Yoko Kanno


Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer of soundtracks for anime series, video games, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for Cowboy Bebop, Terror in Resonance, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf's Rain, Turn A Gundam and Darker than Black. Kanno is a keyboardist and the frontwoman for Seatbelts, who perform many of her compositions.
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Early life

Yoko Kanno was born on 18 March 1963, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Her earliest experiences with music came from attending church with her parents. She studied keyboard on both the piano in her home and the organ at her kindergarten. In elementary school, she began participating in composition contests, but in high school, Kanno began to take more of an interest in literature than in music.
Kanno attended Waseda University, where she majored in literature, but she transcribed music for various student groups at Waseda in her free time. During this time, Kanno—whose parents had allowed her to listen only to classical music—was introduced to rhythm by a friend who played drums in a school band. She spoke of this experience in an interview with Akihiro Tomita:
While with this band, she studied the composition and style of popular music.
While at Waseda, the Japanese video game company Koei asked Kanno to compose the soundtrack to Nobunaga's Ambition. The game turned out to be a hit, and Kanno's music career was launched.

Career

Yoko Kanno's soundtrack themes include "Kiseki no Umi", "Voices", "Tank!", "Yakusoku wa Iranai", "Gravity", the whole soundtrack of Turn A Gundam, "Inner Universe" and Ghost in the Shell: [Stand Alone Complex O.S.T|Stand Alone Complex O.S.T]. In regards to making the Stand Alone Complex soundtrack, she said:
Having composed in various genres, including blues, classical, jazz, techno and J-pop, she was once asked if she favored a particular genre:
Since she works in the animation industry, she receives only instructions and storyboards, which help her with composing. However, it is uncertain if all of her works are to be included in the finished project. She once said that this is a way she likes to work, for she does not have to deal with rules during composing. In reference to this, she once stated:
She was the lead member of the project band Seatbelts, which regrouped in 2004 to compose the soundtrack for the PlayStation 2 Cowboy Bebop video game.
She has composed for Koei games released during the late 1980s to early 1990s and for Napple Tale, a Dreamcast game. Due to her close involvement in the Cowboy Bebop anime, the game released by Bandai also features her work.
Apart from anime and games, Kanno also composes for live-action films and television commercials. Some popular brands she has composed for are Canon, DoCoMo, Fuji Xerox, 7-Eleven, Microsoft, Nissan, Toyota, Shiseido, Avon and MasterCard to name a few. Her contributions to films started in the 1990s but since 2002 has there been a trend toward the medium, with some of the latter being shown in international film festivals.
She attended Otakon and Anime Expo in 1999, as well as Anime Expo New York in 2002. In 2010, she made a surprise appearance at Anime Expo. Yoko Kanno performed her solo PianoMe concert at Otakon 2013.
She composed a three-movement suite, entitled "Ray of Water," for the ascension of Emperor Naruhito. It was performed for him and Empress Masako at the enthronement celebration on 9 November 2019. Yoshikazu Okada wrote the lyrics for the vocal portion, which was performed at the celebration by the idol group, Arashi.

Gabriela Robin

On many of Kanno's tracks, "Gabriela Robin" was credited as a lyricist and vocalist, but whenever these songs were performed in concert, either Maaya Sakamoto or Origa would perform them. In a 2009 written interview, Robin said that she would perform live for the first time at Kanno's 2009 Tanabata Sonic concert. However, at the end of the concert—which featured Kanno directing the Warsaw Philharmonic—Kanno turned to the audience and sang "Moon", a song previously attributed to Robin from the Turn A Gundam soundtrack, revealing that "Gabriela Robin" was simply a pseudonym Kanno used to write songs mixing English and Japanese freely. In a later interview, Kanno said she picked the name because the first orchestral recording she had heard was the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the time Yitzhak Rabin served as Israel's Prime Minister.

Personal life

In addition to Japanese, she speaks a little English and some French, but her English is poor and she needs translation help to converse in French.
Commenting on spirituality and religion, Kanno has said:
Kanno enjoys music, photography, and writing. She has penned several journals for Newtype magazine, accompanying her articles with her own photographs for illustrations. Additionally, a collection of photographs taken by Kanno of her protégé and former production partner, Maaya Sakamoto, was showcased in the special event program for Sakamoto's thirtieth birthday concert at Nippon Budokan in 2010.
In 2011, Yoko Kanno expressed her support for the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, composing a song titled "Kimi de Ite, Buji de Ite". Later, she composed NHK's official support song on the occasion of the first anniversary of the earthquake entitled "Hana wa Saku", including lyrics by Sendai film director Shunji Iwai. The song features notable natives from the affected areas of Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate.

Works

Commercial music

Companies that have commissioned Kanno for commercial music include:

Hired vocalists

Artists who have performed at least one of Kanno's vocal tracks: