Well, I went back and found the missing part of the tour! It was (as I had thought) at the beginning of the encore. So now we're finished! Enjoy the last translation, I hope that these translations, however amateur they may be, helped you enjoy the show a bit more than you might have done previously. It was a great tour!! Maaaayaaaaaaaaaaa!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 Encore Intro
You called? (cheer) Anything wrong with being in a short skirt again? (cheer) Eh…You got me completely. I was tricked. Actually, I was determined that ‘Kazamidori’ would be moved to become the last song on this tour.
On the bullet train on the way back from Osaka I had been saying to the staff “How would it be if we switched ‘Universe’ and ended with ‘Kazamidori’?” And then they replied really strongly with “No, no, probably doing ‘Universe’ would be best”(laugh) So that’s what it was! I wonder when that was planned. Thank you very much everyone, it was wonderful. (cheer)
Well…I can feel deeply the energy overflowing in the atmosphere right now. Lives really are good, aren’t they? (cheer) I really think that. Well! We were called by everyone and rushed out here so I guess it’s OK to sing a bit more, right? (cheer)
OK. Heh, heh, OK. Let’s go back to when I was a teenager (audience woos) Platina!
Friday, 26 June 2009
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 8
Here it is, the final MC. Apart from the one I've lost. I think it's at the beginning of the encore, actually. Thinking back. That must be why I missed it out because it's not labeled as an MC. Oh well. I'll go back. Enjoy!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 8
OK, this time to the front! This time out to the front. And also the strings, once more! Ah I’m so happy, thank you for wearing the T-shirts. (To Kouno Shin) It’s fine, it’s fine I haven’t got one either.
Note: Maaya snorts her word into the microphone here ^^;; so I’m not sure what she says but I’m pretty sure Kouno Shin was worried about not having his flag because everyone else is waving theirs quite happily and he turns to go back and Maaya’s like ‘no, no, I haven’t got one either’. Anyhoo, back to the MC.
Thank you everyone, we are Kazeyomi! Thank you! (cheer)
Everyone really surprised me…well, there’s one more surprise from me. I’m sorry, the time’s really getting late. Well, this is for me as well. Today’s really the first time I’ve played this so my hearts pounding really hard. (cheer) anyway, this for me as well so let me sing this song once more.
Everyone here, everyone here today, and the people in Nagoya and Osaka, the band and the staff, thanks to everyone I’ve fallen in love with concerts. This is truly the last song.
‘Kazamidori’.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 8
OK, this time to the front! This time out to the front. And also the strings, once more! Ah I’m so happy, thank you for wearing the T-shirts. (To Kouno Shin) It’s fine, it’s fine I haven’t got one either.
Note: Maaya snorts her word into the microphone here ^^;; so I’m not sure what she says but I’m pretty sure Kouno Shin was worried about not having his flag because everyone else is waving theirs quite happily and he turns to go back and Maaya’s like ‘no, no, I haven’t got one either’. Anyhoo, back to the MC.
Thank you everyone, we are Kazeyomi! Thank you! (cheer)
Everyone really surprised me…well, there’s one more surprise from me. I’m sorry, the time’s really getting late. Well, this is for me as well. Today’s really the first time I’ve played this so my hearts pounding really hard. (cheer) anyway, this for me as well so let me sing this song once more.
Everyone here, everyone here today, and the people in Nagoya and Osaka, the band and the staff, thanks to everyone I’ve fallen in love with concerts. This is truly the last song.
‘Kazamidori’.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 7
I'm pretty sure I've missed an MC somewhere, you know. I've been going through them in order on the DVD but I'm SURE there's another one somewhere that isn't labelled on the chapter menu. I'll find it somehow...
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 7
Thanks for calling us out again, everyone. Yay! Yay! Amazing. I’m so happy. Well, it’s because we haven’t done that important song yet, right? I’m sure the people who are here for the first time are thinking ‘huh?’ but as if you know what’s going on please sing with everyone together. After we do this song the concert will finish.
All you Kazeyomi people who came back here today, I’m sure there are some of you who feel like you only just arrived, so many people here and all walking their own various paths who pass by each other here, having today in common and then facing a brand new tomorrow. Returning to all those different ‘every day’ lives. Think about all the important things, the wonderful things, all the glorious things that will pile up in those words ‘everyday life’ from tomorrow.
We will meet again somewhere, both most cheerful and even more wonderful than we are today. So we can meet again, until that day, I will address you all with ‘itterasshai’!!
Note: ‘itterasshai’ is what Japanese people say when someone’s leaving the house/room/going away. It’s a bit like when we wave someone off in English with ‘see you soon’ and it carries the nuance of the person coming back again sometime.
