音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

(I write this just because I want to change my last.fm sidebar content.)

click "Read more" only if you WANT to read this super long post...

I was born in a classical-listening family. Western music was all I listened when I was still very, very young. But you can’t remember much of things because you were too you to memorize them. The only thing I can still recall clearly is, I liked Mozart’s work Serenade K.525 movement 1 when I was six-year-old. That was in one night, I asked to use my mother’s new CD player before I went to bed. Thus she randomly inserted a CD, which contained this track – my first loved classical track.

Anyways, when I became older, my music life was kinda in a vacuum. Maybe it was from 1992 to 1996, which I can’t remember exactly. A lot of things happened, yet they didn’t stay in my mind. I listened to so little music. Occasionally, when my family listened to some pop songs from Hong Kong or Taiwan, I reacted like they worth of nothing (I still think so; no offense, just my own feeling). That was rather a boring period in my life.

Then, an animation series from Spain attracted me. That was “The Mozart Band.” That animation told good stories, and taught me lots of knowledge about classical music. Since that year (1996 or 1997), memories about these classical melodies were waking up, and my keenness for classical music was regained. I started to search all resource of classical music. I listened a lot, and felt in love with classical music. I don’t know what you would feel if you could have a chance to hear a little girl talking about piano and violin, concertos, operas, etc.

That was just astonished, to the fact that I didn’t learn any of instruments. Actually, my family ever wanted to buy me a piano when I was five or six, but I finally refused to learn it, according to my mother. Also, my mother has a violin, but, still from her, I’ve never got interested in playing it. One of my aunts bought me an electric piano. Again, that heard from my mother, I only played it randomly. That YAMAHA electric piano is still in my home, set upon our bookshelf, and is in idle all the time. I’ve heard about that a lot of people learn much about classical music when they learn an instrument. However, that is not the case of me.

Because of that animation focused on only four composers, what I listened to in that period were mostly their works. When I started to listen to local radio music channels, I got more chances to touch other composers’ music. Time from 1998 to 2001 was the most various time for me. I listened to tons of music whose genres varied completely. Firstly, I listened to everything I heard. Little by little, I started to choose. My taste in music shaped during that time. I liked classical, but not all kinds of it. I more liked music in baroque, classical, and romantic eras, but I didn’t like others like impressionism, and late 19-/20-century music. For modern music, I couldn’t accept both Chinese and western pop songs. I didn’t and still don’t know the exact reason. “They’re just not my style.” I always tell others who asked me about it.

Classical, classical, only classical music was around in my life until 2000. That was a crucial year in my entire music life. Japanese animes went into my life, with the specially-styled Japanese songs/sound tracks. My first Japanese song was the opening theme song of “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and I loved it very much, as well as its background music. Luckily, the composer of the anime, Shiro Sagisu, made the music epically beautiful and impressive. His style is like classical, yet with modern elements, and therefore, his music bridged the gap between classical music and Japanese modern music. I also liked GARNET CROW a lot. Their genre is typically J-pop, but their music sounds special. Unique. Yes, this word can be used to describe their songs comparing to all other J-pop works. Sometimes, I even didn’t dare to listen to their song “wasure saki,” which would make me in a rather depressing mood for some unknown reasons.

With I watched more animes, I listened to more Japanese music. As well, some of them were very good, and some of them I didn’t like at all. Before 2004, my music was still limited in classical music that I’ve already liked, and some of Japanese pop songs and sound tracks. I also read magazines about Japanese animes, and thus, I knew more about the kinda-new-to-me music kingdom. I liked a few Japanese composers and singers/bands, like Shiro Sagisu, Yoko Takahashi, Ritsuko Okazaki, Kou Ootani, Mai Kuraki, GARNET CROW, Katsuo Ohno and so on.

Yes, I liked them a lot, but for me in that time, I just liked them. Anyways, another critical period came in 2004: that I realized how nice modern music can be made my life cannot be apart from Japanese music.

I felt in love with Yuki Kajiura’s music.
Well, I don’t want to spend much of time to talk about her and her music (I’ve already talked for lots of times). Just, from “Gundam, ” See-Saw, “noir, ” FictionJunction YUUKA, and “.hack//SIGN,” I started to pay more attention on her music. Once and once again, I was touched by her ethnical and catchy melody. She soon became my goddess of music.
Yet everything happened in that winter, in 2004.

Gradually, I listened to more music while watching less animes. The position of music was replacing that of animes! It was another story of how I touched Japanese doujin music. It was about also about Yuki Kajiura. One day, when I was searching about FictionJunction YUUKA, a blog about Japanese music popped up. I read a post about Akiko Shikata. Yet, strangely, the reason for me to find out her music was only I liked the CD jacket of her album “RAKA”!! From her, I knew Ar Tonelico and Haruka Shimotsuki afterwards. From recommendations from my friends, I knew Sound Horizon. By accident, I started to listen to Rekka Katakiri. I discovered piles of artists, and got enough information about them. The variety of my listening music was exploding, in a somewhat limited range.

I knew, there were more nice composers and singers I still didn’t know or haven’t noticed. Like KOKIA. I’ve already listened to a few of her songs in 2005, but I’ve never realized how excellent she was until 2008. Now, maybe you’ve guessed, 2008, was also an extremely time point in my music life. “The VOICE,” the best KOKIA album for me, made me soon infatuatedly fell in love with her and her music. Generally, her style can be put in J-pop, yet hers isn’t that J-pop-ish (could be various on this point). She can sing extremely low notes, and high notes as well, which I absolutely admire. The most important point that made me fell in love with her more than all other artists (sadly, including my goddess Yuki Kajira, although she’s still my goddess…) was, that her music can really touch my heart. As what she said in one of her interviews, “warmth” is very important in her music, and a good piece of music must have contained the composer’s “heart.” Music is the gift from the god; it enables people from different places in the world being linked together without language. She made it.

Classical and Japanese music are all I listen to. I seldom listen to other music style, except Merlin’s Magic, a New Age band. I knew them in 2004, from the zodiac series music. In their music, you can be very relaxed. I often listen to them when I’m tired and don’t want to listen to any others, and when I study because they won’t get me distracted. I’ve also tried a little other New Age music, but I still vote for Merlin’s Magic till now.

I always know that I’m limited in what I listen to. I always know there must be more nice music to be discovered. I always know sometimes I prejudge some music because I myself am greatly picky on music. I always know I can’t even mention all my favorite artists in this post. It has already been a very long (and maybe boring [?]) post, though I believe if I don’t end it here, I can write another 2.5 pages.

I love music. Music is half of my life.