AMPLIFY THIS: Yoko Kanno
The results of our poll are in, and the crowd has spoken! This week Amplified Opera is paying tribute to Japanese composer Yoko Kanno.
Yoko Kanno (1963-)
Born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Kanno grew up in a home with very little music. With no television, radio, or record player to occupy her time, she spent her time teaching herself how to play the household piano. Her natural talents expressed themselves while she was still a student at Waseda University studying literature. She agreed to play keyboard and write music for a band, which eventually afforded her the opportunity to compose the soundtrack to Nobunaga’s Ambition. The score was an immediate success and effectively launched her career.
Over the past 30 years, Kanno has accumulated an impressive list of credits as a composer, arranger and musician. She particularly shines in her work scoring for anime, television shows, video games, and live-action films having scored such notable titles as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf’s Rain, and Darker than Black. A versatile composer, she is comfortable both in classical film scoring as well as pop composition - having written hits for artists like Maaya Sakamoto and Kyōko Koizumi.
In the classical music world, Yoko Kanno’s first full orchestral work was commissioned by the Israel Philharmonic under the direction of Anthony Inglis. Recently, she collaborated with librettist Yoshikazy Okada and vocalist Arashi on a 3 movement suite, called Ray of Water for Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the enthronement celebration on November 9th, 2019.
Kanno credits her unique tonal language to the fact that she never specifically focuses on one genre while composing, rather she draws inspiration from many sources and chooses not to value one style over another. This sentiment is reflected in her prolific body of work which includes 6 solo studio albums, countless pop songs, and scores for 35 anime, 17 video games, 16 films, 8 tv series. And there’s no sign that she’s slowing down.
It is Kanno’s unparalleled versatility, curiosity, and eagerness to explore new soundscapes that allow audiences to immerse themselves in the worlds she has been scoring for decades. And while anime fans around the world have fallen in love with her music, her limited English means she rarely gives interviews for western audiences. That is why John Bull refers to her as “The Greatest Composer You’ve Never Heard Of” and why we’ve chosen to AMPLIFY her story today.
Thank you for reading our first AMPLIFY THIS. Every week we’ll be releasing a poll of potential topics on our Facebook Page and finding cool artists to highlight based on the results. Let us know what YOU are interested in amplifying, and stay tuned for more amazing artists like Yoko Kanno!
Here is one of her many successful compositions:
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Team Amplified