Pulling together these feelings let’s sing that song we always sing at the end. Singing altogether very loudly - don’t think about if you’re disturbing the person next to you because it’s the last song. OK, here we go.
1, 2, 3, 4.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 7
Thanks for calling us out again, everyone. Yay! Yay! Amazing. I’m so happy. Well, it’s because we haven’t done that important song yet, right? I’m sure the people who are here for the first time are thinking ‘huh?’ but as if you know what’s going on please sing with everyone together. After we do this song the concert will finish.
All you Kazeyomi people who came back here today, I’m sure there are some of you who feel like you only just arrived, so many people here and all walking their own various paths who pass by each other here, having today in common and then facing a brand new tomorrow. Returning to all those different ‘every day’ lives. Think about all the important things, the wonderful things, all the glorious things that will pile up in those words ‘everyday life’ from tomorrow.
We will meet again somewhere, both most cheerful and even more wonderful than we are today. So we can meet again, until that day, I will address you all with ‘itterasshai’!!
Note: ‘itterasshai’ is what Japanese people say when someone’s leaving the house/room/going away. It’s a bit like when we wave someone off in English with ‘see you soon’ and it carries the nuance of the person coming back again sometime.
Pulling together these feelings let’s sing that song we always sing at the end. Singing altogether very loudly - don’t think about if you’re disturbing the person next to you because it’s the last song. OK, here we go.
1, 2, 3, 4.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
30 Minutes Night Flight Interview - April 2007
I was on my year abroad in Japan when '30 Minutes Night Flight' came out, thus, it's my soundtrack for my year abroad photos and memories. 'Bokutachi ha koi wo suru riyuu' was the song I listened to every night I pedaled my bicycle back from my job as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. Yes, I know a) dangerous to listen to music when riding a bike along busy roads and b) what was I doing working in a Chinese restaurant in Japan? Anyway, I was able to get a lot of the magazines Maaya was featured in when she was doing her publicity for the album.
So here's a short article from Tsutaya's (the rental people) free music magazine that I picked up back in april 2007.
Maaya Sakamoto – The new album has arrived after a break of a year and 5 months. A concept album one can enjoy wholeheartedly.
Originally published in VA the magazine from Tsutaya Records vol.58, April 2007.
Interview and Text: Kana Yoshida
Translation: Pippa
If you could spend 30 minutes doing whatever you wanted, what would you do? Cook, read a book, watch a film, go outside for a bit but 30 minutes isn’t much of anything really. If you have time to spare, spend it on Maaya Sakamoto’s new album ’30 minutes night flight’. Just like it says on the box, this album lasts just 30 minutes.
M: “30 minutes isn’t a serious amount of time at all, is it? (laugh) But if it’s through music, I really think that in just 30 minutes you can travel the entire globe or even go into space.”
When you hear the words ‘concept album’, whether it’s an ‘acoustic album’ or a ‘ballad album’, usually one can get a sense of the whole product even before listening to it. However, with this album, each song has a completely different feel from the one before it and this really makes you anticipate the track that will come next.
M: “This album really isn’t from a single person’s perspective, it’s singing about the lives of many different people through the lens of being on a journey. That’s why there are so many different personalities and different sounds. However, because it's a concept album and there has to be one overall atmosphere present throughout we had just one arranger.
I’ve never made an album like this before so it was a really fresh way to work. By having a set time limit and concept, with the labour we were able to put into it, I think we struck upon an idea that one wouldn’t usually come across. I really think all the songs came together well.”
The 5th track ‘universe’ is a majestic but mysterious ballad that one can hear at the Ikebukuro planetarium ‘Starlight Dome Manten’ in Tokyo.
M: “I really love planetariums. At first you get that it’s only a projection of stars but gradually you begin to feel like you’re actually floating in the cosmos. A feeling of space so vast it’s scary…There’s a moment when you’re in the planetarium when there’s a link between your everyday sense of reality and the feeling of being taken into space.
Even though I don’t really like the trend recently of getting in touch with one’s spiritual side (laugh) I wanted to express the idea that the relationship between oneself and the universe is not something difficult at all. I wanted to look at the things we can’t easily explain from all sides and give them form in music, the big events we have no control over and the meetings of destiny.”
With today’s technology, it would be easy to create this magnificence through piling up sound after sound but Sakamoto’s songs still retain the feeling of being ‘live’. Without any sense of being ‘just sounds we added together’, they resonate clearly within the soul. There’s a reason for this too.
