Kalafina ~ Backstage Pass Vol.6 magazine interview (small bit translated)

I got this magazine in the same shipment that delivered Kalafina's ring your bell CDs. :)  I also got AJ Girls Vol.1 with this order but photos of that have been floating around the internet for a while, so I'm undecided if I'll do a post on it.  What's missing from the set of photos floating around the internet is the one-page interview that accompanies the photoshoot.

I have seen what I think are the photos from the Backstage Pass Vol.6 magazine floating around the internet.  These photos are accompanied by the description of each vocalist's voice and if I remember those lines on those pictures correctly, they should be the first line that is written in the Backstage Pass Vol.6 magazine.
Other then that I haven't seen much.  So here you go, photos of all the pages that Kalafina appear in first. :)



For those who may be interested in picking up magazines with Kalafina's interviews in them.  I think that this isn't a bad magazine to pick up at all.  You get six pages with quite a bit of text.  Beware though!! I found the content hard to read.  My vocabulary and grammar aren't good enough to read this quickly. For me to read this, I will have to slowly work my way through most of the article. *sweat

They talk a little bit about the Budokan lives and quite extensively about their new songs ring your bell and koibito no mukashigatari no yuugure no.  From what I can gather from the limited amount I was able to understand from a quick read through (or rather skip through since I didn't understand quite a bit :P ) , it seems pretty interesting and the interviewer seems to really like music.  The interviewer also seemed to have listened and thought about the songs carefully before he/she interviewed Kalafina and I kind of like that about this interview.

There is one section in the interview that I didn't have too much trouble with and I found it interesting because it shows their different personalities.  I thought I'll at least translate this section and share it with whoever is interested. :)  I'll summarize it as accurately as I can below.  I'll rather do a summary than a sentence accurate translation because it would be kind of hard for me and take quite a bit more time than I have on hand. Also, my usual disclaimer. The summarized translations should be more or less accurate but since my Japanese isn't the best, there is a possibility that some of it might be a wee bit off. That said, I think it should be more or less accurate. :)

If you look at the far right photo, you can see a little box on the last page of the interview.  It's titled Kalafina's Recording Item and its sub title in katakana is literally translated as "recording must item". Essentially what this section is asking is what is the "must bring" item that each member of Kalafina must bring with them when they go to the recording studio.

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First, Wakana:

Wakana brings eye drops and lip balm/cream to the recording booth.  She also uses hand cream before she enters the booth.  She uses eye-drops because of her contacts, her eyes get dry when she concentrates very hard.

This helps to keep her from blinking too much.  She doesn't like it when she can't read the score so she uses the eye drops often. She also uses the eye-drops to change her mood.

She also brings a handkerchief with her into the booth.  When she uses all her strength to sing, she'll sweat.  Also when she coughs, it's useful to have a handkerchief to cover her mouth so that it doesn't enter the mic.

Next Keiko:

Keiko brings nothing from home.  Everything she needs, like pencils, plain hot water, candy etc, are prepared by the studio. She'll use what has been prepared.

Since their début song, they've mostly used the same studio. The ambient lighting feels good and she finds it easy to sing in that environment.

That particular studio feels like home to Keiko.  It is the place that Kalafina was born and she feels a sense of security there, it feels like going home.  Conversely, when Keiko goes to other studios, she becomes anxious.

Last up, Hikaru:

Recently, Hikaru has been bringing voice-care candy to the studio.  She'll also wear clothing that matches the image of the song she'll be singing that day.

She does this in preparation to enter the world of that particular song.  She wants to become the protagonist of the song.  For ring your bell, she wore all white.  For koibito no mukashigatari no yuugure no, the clothes she wore were in the area of grey, it looked like black ink had been spilt from the top and feels a little murky.

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Gosh, articles like these always make me want to work harder at studying Japanese.  I really need to get better at it.  The Budokan lives made me fall more in love with Kajiura Yuki's music and Kalafina.  Since I've returned, my love for their music has only increased and I started to buy more of the magazines than before and have made a greater stab at reading them.  But gosh, I am so slow and massive translating is unfortunately out of the question right now because I would probably be kind of inaccurate and I will take FOREVER. Also, career-wise, I feel that this is a pivotal year for me and aside from knuckling down and really studying Japanese, I must also keep practising and learning more about the software that I use at work and also learn more techniques to help me get my work done. So have to ganbarimasu this year!! :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed what little bit I was able to translate. :)  It's pretty interesting, isn't it? Their personalities sound so different but they seem to get along so well. :)

cheers