Kanno Composes This Year’s Kohaku Theme
UPDATE (Jan 5, 2012): Video added.
Thank you to everyone who sent this news in!
From Anime News Network:
Yoko Kanno, the acclaimed musical composer of Cowboy Bebop, Macross Frontier, Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and other anime, penned the opening theme song for this year’s Kōhaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Battle) event on New Year’s Eve. The song “1231″ expresses the figurative opening of curtains to a bright future
Kanno was born in Miyagi, the prefecture hardest hit by the March 11 Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster. Days after the earthquake and tsunami, she posted a song of support she sang herself.
Kōhaku Uta Gassen is the highest rated musical television program of the year in Japan. This year’s event will include performances by Nana Mizuki, AKB48, L’Arc-en-Ciel, Porno Graffiti, Ayumi Hamasaki, Arashi, EXILE, and SMAP, as well as a video message from Lady Gaga
Other sources: Tower Records Japan, NHK
December 29th, 2011 at 7:08 am
Good thing she’s not collaborating with Lady Gaga. Yuck!!! I hope to hear the song soon!!!
December 31st, 2011 at 8:41 am
A big honor for sure
I wonder who’s going to perform it
January 4th, 2012 at 5:36 am
Is that the opening theme she wrote?
It looks like some Macross F BGM
January 4th, 2012 at 5:38 am
Forgot the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P2T5IzpVAQ
It’s written at the bottom at the beginning of the video : “Opening theme: 1231, Yoko Kanno”
January 4th, 2012 at 5:53 am
Found it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dnj5scv1yY
January 5th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Thanks for that! The second link doesn’t work though…
January 6th, 2012 at 12:28 am
NHK takes that stuff quickly off youtube…. found out it on my own when I first found similar clip few days ago and it was almost immeaditly afterwards deleted
A bit disappoint it was BGM and not a song but it’s good piece. Very Macrossesque
January 7th, 2012 at 2:00 am
Hehe, I ripped it, yeah!
Here it is: http://www.box.com/s/t32cujk46kx54nvs5tuh
The music is about 2’40”.
January 4th, 2013 at 3:07 am
This year Kanno was part of guest jury!
Nice
January 5th, 2013 at 10:41 am
here’s a nice picture of her from one of the report blogs:
http://natalie.mu/music/gallery/show/news_id/82516/image_id/162275
January 13th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
[...] Kouhaku Uta Gassen for the performance of “Hana wa Saku”. She also notably wrote the theme song for the previous year. This year, she conducted for “Hana wa Saku”, alongside the piano [...]