M: “I think right now it’s seen as normal to record a number of takes and select the best one [when recording]. But a singing voice is a living thing, it’s always changing. It isn’t just ‘sing this part over and over and it will be fine’. So this time we had a lot of songs where the rule was ‘one time only’. Although, as usual, I sang oblivious to the fact that ‘there is no next time’.”
It’s been 11 years since Maaya Sakamoto started singing. Never compromising, there’s an inherently good feeling about this person who continues to challenge new things. We asked this woman who says: ‘It’s natural for me to have singing as the centre of my life’, what she would do if she went on a long trip herself…
M: “I want to go on a journey all by myself! I want to live life by going to a lot of different countries. I’d like to experience music that crosses borderlines easily and the wonderful food one can find abroad (laugh)”
So here's a short article from Tsutaya's (the rental people) free music magazine that I picked up back in april 2007.
Maaya Sakamoto – The new album has arrived after a break of a year and 5 months. A concept album one can enjoy wholeheartedly.
Originally published in VA the magazine from Tsutaya Records vol.58, April 2007.
Interview and Text: Kana Yoshida
Translation: Pippa
If you could spend 30 minutes doing whatever you wanted, what would you do? Cook, read a book, watch a film, go outside for a bit but 30 minutes isn’t much of anything really. If you have time to spare, spend it on Maaya Sakamoto’s new album ’30 minutes night flight’. Just like it says on the box, this album lasts just 30 minutes.
M: “30 minutes isn’t a serious amount of time at all, is it? (laugh) But if it’s through music, I really think that in just 30 minutes you can travel the entire globe or even go into space.”
When you hear the words ‘concept album’, whether it’s an ‘acoustic album’ or a ‘ballad album’, usually one can get a sense of the whole product even before listening to it. However, with this album, each song has a completely different feel from the one before it and this really makes you anticipate the track that will come next.
M: “This album really isn’t from a single person’s perspective, it’s singing about the lives of many different people through the lens of being on a journey. That’s why there are so many different personalities and different sounds. However, because it's a concept album and there has to be one overall atmosphere present throughout we had just one arranger.
I’ve never made an album like this before so it was a really fresh way to work. By having a set time limit and concept, with the labour we were able to put into it, I think we struck upon an idea that one wouldn’t usually come across. I really think all the songs came together well.”
The 5th track ‘universe’ is a majestic but mysterious ballad that one can hear at the Ikebukuro planetarium ‘Starlight Dome Manten’ in Tokyo.
M: “I really love planetariums. At first you get that it’s only a projection of stars but gradually you begin to feel like you’re actually floating in the cosmos. A feeling of space so vast it’s scary…There’s a moment when you’re in the planetarium when there’s a link between your everyday sense of reality and the feeling of being taken into space.
Even though I don’t really like the trend recently of getting in touch with one’s spiritual side (laugh) I wanted to express the idea that the relationship between oneself and the universe is not something difficult at all. I wanted to look at the things we can’t easily explain from all sides and give them form in music, the big events we have no control over and the meetings of destiny.”
With today’s technology, it would be easy to create this magnificence through piling up sound after sound but Sakamoto’s songs still retain the feeling of being ‘live’. Without any sense of being ‘just sounds we added together’, they resonate clearly within the soul. There’s a reason for this too.
M: “I think right now it’s seen as normal to record a number of takes and select the best one [when recording]. But a singing voice is a living thing, it’s always changing. It isn’t just ‘sing this part over and over and it will be fine’. So this time we had a lot of songs where the rule was ‘one time only’. Although, as usual, I sang oblivious to the fact that ‘there is no next time’.”
It’s been 11 years since Maaya Sakamoto started singing. Never compromising, there’s an inherently good feeling about this person who continues to challenge new things. We asked this woman who says: ‘It’s natural for me to have singing as the centre of my life’, what she would do if she went on a long trip herself…
M: “I want to go on a journey all by myself! I want to live life by going to a lot of different countries. I’d like to experience music that crosses borderlines easily and the wonderful food one can find abroad (laugh)”
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 6
Here's MC 6 from the Kazeyomi DVD!!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 6
Thank you! (applause) Give another round for the band! (applause) You know…there’s one more thing that I’d like to do. (applause) I guess the fan club members already know about this but at the fan club limited mini lives last spring I played the piano myself for the first time.
I’m not making excuses but I can’t read music scores and I had never even played the piano before but one say I realised that in order to express my songs with my whole body I have to learn to play an instrument. So I went to a music store and said “Please give me a keyboard”. I just suddenly brought that key board one day.
From then it took about 10 months, with excessive practice, but at the six live events people listened to my performance and I was able to play without giving up. It’s been almost one year since then but I thought that I really want to do it on my tour.
