianity and usually the jews (and especially Israel) as well, no matter what their stated views might suggest. Words are cheap, but attitudes tell the real story.
In my home borough we have a (very) few highly suspect so-called Christians, and I am known for my testing of their true attitudes. One I have caught out before has this past evening expressed – without any prompting from me – his preference for Harry Potter (i.e. witchcraft) over "those CBeebies creatures" (i.e. Buddhism, as it's a clear reference to Waybuloo, on which I have previously expressed my own limited reservations, by the way) expressed in a way that is clearly an attack on me as a consequence of what I wrote in my preceding tweet..
After all: why bring that up, of all things? Think about it... Note also that this is not a personal matter regarding an individual: it is simply a quotable example of an attitude and a style of self-conduct that I have encountered a number of times now, and which happens to speak volumes.
The accompanying 'smiley' emoticon doesn't change the underlying message in this particular context.
Remember: my own church, the Salvation Army, sprang from a Methodist (William Booth), so I do have some idea of what that earlier church is about. Indeed, it wasn't so many years ago that I went on a coach-and-walking tour of the path of the origins of the Salvation Army in London's East End, and have the photographs to prove it.
Overall, then, the Twitter encounter I have just recalled is merely an example of the wolf in sheep's clothing for which we always need to be alert. Do not assume that someone wearing a dog collar (or whatever other indication suggests 'holiness') is necessarily truly of the faith, and remember that no Lefty ever can be: the two are directly opposed, everywhere in the world, always have been and always will be.
The political left is essentially a creation of the devil anyway, and obviously so if one looks at what it really means (State dominance over citizens/oppression, mass murder, civil rights violations, control of information and propaganda, and all the rest of it). No true Christian could ever support any of that, and – unless they were completely thick – must have realised that it is a worldwide characteristic of all Left-wing régimes on Planet Earth and always has been.
From North Korea to the former USSR, from Zimbabwe to China under Mao in particular, and any other country you care to name, they are all the same, either already at that totalitarian point or still aiming toward it. They are ALL corrupt, murdering garbage either in fact or still merely in intent at this stage, Satanic filth, causing most of the organised harm and misery in the world. That alone is absolute proof why NO Lefty can EVER be a TRUE Christian, and those who claim to be are liars – or completely pig-ignorant, which in practice is just as bad for the rest of us.
I have mentioned before, not only here but elsewhere, how we need to be on our guard against false ideologies, especially those dressed-up to look authentic. The devil knows the forms to use, so is very much able to construct an authentic-looking alternative faith. In fact, he seems to have created dozens: essentially, everything that isn't either Judaism or Christianity, though I accept that there might be a few exceptions in the mix. I am not sufficiently expert to be able to separate those out from the rest.
Inevitably, and entirely predictably, there are many people within the Christian churches who are not truly Christian at all, though they tend (on the whole) play the part reasonably convincingly. Only the most alert will initially spot their falsity. A big clue is Lefties, as the political Left is demonstrably and implacably against Christianity and usually the jews (and especially Israel) as well, no matter what their stated views might suggest. Words are cheap, but attitudes tell the real story.
In my home borough we have a (very) few highly suspect so-called Christians, and I am known for my testing of their true attitudes. One I have caught out before has this past evening expressed – without any prompting from me – his preference for Harry Potter (i.e. witchcraft) over "those CBeebies creatures" (i.e. Buddhism, as it's a clear reference to Waybuloo, on which I have previously expressed my own limited reservations, by the way) expressed in a way that is clearly an attack on me as a consequence of what I wrote in my preceding tweet..
After all: why bring that up, of all things? Think about it... Note also that this is not a personal matter regarding an individual: it is simply a quotable example of an attitude and a style of self-conduct that I have encountered a number of times now, and which happens to speak volumes.
The accompanying 'smiley' emoticon doesn't change the underlying message in this particular context.
Remember: my own church, the Salvation Army, sprang from a Methodist (William Booth), so I do have some idea of what that earlier church is about. Indeed, it wasn't so many years ago that I went on a coach-and-walking tour of the path of the origins of the Salvation Army in London's East End, and have the photographs to prove it.
Overall, then, the Twitter encounter I have just recalled is merely an example of the wolf in sheep's clothing for which we always need to be alert. Do not assume that someone wearing a dog collar (or whatever other indication suggests 'holiness') is necessarily truly of the faith, and remember that no Lefty ever can be: the two are directly opposed, everywhere in the world, always have been and always will be.
The political left is essentially a creation of the devil anyway, and obviously so if one looks at what it really means (State dominance over citizens/oppression, mass murder, civil rights violations, control of information and propaganda, and all the rest of it). No true Christian could ever support any of that, and – unless they were completely thick – must have realised that it is a worldwide characteristic of all Left-wing régimes on Planet Earth and always has been.
From North Korea to the former USSR, from Zimbabwe to China under Mao in particular, and any other country you care to name, they are all the same, either already at that totalitarian point or still aiming toward it. They are ALL corrupt, murdering garbage either in fact or still merely in intent at this stage, Satanic filth, causing most of the organised harm and misery in the world. That alone is absolute proof why NO Lefty can EVER be a TRUE Christian, and those who claim to be are liars – or completely pig-ignorant, which in practice is just as bad for the rest of us.
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