kalafina - keiko

I just watched Kalafina perform "Magia" live at Lisani Live on youtube and it was good. Hikaru does sound like Hikaru now, unlike the first time we heard the song in the first episode of Mahou Shoujo Madoka. Even Wakana had to go very deep, at least for her, for one of the lines and it probably is the limit for her as she looked as though she had to concentrate really hard for that line.

The three women sound so much better live these days. Of course, I thought they were already incredible when I saw them in the Lemon CC Hall last december. I also know there is a difference between watching them live and watching a recording of them live. Even so, some of their early lives were really kind of not great. At that time I thought FictionJunction sounded much better live then Kalafina did even though both Keiko and Wakana sing for both FJ and Kalafina.

However, Kalafina is a relatively young group and they do sing a brand of music which isn't easy to perform live and they rarely use In-Ear Mics so I cut them a certain amount of slack as I waited for them to mature as a group. I still remember watching Keiko and Wakana in the first FJ Live dvd and Keiko was staring so hard it was kind of creepy and Wakana looked terrified. They certainly have come a long way since then. :)

Anyway, back to "Magia". This is the second time I've heard the full version and watched the live version. The first time was at the Live in Dec where I remember liking it but not remembering much of it as I tried to digest the song in the midst of all the excitement. This time, it is on youtube, so it is much easier to catch all the bits and pieces and I must say the part I like best is Keiko's bridge which must have been hard for her to sing because it had a rather unusual melody.

The truth is, my favourite member of Kalafina and of the current FJ setup is Keiko. In the world of Japanese and Chinese pop music, possibly even pop music from the West, higher female voices are preferred with the notable exceptions of singers like Anita Mui, Alice Lau etc. I like Keiko's voice, I like its power and her control. I find her voice unusual and refreshing. I like it that Kajiura Yuki uses her and her voice so effectively to not only give the harmony a fuller sound but also as a sort of exclamation mark with her counter melodies, the odd line here and there, a verse or in "Magia", the bridge. Everytime Keiko gets a part where she breaks away from providing the harmony, it always makes me sit up and pay attention.

In someways, I feel a certain affinity for Keiko because of her role as the deepest voice in a vocal unit. It is inevitable that most of her work involves providing harmony and support for the alto and soprano. It may possibly be a little bit of a stretch but in some ways, i do feel that it is like what I do. I have almost always worked behind the scenes, whether it was as a producer, an editor or in vfx, most people who watch our work won't be thinking about us which should be the case. We provide the support and we provide the glue that makes the visuals and audio all come together to become a seamless audio visual treat called a movie or mtv or promo or advertisement or corporate video etc. But occasionally, an explosion or some breathe taking vfx or some slickly edited montage is used to make the viewer sit up, take note, go "wow" etc and it is then when most viewers will remember the audio engineer, the editor, the vfx guys etc.

So, yup, Keiko rocks cuz she's just like us post production guys. :D. Kidding. :) She is way more public than us. :) I do mean it though, I do like Keiko the best for all the reasons stated above. I just felt like writing about it now because I just heard her sing that bridge so beautifully. :)

I have yet to watch Ep 4 and Ep 5 of Mahou Shoujo Madoka. Been awfully busy with CNY celebrations and work lately. Hopefully I will get to it before the next ep airs but that may not work out as the coming week looks busy. :( I would still like to write about the visuals in the anime but am wondering now if I should just write short thoughts first, then write the more in-depth one after the anime is completed. Hmmmm... we'll see. For now, it is way pass bedtime :) ... oyasumi. :)