I might not be very good but with everything I have, there’s a song I’d like you to hear to say thank you to everyone.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 6
Thank you! (applause) Give another round for the band! (applause) You know…there’s one more thing that I’d like to do. (applause) I guess the fan club members already know about this but at the fan club limited mini lives last spring I played the piano myself for the first time.
I’m not making excuses but I can’t read music scores and I had never even played the piano before but one say I realised that in order to express my songs with my whole body I have to learn to play an instrument. So I went to a music store and said “Please give me a keyboard”. I just suddenly brought that key board one day.
From then it took about 10 months, with excessive practice, but at the six live events people listened to my performance and I was able to play without giving up. It’s been almost one year since then but I thought that I really want to do it on my tour.
I might not be very good but with everything I have, there’s a song I’d like you to hear to say thank you to everyone.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 5
Sorry it took a while!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 5
The lyrics of the first song today, ‘Get no satisfaction’, and the lyrics of ‘Remedy’ – I think they really express who I am right now. I hope that you Kazeyomi citizens here today will be able to really take those feelings in when you listen back once more after this. However, on ‘Kazeyomi’ the most…the most special song, the song which says “This is the person I’ve become” most…please listen.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 5
The lyrics of the first song today, ‘Get no satisfaction’, and the lyrics of ‘Remedy’ – I think they really express who I am right now. I hope that you Kazeyomi citizens here today will be able to really take those feelings in when you listen back once more after this. However, on ‘Kazeyomi’ the most…the most special song, the song which says “This is the person I’ve become” most…please listen.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 3
Out of order but it's so short it doesn't really matter! Note: when Maaya says 'interruption!' what she means is that drinking the water interrupted everything ^^;; it makes more sense seeing it in person I guess. Thanks for the clarification Frecklegirl!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 3
That was ‘Hashiru’. I’m completely out of breath (laugh) that was a really old song you just heard, right? Um…well, there are people who are thinking ‘that was nostalgic!’ and also people for who it was completely new – there are lots of different ways of taking it.
In truth, the version of ‘Hashiru’ you just heard was a Tokyo-only song! (applause) There were also songs that were only played in both Osaka and Nagoya too but here in Tokyo we have the string quartet here with us so…(applause) yes, that’s right. (laugh) So therefore now I’m going to take a sip of water…interruption! There were a few songs that I definitely wanted to perform with the string quartet so please listen to them now.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 3
That was ‘Hashiru’. I’m completely out of breath (laugh) that was a really old song you just heard, right? Um…well, there are people who are thinking ‘that was nostalgic!’ and also people for who it was completely new – there are lots of different ways of taking it.
In truth, the version of ‘Hashiru’ you just heard was a Tokyo-only song! (applause) There were also songs that were only played in both Osaka and Nagoya too but here in Tokyo we have the string quartet here with us so…(applause) yes, that’s right. (laugh) So therefore now I’m going to take a sip of water…interruption! There were a few songs that I definitely wanted to perform with the string quartet so please listen to them now.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 4
Yes, yes, I know I've missed out MC 3 but there's a word I want to check over with Frecklegirl before I post it up. Now, the mother of all the MC's. This baby took me over three hours and there are still places where I couldn't for the life of me work out. These places are marked by notes one and two respectively. Who would have thought that introducing the band would provide the most difficult part to translate!! There was also a word after she introduced The string quartet that I couldn't find either...it sounded a lot like carpet but I know it's not. Anyway. This is the longest MC and the juiciest in terms of content and understanding Maaya herself.
It's worth it.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 4
And now, I’d like to introduce the people in the band who are standing on this stage together with me here today. (applause).
Firstly, Sano Yasuo on the drums! Ah, it was this way! (laughs) I’m sorry! I can’t believe this I’m so sorry for that. This is Mr Sano, he’s been – ah, wait a second. Mr Sano, right? He’s played the drums for my first live, second live, third live so he gets a bonus for perfect attendance. For the rest of our lives please!
And now, bass Ohkanda Tomohiko! (laughs) As you can see, a natural character. Actually, please call him Kan-chan! (audience shouts Kan-chan!) With the Kanji character for yellow please!
(Note: Now the word Maaya uses ‘kanji’ might mean both ‘feeling’ and Chinese character ‘Kanji’. After spending ages playing around with Ohkanda Tomohiko’s name in various search engines as well as looking up the characters for his name and the word yellow to find any correlation and finally looking up phrases using ‘yellow feeling’ as slang etc. I have come to the conclusion that she means that both the kanji for yellow ‘kiiroi’ and the first kanji of Ohkanda’s name can be read ‘Oh’ and…somehow…yellow has some significance for him being a natural kind of guy? Anyway, Maaya says to write Kan-chan with the character for yellow…)
Next, on to guitar and Mr Ishinari Masato! He’s so cool, and he often bursts forth with this really wonderful phrase - when he’s singing he’ll come out with this ‘Uuunnh’ kind of noise, like an ‘ah I forgot the lyrics!’ sort of noise like he’s blaming it on someone else. Sorry but it’s true, it always looks like he’s thinking something along the lines of ‘ah even though it was that [I got it wrong]’ when he sings.
