Yoko Kanno, formerly known as Yuko Kanno, is commonly known as Yoko Kanno in English. The Chinese name Yoko Kanno is generally only used in early China and Japan. His birthday is March 18, which is generally considered to be 1963 or 1964. Japanese composer, arranger, and music producer. A native of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, her husband is fellow composer and cellist Hajime Mizoguchi (divorced in 2007). He mainly produces soundtracks for Japanese advertisements, animations, games, movies, and TV series. He also produces pop music and serves as music producer for Japanese singers (Miki Imai, Kyoko Koizumi, Maaya Sakamoto, etc.). Yoko Kanno, who was born in KOEI, is a well-known composer in Japan. She has participated in KOEI's "Nobunaga's Ambition" and "Age of Discovery" series of games, as well as "Macross Plus", "Ghost in the Shell SAC", "cowboy Bepop", etc. He is a composer of cartoon animation works and is currently active in the field of composing music for games, cartoon animation, movies and TV commercials. Yoko Kanno - Information Someone once summarized the four best musicians in the Japanese New Age world as Kitaro, Shen Si Zhe, Hisaishi Joe and Kanno Yoko. But if you ask your friends around you, most people will know Kitaro and Joe Hisaishi, but they have never heard of Yoko Kanno's name. In fact, Yoko Kanno's talent is by no means inferior to these few. It is a pity that more people are not aware of the many excellent works. Although Yoko Kanno's name may be a bit unfamiliar, anyone who has a little knowledge of animation and animation will know about the music production works she has done. She has been in the industry for 10 years since she completed her first animated OST "MACROSS PLUS" alone in 1994. During these ten years, the animations she scored have accounted for a considerable proportion of the animation masterpieces, and her soundtracks are also these masterpieces. an integral part of the cadenza. Her first animation OST created after leaving Koei Company in 1994 - "Macross Plus" was a song written in collaboration with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for the virtual electronic idol Sharon in the play. The combination of avant-garde and cold electronic music makes people feel like they are in that mysterious inorganic world. This was her first collaboration with director Shinichiro Watanabe, and it basically established Sugano's composition style. The music of the 1996 TV animation "Escaflowne in the Sky" was co-created by Sugano and another talented musician Hajime Mizoguchi, and recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. They were requested by the supervisor In conjunction with this fantasy animation, he used a variety of soundtracks such as religious chants, symphonies, operettas, folk music, and pop songs, fully demonstrating that he is not only good at composing, but also has talent in scoring. We must also mention the 1998 famous fantasy work "Rhodes Island Chronicles" known as Japan's "Dragonlance Chronicles". The theme song "Sea of ??Miracles" composed by Sugano was promoted as a fantasy theme in the animation industry. The most vivid song. "Turn A Gundam", the TV version of the popular animated series Gundam, is a war epic with a grand narrative and a long time span. Yoko Kanno uses a symphony that combines military music style with orchestral music in the play, with a grand epic style. The ED song "Cocoon of the Moon" is graceful and majestic, coupled with the excellent performance of singer Aki Okui and the profound lyrics, its ethereal spirit lingers in people's hearts. The story that spanned more than 100 years finally ended, and when peace finally arrived, with the sound of this song, people couldn't help but burst into tears... On November 12, 1999, the Gundam held at the International Convention Hall in Tokyo, Japan At the concert, director Yuyuki Tomino invited her to perform all composition, arrangement, composition and conductor work, and it was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1998, SUNRISE Company presented "Cowboy Bebop" (also translated as "Bounty Hunter", "Cowboy Bebop", etc.) to animation fans, telling the adventure story of several bounty hunters in the future driving an interstellar spacecraft.

The personalized protagonist, extremely exquisite pictures, strong nostalgic atmosphere, full of Western black humor and dramatic plot evolution have made this work an immortal classic in the eyes of fans since its release. Music supervisor Shinichiro Watanabe invited Yoko Kanno to direct the film, giving him full freedom. It is said that he did not hesitate to change the plot to match the music, which shows the close connection between animation and music. The number of songs used is three times that of ordinary TV animation! In this work, the music and plot have indeed achieved a "perfect" match. The "BEBOP" in the title of this work refers to the jazz form "roaring jazz" of the 1940s (which is characterized by high speed, gorgeousness, improvisation, intense rhythm, and complex and changeable chords). The subtitles of each chapter are also quoted from jazz allusions. Sugano went to the United States to record and collaborate with local jazz bands, and led the SEATSELTS band (literally translated as "seat belts". It is said that because the music style is unrestrained and wild, the band members must wear seat belts during the performance to avoid danger. The real Roaring Jazz Spirit! ) plays piano and keyboards himself. Because of this, the soundtrack of this film is mostly in the jazz style, and since each story is relatively independent, the soundtrack was specially designed for different scenes. In the soundtrack of this film, Kanno almost virtuosically combined Western music from the early and mid-20th century - Jazz, BLUE, country, HEAVY METAL, PUNK, RAP, FOLK SONG (folk music), SAMBA (samba), BOOGIE (Boogie), CAROL (Carol), RHAPSODY (Rhapsody), etc. The overall style is flexible and casual, with a strong improvisational style but it can perfectly interpret the plot. The impact brought by the matching pictures is really unparalleled! There may be no one in the future who can write such dazzling and mesmerizing music. Now it seems that this is the highest peak of Kanno Yoko's music career so far. I hope it will not be her swan song... The science fiction work "" released in 1995 The soundtrack for the theatrical version of "Ghost in the Shell" was performed by Kenji Kawai, and is known as the unsurpassed pinnacle of theatrical soundtracks. And 9 years later, the TV version of "Ghost in the Shell" "STAND ALONE COMPLEX" was launched. Faced with the situation of Zhu Yu in front, Yoko Kanno must also be under a lot of pressure. This TV version is less gloomy than the original theatrical version, and the soundtrack is less eerie and more dynamic and bright. The overall theme is mainly electronic music. The theme song "inner universe" uses fast electronic rhythms and a dramatic soprano (Russian), which is full of liveness. The rock and electronic music styles go well with the fiery action scenes of this work. Yoko's latest work should be the soundtrack for "Wolf's Rain". The music she composed for this 30-episode late-night animation not only became an integral part of the entire film, but also became a more eye-catching existence than the animation itself. This is a story about a wolf wandering around the city, looking for a legendary place called "Paradise" in the ruins of the apocalypse. OP "stray!" " is the most recognized. The singer Steve Conte's bold and uninhibited voice brought out the wolf's mood in an instant. Spirit: Aloof, persevering, wild and assertive, full of strength... Just as the lyrics sing: "Walking alone in the wind, snow and hunger, the memories of generations are burning like fire... I will never regret it, because I have nothing left. If you lose again, I will continue to wander! Until I fall, I will wander! I will always be shocked by the unruly spirit. This is really a music that only belongs to wolves! The ED "Gravity" sung by Maaya Sakamoto is also refreshing. It does not have the extremely non-standard weird accents and tunes that Japanese people sing in English songs. It is very fresh and natural. Most of the other songs on the OST are not in Japanese, and the whole album sounds quite exotic.

The above has introduced some anime soundtrack works that I personally admire. In fact, although she is famous for anime soundtracks, her works are not limited to anime. As a composer, arranger and music producer, she also He has been involved in many fields such as games, movies, TV series, documentaries, advertisements, artist album production, etc. In 1988, he joined KOEI Company and produced music for many early PC games, such as "Nobunaga's Ambition" and "The Age of Discovery" series. , no one who is a player of early PC games would not know it; in terms of film and television, she has also participated in the Japanese dramas "High School Teacher", "Hoshi no Gold", "Who Loves the Girl", "No Makeup" ", "Maya no Chu no Farewell", "Water Girl", "The Story of the Lower Wife", etc. and the music production of the movie "tokyo.sora"; at the same time, she is also a member of the music group Samply Red and has composed music for TV commercials ; She was also responsible for arranging the ending theme of Miyazaki Hayao's "Porco Rosso"; such as the 1995 NHK documentary "NHK China's 1.2 Billion People's Reform and Opening Up" (I have not seen this film, but from its grand and jubilant The tone that can be heard in the symphonic style music should basically be a positive reflection. There are two female Chinese songs - "MUGEN" and "Skylark". The tunes are lively and gentle, but the lyrics are basically incomprehensible^__^) ; There is also a personal album "Song to Fly" with a very special style. All these show the artistic talent and achievements of Yoko Kanno in various aspects. Sugano graduated from the Waseda Conservatory of Music in Japan. Her formal study of Western music has cultivated her skills in composition, orchestration, and even symphony writing and instrumental performance (like Hisaishi Joe, Sugano's performance has always been piano-based, but she seems to be able to play everything. He has profound knowledge in various aspects of keyboard instruments such as accordion, glockenspiel and harpsichord, etc. The overall feeling of her scoring style is more European and American, but it has a strong personal color of her own. As mentioned before, Sugano has a lot of knowledge in New Age, but in fact she is not limited to this. No matter what type or style of film and television works, she can compose the style and atmosphere according to the needs of the plot and picture. Excellent soundtrack. And regardless of any genre (New Age, pop, classical, symphony, jazz, opera, pop, electronic) or music belonging to any culture (Asian, European, North American, South American), she seems to be able to create it easily. Sometimes the styles of the songs are so different that you can't believe they were written by the same person. Yoko Kanno is like this, never limited by any boundaries and norms, so that the style of her works is too complicated to be classified; but in a sense, such an unconstrained and unrestrained style may be exactly Kanno's own style Woolen cloth. Sugano poured his own musical concepts and hard work into his works, and won double acclaim from the industry and ordinary audiences with his talent and hard work. In the past two years (2003, 2004), she won the music department award at the Tokyo International Animation Festival. /view/49222.html?wtp=tt Follow-up question: I was very excited after watching it! Sure enough, Kanno is quite talented! As an anime fan, her soundtrack for the animation is simply divine! Thank you for your answer~