Encouragement for Kanako Kotera at her X-roads.

Kanako Kotera (小寺可南子) has been famous as a game song singer for an RPG named “The Legend of Heroes”. The name of the most famous song is “I swear..”, which is an ending theme of the game. As I am not a game freak, and I never knew her before she made a presentation on the TV program Uta-sta, for a mainstream record label as a duo named “2PEACE@LOVE”. I heard that they passed the first test supported by four composers out of five, which has been the best record of the program so far. After that I have been keeping alert to see her continuing activity as a solo singer. Just then, I went to her solo live performance last year. It was astonishing because she performed with a beautiful voice and quite correct pitch, in spite of the hard rock style. I did not know that she had been (and is still) a game song singer, and I thought that she had enough talent for and was going to be a rock singer, with the help of the producer Masato Kamata. They uploaded many up-tempo song PV’s on YouTube/MySpace and all of them have been excellent, I feel.

I had a chance last weekend, to attend an off-the-net closed party to communicate with each other and to celebrate her birthday. This time I guessed right, in the back of my mind, about the situation. And I realized that the other dozen participants were in fact almost all game (at least game-song) fans. It was very interesting that I was the only one to see her through a unique facet. It means she has many layers (hidden talents) as an artist, I believe.

She seemed to be very pleased with the direct communications, surrounded by friendly people to have a happy and memorable cerebration period. I am convinced that she, with multiple talents for music, stands at the crossroads of her music life. Whichever way she goes, she would certainly progress to realize her ambition, I truly believe.

First Live Tour of Perfume and Their Future

※２週遅れになってしまいましたが、ライブレポというよりは、秋の武道館公演に向けた「ニュース」として書きました。私が実際に観覧したのは、ツアーファイナルではなく同会場のプレファイナルでしたが、確度の高い伝聞をもとに、感動のファイナルにフィーチャーしています。
(Some of the content is hearsay; It’s not a review but a kind of news.)

◆ Perfume has just finished their first tour “GAME”, which was named after their new album. They started their tour in Osaka, and went around Japan for over a month, performing 11 times at 10 live houses. The final performances were two gigs at Yokohama. In particular, the second show had been added because the tickets for the previous day were sold out in a moment.
◆ The new album, as well as their tour, increased their popularity throughout the Japanese music scene. “Whoever expected that they would become so popular”, is what most people say in their lunch time talk. They reversed roles, and they are now more famous than their composer-producer or other artists, who are produced by the same producer.
◆ The tour has been successful. They have been deeply delighted to see that so many fans got together with them, listened to them, and danced with them all full of smiles. Their activity had long been in obscurity, and they used to exclaim “Please just remember our name!” to sparse audiences. They had never undergone an experience that so many people were fanatical about them.
◆ The pinnacle of their performance occurred in the last song “wonder2” in the last performance. The staff and audience had conspired to make an impressive surprise for Perfume. When the sign on the stage displayed “READY” and “GO!!” in secret, everybody there except Perfume (all the audience of course as well as all the staff and even the camera crews) began to swing chemical lights in accordance with their song. Many people thought it looked like a flower garden, which caused a cascade of tears.
◆ They are going to have, in November this year, two larger performances at Budokan. It is the summit of venues where every musician aspires to perform a solo concert. The house and dates are fixed. They are always on the edge of a cliff to make their dreams come true. It will be on Thursday and Friday, and there are two things that come to mind. One thing is that many people would prefer weekend performance. The other thing is that many people expect a dramatic surprise on the second day, remembering and believing Yokohama’s wonder. To make the first day performance worthy and heartful will be the biggest issue to overcome.

【英語版】 Asami Kaneko First Performance 【金子麻美】

（※趣味と勉強と夢を交えて、紹介に重点を置いた英語版も発信しています。）

Asami Kaneko (金子麻美) performed at an event named “Four Season’s Elegance Vol. 3” as the opening act. It was her first live performance to sing to the general public. She left Yamagata, her unurbanized but wonderful home town, a year and a half ago with a dream to become a top singer in Tokyo. In rather a short period, she had progressed to the final stage of a Japanese TV audition for singers (NTV “Uta-sta” 日テレ／歌スタ sponsored by “Dai-ichi Kousho” 第一興商, the biggest Karaoke-Entertainment company in Japan) but she regrettably missed passing the final test by a record label. The gate for mainstream activity had once been closed. However, she has patiently continued her activity with the help of her producer Masato Kamata(鎌田雅人), who scouted her at the program.

In the performance, she was supported by Masato Kamata himself, who played keyboard this time, as well as Maki Mikami, an excellent violin player from her brother’s band. The hall was not so large but it had been filled with a smallish crowd by the opening. The set list of the songs was as follows (the name of the songs are my free translations):

1. Bound for Tokyo（東京行き）

2. Overcome with a smile（笑わなくちゃ）

3. As my natural self（そのままで）

With the help of the melodies played by the couple of experts, her high pitched voice with rich octave overtones was very healing. It was as pleasant as the performances she had made on the TV program. It made the audience dream of their own pastoral world in their hearts. High pitched singers sometimes sing using unnatural falsetto but her voice was thick and natural making the audience deeply moved. I believe that with a little more practice so that her ways of expression are totally under her free control, she will become a big singer that heals more and more people as she has been dreaming.