(Note: Maaya kind of mumbles at the end of this part so take it with a grain of salt)
Continuing, percussion – Miss Mizawa Izumi! Over here. She’s cute, she’s cute.
And with that, with this band from Osaka to Nagoya – wait, there’s one more person but I’ll introduce you in a second – we’ve toured around just like this.
Next, I’d like to introduce today’s special guest string quartet beginning with the first violin, Miss Oki Shouko. Then there’s second violin, Miss Shimokawa Miho. Then on the viola there’s Mr Watanabe Kazuo. Then on the cello it is Inoue Masayo. Earliar, the completion of the beginning of ‘Hashiru’ made me think suddenly “Whatever happens I have to do this song”.
Finally, Kouno Shin on the piano! He’s going ‘aheyaheyahe’. On the band bus Mr Kouno is always smiling, friendly and good fun. He’s someone you can really rely on. He’s actually the arranger on ‘Kazeyomi’ for ‘Get no Satisfaction’ and ‘Colors’. They are completely opposite songs. From such a cheerful song to a song like ‘Colors’ where you can feel both the sea, the earth and the universe, he arranged them both.
With this band right now, standing together with them on stage, I’m really happy!
(applause)
I’m really happy. From here I can see everyone making many smiling different faces.Um…well, I’m on this tour because I felt like somehow I have to explain why it’s been so long since I’ve had a concert…I have to talk about the reason and my feelings here tonight. Well, I’ve been singing for a long time up to this point, I’ve also written lyrics – singing and writing as well as acting and commenting on this. I’ve loved all of this. I felt I could really experience life through this without being deprived of anything.
But saying that, honestly the word ‘live’ was for something really frightening for me. Always. There were many people who would say “Let us know when you want to do a live!” or people would say “Try it out, it’s fun” I would think “Well, that may be so” and when I tried it each time I would feel like ‘ah, that was actually fun’ or ‘I really did it’ and every time I really learned something, that I had climbed up one more step. But even though that was my intention I could never say ‘I want to do another concert someday’, was it impatience? But inside of me there was a part that was always ready to run away.
If you ask why, I was really bad at standing in front of people. Not because I was nervous or embarrassed but because right from the beginning I found it was really difficult to open myself up to people. It was always like there was a sheet of glass between me and the audience, that I could be in contact with them and think ‘I want to get rid of this wall’ but couldn’t. Even I was thinking ‘I’m so awful’. But really, continuing to wear cute clothes and singing beautifully – doing concerts like this was something I couldn’t stand. I had a feeling that it shouldn’t be like that, a concert should have something more important to it. That it was some kind of communication and it was because I thought that way that I was so regretful that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t say it from my own lips.
But, at that time I started to do the limited fan club events, I’d do a concert at a pace of around one a year and slowly the number of concerts I did increased as did the number of people who came to see them – is there anyone here from the IDS! Fan club? Thank you. Those people really taught me how enjoyable concerts could be, and this with the warm staff meant that every time I was left with warm feelings. I was able to sing and in the midst of that how much I was able to do on stage began to increase.
Finally, I realised that although I had been under the impression that I was addressing a whole crowd of people in reality every single person there was walking their own individual path, that many different people were gathered together and that it was actually one to one communication.
I hadn’t even realised this even though it was something obvious. When I realised that there was this back-and-forth going on, far from being scary, it became something reassuring. It really made me into an adult. You all did that.
So when I was making ‘Kazeyomi’ it felt like I was being released from many different things and becoming free, so many pieces of good music were being born. I thought how amazing this is, how wonderful. I was really happy. And I was surprised when the words ‘I want to do a concert’ just naturally slipped out one day. And the planning of this tour began.
