Seiyuu Saori Hayami（早見沙織）was one of the first that I got to know by name since my anime buddy presented a lot of shows that had her in major or recurring roles. Usually, though, if I were asked to describe her usual voice, I would have to say "creamy" based on what I've heard from her characters in series such as "Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to"（マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと）and "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか）. Having said that, I was pretty floored when I heard her rough-and-tumble, suffer-no-fools-at-all character of pink-haired Deana Del Rio on the action-comedy "Double Decker! Doug & Kirill".
Therefore, it's not all that often that I get to hear Hayami (or any seiyuu, for that matter) performing a song in a non-anime capacity, but one commenter was kind enough to introduce me to a few songs that had been composed by Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）, former member of Kirinji and brother of Kirinji vocalist Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）. One of those songs happens to be the topic of this "Kayo Kyoku Plus" article.
"Yuuei", according to jisho.org, has a couple of meanings. There is the basic one of swimming but there is also the more intriguing one of making one's way in the world. Perhaps Hayami's song is trying to cover both definitions; she provided the lyrics which seem to develop a scene of mystery and romance in some tropical clime thanks to Horigome's bossa nova melody (and there's even some spacey keyboard in the middle which reminds me of some of the more recent Kirinji material that I've been hearing). There's also a mention of a code name in the lyrics so perhaps the heroine is trying get herself out of an espionage jam in South America somewhere.
In any case, "Yuuei" is pleasantly delivered and a nice tune to have with that tall cocktail on the beach chair. But it's also not bad listening while anchored down in a chair in front of a computer. The song is a part of Hayami's 2nd mini-album from March this year, "Sister Cities"（シスターシティーズ）, with that illustration of her getting ready for a vacation. Maybe it could be performed at Rabbit House in the 3rd season of "Gochuumon" under Hayami's guise of author Blue Mountain Aoyama; couldn't really see Dina doing it.
Good stuff. In 'Yuuei', the beginning of the melody in the verse begins almost note-for-note the same as it does in the song 「砂漠に咲く花」 ('The Flower which Blooms in a Desert') from Yasuyuki's solo album 'What a Wonderful World', although both songs are otherwise distinct. But they both share a Brazilian influence. The former utilizes a bossa nova-style arrangement and the latter a samba-style chorus. Jun Tanaka from the group Gentouki / ゲントウキ helped produce 「砂漠に咲く花」 and a couple of other tracks from that album.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that I've appreciated about the Japanese and music is that they've been very open about bringing in different influences. Brazilian is definitely one of those factors, and if it hadn't been for my interest in Japanese pop music, I probably wouldn't have gained that appreciation for bossa nova and samba.
DeleteJapan is very good at assimilating elements from other cultures and incorporating them into their own work. Granted, every other country does this to various degrees. What tends to set Japanese music apart from others is their quality standards. There's a detectable appreciation for strong melodic content, harmonic sophistication and a certain sensibility that seems to be a natural element of their sound production. How to describe it ...mathematical finesse, maybe? I don't know.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I would agree with that statement wholeheartedly. I've always said that Japan would adopt something from the West but put its own little twist to it to make something unique. That would apply to everything from items in a 100-yen shop to music.:)
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