UPDATE (April 22, 2012): Finished (but selective) translation added.

A Kanno interview for Sakamichi no Apollon from Amazon has been published to coincide with the release of the OST. Read below her feelings on jazz, and how it was working for the film.

Question 1: I read before that you did an interview, and you replied that you didn’t like jazz. Can you tell us briefly how you got to work on the music of the jazz-centric comic book, “Sakamichi no Apollon”?

Jazz isn’t so much about the sounds. It is about the life of the players, how they bring themselves into it. This time it is Matsunaga and Ishikawa’s work. Even now, I do not quite know what it is in jazz that I should enjoy.

Sakamichi no Apollon is a jazz-centric comic book, but it’s not something that discusses jazz history or the beauty of jazz. It’s a comic book that depicts people.

If I hear that Director Watanabe has put together music into any subject matter, I will want to see it regardless of the music genre contained in it.

Question 2: You and Director Shinichiro Watanabe have been a team since “Cowboy Bebop” *. The big band arrangement of the OP “Tank!” is impressive. The central theme of Sakamichi no Apollon are jazz standards, but were there any specific requests coming from the director?

He told me that the originals** must be treated with importance. The jazz standards were basically as they were from the originals. At first I planned not to touch those. But there were some scenes that didn’t match up, so I gave some advice. But since the rendition is a standard, I let the musicians do as they please. The director says, “it’s not put together well”, or “it’s not complete”…

Question 3: I have a question for you, even if you dislike jazz. Would you recommend some famous jazz recordings?

I’m sorry, I really don’t know, I don’t have any.

Question 4: Anyway, please tell us, what is one of your works that you would like people who only listen to jazz to hear?

What is one work of mine, which I would like people who love jazz to listen to? Hmm… I am a craftsman. If I had an objective to write music only for people who liked jazz, then I would have made one. But as of now, since I have not made music with that objective, then I feel like I don’t have any of it.

[The next two questions are about her collaborators, not too interested in these, sorry ]

Question 7: You have a lot of fans in Amazon.jp. Please give us a message for the customers who are reading this page.

Thank you for your constant support. If my music has reached you and it has empowered anything for you, then I am very happy.

* The interviewer missed out Macross Plus, which was co-directed by Watanabe, and had many of his signature touches in the film!
** This might be confusing, but the “originals” referred to here are “the ones on record”.

Translation by mai

From natalie.mu. Translation by me, comments are welcome. This is only maybe a fourth of it, don’t know if I’ll get to finish it. It’s funny though, give it a read. At one part of this, I wish I were joking about the translation, but that’s what it says…

Shinichiro Watanabe to Yoko Kanno:
“What is your favorite book, and who is your favorite author?”

–Director Watanabe and Ms. Kodama also interviews Yoko Kanno, and each are given one question to ask. Director Watanabe asks, “What is your favorite book, and who is your favorite author?” That’s an unexpected and unusual question, isn’t it?

Actually, at the start, I wanted to write novels. I read a whole lot of books. During my fourth year in elementary school, I wrote about my thoughts on the ritual suicide topics in Mishima Yukio’s “Patriotism”. My teacher got angry, saying, “That topic is not for kids!” (laugh) During those times, I was very interested in such things as darkness, death, and sadness, and I studied them as a child.

–Really?! In relation to this, what was the first book you bought?

It was Charles Baudelaire’s poetry anthology, “Flowers of Evil”. I coaxed my parents to buy it for me. Because I knew that they would get angry if I buy only one, then I bought it with Heine’s works (laugh). After that there was Ooe Kenzaburou, and Miyazawa Kenji and others… I am not a Christian but I read the Bible. When I was in junior high school, so that I could write my own, I stopped reading and I haven’t read pure literary works since then. Right now I am reading The Healing Art of Psychiatry by Dr. Jouji Kandabashi, and management-related books, and things like “The Road of the System Engineer”. I’m not that interested in literary.

Yuki Kodama to Yoko Kanno:
“Is there a character in ‘Sakamichi no Apollon’ who you’d like to be your boyfriend?”