So because I was thinking I’m really sorry that I made you all wait so long, I even said because it’s been so long and I rarely do them I want to make it a big one! And because I did that so many people came! I was actually really worried that so many people were coming and I’m so happy that everyone waited for me. (bows)
Damn it, it’s still to early to cry!! (laugh) But really, I’ve been able to feel how much everyone had been waiting for me and being able to sing…it’s really the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
When I was choosing songs for this tour I was lost and troubled because I had so many songs I couldn’t possibly choose. But within the many songs that I wanted to sing I could see that when I looked back within myself at the path that I’d followed to this point I could see that wherever I cut the songs from ‘Maaya Sakamoto’ was there. And I could see that whatever I sang would be fine, the songs I want to sing now and the songs on ‘Kazeyomi’ could be lined up together. From the songs I sang in the past to what I sang now, listening to them there was a continuation. Even though it’s been a while, it wasn’t just a treat for everyone that I sang my old songs or my single songs, it was actually because when I lined up the songs I wanted to sing in everything there were footprints leading to ‘Kazeyomi’. It was really interesting. And I really felt that I was glad to have come to where I am and that I hadn’t been mistaken in anything.
Within all those songs, to the me that was there on that day there’s one song that I have to sing. Please listen. ‘Hikari Are’.
It's worth it.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 4
And now, I’d like to introduce the people in the band who are standing on this stage together with me here today. (applause).
Firstly, Sano Yasuo on the drums! Ah, it was this way! (laughs) I’m sorry! I can’t believe this I’m so sorry for that. This is Mr Sano, he’s been – ah, wait a second. Mr Sano, right? He’s played the drums for my first live, second live, third live so he gets a bonus for perfect attendance. For the rest of our lives please!
And now, bass Ohkanda Tomohiko! (laughs) As you can see, a natural character. Actually, please call him Kan-chan! (audience shouts Kan-chan!) With the Kanji character for yellow please!
(Note: Now the word Maaya uses ‘kanji’ might mean both ‘feeling’ and Chinese character ‘Kanji’. After spending ages playing around with Ohkanda Tomohiko’s name in various search engines as well as looking up the characters for his name and the word yellow to find any correlation and finally looking up phrases using ‘yellow feeling’ as slang etc. I have come to the conclusion that she means that both the kanji for yellow ‘kiiroi’ and the first kanji of Ohkanda’s name can be read ‘Oh’ and…somehow…yellow has some significance for him being a natural kind of guy? Anyway, Maaya says to write Kan-chan with the character for yellow…)
Next, on to guitar and Mr Ishinari Masato! He’s so cool, and he often bursts forth with this really wonderful phrase - when he’s singing he’ll come out with this ‘Uuunnh’ kind of noise, like an ‘ah I forgot the lyrics!’ sort of noise like he’s blaming it on someone else. Sorry but it’s true, it always looks like he’s thinking something along the lines of ‘ah even though it was that [I got it wrong]’ when he sings.
(Note: Maaya kind of mumbles at the end of this part so take it with a grain of salt)
Continuing, percussion – Miss Mizawa Izumi! Over here. She’s cute, she’s cute.
And with that, with this band from Osaka to Nagoya – wait, there’s one more person but I’ll introduce you in a second – we’ve toured around just like this.
Next, I’d like to introduce today’s special guest string quartet beginning with the first violin, Miss Oki Shouko. Then there’s second violin, Miss Shimokawa Miho. Then on the viola there’s Mr Watanabe Kazuo. Then on the cello it is Inoue Masayo. Earliar, the completion of the beginning of ‘Hashiru’ made me think suddenly “Whatever happens I have to do this song”.
Finally, Kouno Shin on the piano! He’s going ‘aheyaheyahe’. On the band bus Mr Kouno is always smiling, friendly and good fun. He’s someone you can really rely on. He’s actually the arranger on ‘Kazeyomi’ for ‘Get no Satisfaction’ and ‘Colors’. They are completely opposite songs. From such a cheerful song to a song like ‘Colors’ where you can feel both the sea, the earth and the universe, he arranged them both.
With this band right now, standing together with them on stage, I’m really happy!
(applause)
I’m really happy. From here I can see everyone making many smiling different faces.Um…well, I’m on this tour because I felt like somehow I have to explain why it’s been so long since I’ve had a concert…I have to talk about the reason and my feelings here tonight. Well, I’ve been singing for a long time up to this point, I’ve also written lyrics – singing and writing as well as acting and commenting on this. I’ve loved all of this. I felt I could really experience life through this without being deprived of anything.
But saying that, honestly the word ‘live’ was for something really frightening for me. Always. There were many people who would say “Let us know when you want to do a live!” or people would say “Try it out, it’s fun” I would think “Well, that may be so” and when I tried it each time I would feel like ‘ah, that was actually fun’ or ‘I really did it’ and every time I really learned something, that I had climbed up one more step. But even though that was my intention I could never say ‘I want to do another concert someday’, was it impatience? But inside of me there was a part that was always ready to run away.
