Kalafina's harmony is like synchronised swimming

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On Saturday evening, I fired up my computer and connected via VPN to listen to a radio programme on NHK radio.  It's titled 歌え!土曜日 Love Hits (Sing!  Saturday Love Hits). After sitting through a couple of songs, we get to Kalafina's section at the end.

Since my listening comprehension is really quite terrible, I decided to attempt to record it so I could try and listen to it again and again if I needed to.  In the end, I still can't comprehend all of it. :P  But some day... some day I WILL!!!  :P

Anyway, in this radio interview, Keiko said something that I really, really liked.

She said that Kalafina's harmony is like synchronised swimming.
I really like it that she used this particular sport as a metaphor for their music. Synchronised swimming is a sport where athletes must synchronise elaborate choreography with music and often with each other.  While there are solo events, the Olympics doesn't have them and I think Keiko was thinking of the group events, in particular the trios of course, since Kalafina consist of three vocalists. :)

It's a difficult sport that requires a lot of skill and endurance because pretty much all of this is done in the water.  Sometimes the swimmer is completely submerged except for their dancing legs.  Because it's a sport that's like a hybrid between swimming and rhythmic gymnastics. This is why synchronised swimming isn't just about being strong and athletic but also about being beautiful and in harmony.  Isn't that just a perfect way to describe Kalafina's harmony? :)

Kalafina's harmony is often classical in nature and Kajiura Yuki's music often stretches them to their limits and beyond.  They must also sing in parts and they must enter and exit lines and phrases expertly in tune and in time.  Sometimes it can get relatively intricate because they don't always sing the whole sentence or phrase but they'll sing half a sentence, stop and then continue again.  It does require a certain amount of concentration and skill to keep in harmony.  But when they get it spot on, a Kalafina song is really quite a beautiful thing to behold, in my opinion. :)

Anyway, I made an mp3 file of the Kalafina section of their interview on the radio programme and thought I'll share it.  The quality of the sound isn't that great because I recorded it a little too loud so the audio does distort a little in some of the louder and higher sections of the song.  But then, I think the important part about this clip is the interview and not the songs since most fans should own the CDs / digital files by now? :P  Also, it's an mp3 file so there will be compression. It's likely that someone else recorded it too and you can find a better quality file online, so it may be worth searching for it if you prefer a better quality file. But if you don't mind or don't feel like searching, then you are welcome to listen to this clip.  That's the link below.  Hope it works. :)

Kalafina Love Hits radio programme

That's it from me, time to sleep.  This took longer than I expected as usual. :)  I've been sick for a couple of days and am still on medication so I should just stop now before I go on and on like I'm inclined to when it comes to talking about subjects I love. :P

Good night!! :)