Fairy Dance: Kokia Meets Ireland
Fairy Dance: Kokia Meets Ireland is Kokia's seventh studio album, released in September 2008. It is the third of four albums released in 2008 to celebrate her 10th anniversary as a singer. One song from the album, "Song of Pocchong," features on Kokia's 2009 greatest hits collection Coquillage: The Best Collection II.
Conception
Kokia first travelled to Ireland alone in 2000. She travelled to Ireland again in October 2006 to find inspiration for her music, and to scout for places and people to record with.Kokia returned to Ireland again in February 2008, and recorded the album in a week with and Puck Fair and local musicians, including violinist Niamh Varian-Barry.
Song selection
Of the songs included in the album, five are covers and three are original Kokia songs.Of the covers, three are traditional Celtic songs. "Taimse im' Chodladh" and the chorus of "Siúil A Rúin" are sung in Irish. Two songs are Japanese kayōkyoku standards: "Soshū Yakyoku" and "Kanashikute Yarikirenai".
Of the three original compositions, two were composed specifically for the album " and "Sono Mama de Ii. "Song of Pocchong " is a rearranged version of the same song from Kokia's previous album, The Voice. It is slightly longer, and the kanji in the song's title is different.
Release
The album was initially released in Japan in late September 2008. Unlike previous Ancoro era albums, Fairy Dance was not released in France until well after the Japanese release. it was released six month later, in March 2009. This meant that Fairy Dance was released after Christmas Gift in France.Fairy Dance was released in France as a part of a 3-CD set called Kokia Collection 2, on December 2, 2009. The box set also featured Kokia Infinity Akiko: Balance and Akiko Infinity Kokia: Balance.
Reception
The album reached #67 on the Japanese Oricon albums charts, selling 4,000 copies.Track listing
All songs arranged by . Kokia's cover of Yoshiko Ōtaka's "Soshū Yakyoku" is not present on the Japanese digital download version of the album, but is present on the European release.Japan charts and sales
| Release | Chart | Peak position | First week sales | Sales total |
| Oricon Weekly Albums Chart | 67 | 2,715 | 4,121 |