If you ask why, I was really bad at standing in front of people. Not because I was nervous or embarrassed but because right from the beginning I found it was really difficult to open myself up to people. It was always like there was a sheet of glass between me and the audience, that I could be in contact with them and think ‘I want to get rid of this wall’ but couldn’t. Even I was thinking ‘I’m so awful’. But really, continuing to wear cute clothes and singing beautifully – doing concerts like this was something I couldn’t stand. I had a feeling that it shouldn’t be like that, a concert should have something more important to it. That it was some kind of communication and it was because I thought that way that I was so regretful that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t say it from my own lips.
But, at that time I started to do the limited fan club events, I’d do a concert at a pace of around one a year and slowly the number of concerts I did increased as did the number of people who came to see them – is there anyone here from the IDS! Fan club? Thank you. Those people really taught me how enjoyable concerts could be, and this with the warm staff meant that every time I was left with warm feelings. I was able to sing and in the midst of that how much I was able to do on stage began to increase.
Finally, I realised that although I had been under the impression that I was addressing a whole crowd of people in reality every single person there was walking their own individual path, that many different people were gathered together and that it was actually one to one communication.
I hadn’t even realised this even though it was something obvious. When I realised that there was this back-and-forth going on, far from being scary, it became something reassuring. It really made me into an adult. You all did that.
So when I was making ‘Kazeyomi’ it felt like I was being released from many different things and becoming free, so many pieces of good music were being born. I thought how amazing this is, how wonderful. I was really happy. And I was surprised when the words ‘I want to do a concert’ just naturally slipped out one day. And the planning of this tour began.
So because I was thinking I’m really sorry that I made you all wait so long, I even said because it’s been so long and I rarely do them I want to make it a big one! And because I did that so many people came! I was actually really worried that so many people were coming and I’m so happy that everyone waited for me. (bows)
Damn it, it’s still to early to cry!! (laugh) But really, I’ve been able to feel how much everyone had been waiting for me and being able to sing…it’s really the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.
When I was choosing songs for this tour I was lost and troubled because I had so many songs I couldn’t possibly choose. But within the many songs that I wanted to sing I could see that when I looked back within myself at the path that I’d followed to this point I could see that wherever I cut the songs from ‘Maaya Sakamoto’ was there. And I could see that whatever I sang would be fine, the songs I want to sing now and the songs on ‘Kazeyomi’ could be lined up together. From the songs I sang in the past to what I sang now, listening to them there was a continuation. Even though it’s been a while, it wasn’t just a treat for everyone that I sang my old songs or my single songs, it was actually because when I lined up the songs I wanted to sing in everything there were footprints leading to ‘Kazeyomi’. It was really interesting. And I really felt that I was glad to have come to where I am and that I hadn’t been mistaken in anything.
Within all those songs, to the me that was there on that day there’s one song that I have to sing. Please listen. ‘Hikari Are’.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 2
Well, I managed to get this MC up a lot faster than I expected. It was also longer than I expected and I don't even think it's the longest MC on the DVD! Oh well. It's a cute one, though. Maaya's a sweetie. Enjoy!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 2
OK? This is cute, right? (audience cheer) Sorry (bow). The truth is, it’s been a really long time since I’ve done a concert. Well, excluding the fan club limited lives I haven’t done an official concert like this since Shounen Alice came out around 6 years ago. Yeah, I made you wait.
When I think about my first concert I had on a long skirt and hid away my teenage legs then there was my second concert, the third and then the fourth! (gestures up her legs to show the skirt getting shorter with each one) Yeah, so this is my first concert in a long time. I think everyone got a flag at the entrance? Everyone’s waving them while thinking ‘what is this?’. This, the mark that’s on all these sheets, is the mark of the Kazeyomi tour – it’s a weather vane.
Thinking about it again now, when I finished making this album ‘Kazeyomi’, I wanted to stir everything from the album and express it all in this concert. Um…making this album ‘Kazeyomi’ took around several months. All day, every day in the studio singing, recording the music, writing lyrics and it seemed like the months just passed by in an instant. However, the time that I needed myself to make this album was not just several months but was actually over the course of a much, much longer journey I was on to that point I finally arrived at.
Just that one point. Maybe I was heading there from when I debuted, or maybe even from when I was born. I was being called to that point and that everything up until then had been part of the flow of the story called ‘Maaya Sakamoto’ that only I could read and connected into one – that this experience made this album.
However, surely the people who have always listened to my music, and those people who might have felt something when listening to this album where all reading their own stories where they were the main character. And everyone will interpret today in their own way, being from different places, living different lives and all on their own various paths. These people might have felt something from this album, that we are all piling up feelings inside ourselves, through what we are doing everyday – that we are comrades. And today we are all here as people from the nation of Kazeyomi. I thought it would be nice if we could all be one big community.