–So then, Ms. Kodama’s question is, “Is there a character in ‘Sakamichi no Apollon” who you’d like to be your boyfriend?”

There’s only one, Brother Jun. Cause he’s a bad boy (laugh).

–You’re not interested in the main character’s charms, or in Sentarou?

The fragile, sensitive kid, and the kid who has a sporty body type but has a light heart… well, okay.

–So, what about one who’s known bitterness and sweetness?

Yes that’s it. I like mature men. My first love was Jesus Christ.

–Huh? Is that why you read the Bible?

My kindergarten was Christian, so won’t you see picture books of Christ? That time, I thought stuff like, “He’s gorgeous, look at his nose bridge”.

–It’s that visual huh (laugh)

To start with, the white outfit is dreamy. And then there were women washing his feet. When I saw that, I thought, “I want to do that”. I dreamt about washing his feet many times.

–This is the first time I’m seeing Christ from the eyes of a woman (laugh). There are two others to interview so let’s leave this as it is (laugh).

EXO from Macrossworld sent me a translation for Izolado. I also searched the usual places if they had a translation, but none appeared. So, better late than never!

IZOLADO
translation by EXO

Crossing paths thru the blinding spectrums Attracted by the reflection of the shining eye

Misunderstood every intention Bewildered by a pure jungle heart

Entangled and confused As their blood collide Hearts pound violently Thru each others’ cage

Awakening slowly, primitive baby Reaching from the darkness Searching for a sign of life

Instinctually drawn to the light (Shining, shining) Call me out, you’re within my sight (Shining, shining)

A beautiful refugee Word games from A to Z And from the glow of the colony that Melt into an entangling hold Storming across wildly The flowers in the distant field Magically arose from A city in dust

Two thousand light years away from bright rain Decides which destiny is final

Don’t be frightened my me, it’s OK I’m aware that you’re a timid and shy boy

A future revealed by the stars Connected by a thin red line, this burning love

A nervous initial meeting Heart rapidly beating Bursting thru my chest Excited blood flows

Thankfully distracted by A pretty little toy You’ll never be free Until you cut the umbilical

Dazzlingly impulsive little star (pretty, pretty) Blank slate, fresh of ideals (shiny, shiny)

Isolated Century Developed from A to Z Intertwined in shadow and light Moving in and out by the seams The power to fly and break thru Impenetrable barrier of dreams

Only to fall back into This city in dust

A beautiful refugee Word games from A to Z And from the glow of the colony that Melt into an entangling hold Storming across wildly The new flowers within the distant field Magically arose from A city in dust

It’s time to let it be I beg you to set me free From the bright overpowering glow Melting into an entangling hold Storming across wildly The new flowers in the city that Runs into our empty Caramelized dreams

Two thousand light years away from bright rain Decides which destiny is final

Two thousand light years away from bright rain Decides which destiny is final

I skipped the introduction part because no one here needs that

How did you start with this album?

It started with Ilaria Graziano, who is also a very beautiful woman. She’s an Italian, from Naples. I met her in her early 20’s, and we’ve worked frequently since then. Because there were many songs we worked on, I wanted to collect her songs into an album. It’s that simple.

And this artist’s name is “ILA”?

Yes. It seems that her name means “a music note”.

When did you first meet?

I think it probably was from Napple Tale (year 2000). That was recorded in Italy. I think she was to sing “Rabbit Bed” when we first met.

What do you find charming in her voice?

It’s when she has a sad, girly voice… and it’s how her voice feels a bit like the outerspace. The enka style is good, and so is a loud style, but a bit like the outerspace is really nice (haha).

…like the outerspace?

The vastness of space. Like a cosmic woman (haha). What is it… well I myself don’t really know (haha). If we’re talking just of “space”, then some other person’s voice might fit it better, but Ilaria’s singing is like the cosmos inside a woman’s body. It’s like that.

I think having a collection of songs is like what you did with Maaya

Oh, you think so? When I got to know Ilaria, the first song I thought of writing for her is “Velveteen”. With a Latin melody line and some parts that are like hysteric squeals (haha). Just like that, I wanted to try it on her.

But she also has songs that sound strong

Just like the lead character in Ghost in the Shell, I wrote music that is about a tough woman, but is also gentle like a woman’s nature, which is hidden on the other side. When she sings, unorchestrated karma, jealousy, and sadness dramatically arises in her. A girl who doesn’t say out loud things like, “this is unpleasant, this is dirty, or I do not approve of this”, when she sings, then it is a good time to express herself. In her hysteria is loveliness, and it is somewhat sexy. This thing that she does, is adorable and lovely.

What does the title, Cyber Bicci mean?

“Bicci” is a coined word, certainly from English… there was hesitation in publishing it, because it really means “bitch”, but I tried to make the expression of that foreign word mild to our local language. I thought it would also be good if Italians or Japanese would mistake it for a moment for an English word. A singer who is in the internet is great for the listeners. They can listen to her and feel various things, and can use the sound for a variety of things. When someone hears her voice, that person can imagine that kind of woman, they can feel good, or maybe they can listen to it to feel melancholic, or they can listen to it to be soothed. It’s like the singer and the voice is consumed. It’s like, “Instead of my body, I’ll offer my voice and music to you”.

So then, it’s really ‘bitch’ (more…)

Here’s part of the entry, the whole of which you can read here. Hiroshi Ichikura is a creative director who also works on CM’s. He’s also the one who wrote the lyrics to Macross F’s Neko Nikki.

My Two “Genius” Composer Friends

One is Yoko Kanno, the other is Toshio Nakagawa. I have met and worked with both of them, and I think I am somewhat lucky to be their friend.

[...]

My surprise regarding Yoko Kanno was like this.

There was a job for her, and she asked, “What kind of music do you want?” I told her, “Something cute, but has good musicianship”. When she jokingly said, “Is that so… it’s like Glenn Gould with Rickie Lee Jones’s accompaniment,” I said, “Exactly! Do a demo like that.” I completely fell over. As one would expect, she completely went the other way and gave me something simply “cute”. It is the Miyagi TV theme song [Mite no Uta].

[...]

Haha. It’s not the first time we hear about something like this right? Shinichiro Watanabe said the same things about her. Also this should be one proof, if it wasn’t obvious yet, that she listens to quite a lot of Western musicians.

(more…)

kanno maaya ^[1]

Ms. Yoko Kanno. She was my producer from debut up to 9 years. It goes without saying that she was the person who composed my songs, but really, she was also the photographer to many jacket photos of mine including the ones in “Hotchpotch”, “Nikopachi”, “Shounen Alice”, and “Mameshiba”. It can’t be that there’s no photo of me taken by her now, and this is what came of it. It’s something like a view point that’s close to me like “Is this a photo taken by your boyfriend?”, it’s something somewhat sensational, and yet something full of happiness. When we were discussing that, and we were imagining it, we all became very excited. The make-up artist, the stylist, all the staff in the photography session were girls. It was like a girls’ school club activity. With flashes of light, the theme I had in mind which was “An everyday moment that I wanted to cut out using flashes of light”, became photographs like these. Ms. Kanno said it’s been a long time since we’ve had a photo session, and it seems that she has enjoyed this collaboration very much. Saying lines just like an erotic photographer from the bubble years^[2], “Whoa, that’s good, very pretty!” “That’s the best!” “Yes, yes, that look!”, she attacked me with the shutter. And then, she said about the finished photos, “Cool, I’m^[3] a genius!”

Notes:
^[1] Source text, from the booklet of Maaya’s live Gift concert.
^[2] I’m not sure what bubble years/period means to photographers, but try reading this.
^[3] She uses “Ore”, a strongly informal first-person Japanese masculine pronoun, definitely as a joke.

=================

About a couple of years back, I edited Wikipedia and added “photographer” and “columnist” in the list of Kanno’s occupations, and someone took them out, but I understood why so I didn’t pursue it. Regarding photography, she isn’t well known to be such, and secondly, her work with Maaya might not have been professional in a sense that they’re merely having fun. Did she get paid for this photo shoot? (more…)