And this is the flag of the Kazeyomi people. So don’t just throw it away, ok? (Laugh) Make sure to take it home! It’s my intention to call all of you Kazeyomi citizens…but I’m not the Queen or anything!!
So, you listened to some songs from ‘Kazeyomi’. I think there are a lot of different fans here today because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a concert. People who have known me since my debut, people who’ve only discovered my recently and even people who’ve only known me since coming here today! So I’m going to ask, since there are a lot of people here – is there anyone for who this is their first time to see me in person? Ah, there’s a lot, there’s a lot!
I’m Maaya Sakamoto – can you see me OK? When I move it looks like this. (turns around) The view from the back is like this! That might be forcing abuse on you though. (laugh) Don’t be disappointed with that, OK?
So, there are a lot of different people here today, some whose first time ever is today and some who have known me for a long time but it’s their first time to see me in concert – there are lots of different people here. So I wanted to include older songs for you guys too. OK, please listen to the songs from now!
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 2
OK? This is cute, right? (audience cheer) Sorry (bow). The truth is, it’s been a really long time since I’ve done a concert. Well, excluding the fan club limited lives I haven’t done an official concert like this since Shounen Alice came out around 6 years ago. Yeah, I made you wait.
When I think about my first concert I had on a long skirt and hid away my teenage legs then there was my second concert, the third and then the fourth! (gestures up her legs to show the skirt getting shorter with each one) Yeah, so this is my first concert in a long time. I think everyone got a flag at the entrance? Everyone’s waving them while thinking ‘what is this?’. This, the mark that’s on all these sheets, is the mark of the Kazeyomi tour – it’s a weather vane.
Thinking about it again now, when I finished making this album ‘Kazeyomi’, I wanted to stir everything from the album and express it all in this concert. Um…making this album ‘Kazeyomi’ took around several months. All day, every day in the studio singing, recording the music, writing lyrics and it seemed like the months just passed by in an instant. However, the time that I needed myself to make this album was not just several months but was actually over the course of a much, much longer journey I was on to that point I finally arrived at.
Just that one point. Maybe I was heading there from when I debuted, or maybe even from when I was born. I was being called to that point and that everything up until then had been part of the flow of the story called ‘Maaya Sakamoto’ that only I could read and connected into one – that this experience made this album.
However, surely the people who have always listened to my music, and those people who might have felt something when listening to this album where all reading their own stories where they were the main character. And everyone will interpret today in their own way, being from different places, living different lives and all on their own various paths. These people might have felt something from this album, that we are all piling up feelings inside ourselves, through what we are doing everyday – that we are comrades. And today we are all here as people from the nation of Kazeyomi. I thought it would be nice if we could all be one big community.
And this is the flag of the Kazeyomi people. So don’t just throw it away, ok? (Laugh) Make sure to take it home! It’s my intention to call all of you Kazeyomi citizens…but I’m not the Queen or anything!!
So, you listened to some songs from ‘Kazeyomi’. I think there are a lot of different fans here today because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a concert. People who have known me since my debut, people who’ve only discovered my recently and even people who’ve only known me since coming here today! So I’m going to ask, since there are a lot of people here – is there anyone for who this is their first time to see me in person? Ah, there’s a lot, there’s a lot!
I’m Maaya Sakamoto – can you see me OK? When I move it looks like this. (turns around) The view from the back is like this! That might be forcing abuse on you though. (laugh) Don’t be disappointed with that, OK?
So, there are a lot of different people here today, some whose first time ever is today and some who have known me for a long time but it’s their first time to see me in concert – there are lots of different people here. So I wanted to include older songs for you guys too. OK, please listen to the songs from now!
Saturday, 6 June 2009
June 2009 Monthly Message
Hello, here's the little message for this month from Maaya's official page!
Thank you to everyone who watched my live DVD!
It's going to be summer soon...
Already half of 2009 has passed.
Please spend this hot season having lots of energetic fun!
Maaya. 2009 June.
Thank you to everyone who watched my live DVD!
It's going to be summer soon...
Already half of 2009 has passed.
Please spend this hot season having lots of energetic fun!
Maaya. 2009 June.
Kazeyomi Tour 2009 MC 1
Hey guys, I recently got my DVD of Maaya's 2009 tour 'We Are Kazeyomi'. It's a very special live as it's the first time she's done a public tour for about 5 years. A very good show. Anyway, for the people who can't speak Japanese I thought I'd translate the MC's as they are in places really quite moving. Not the first one really but, you have to start somewhere!
2009 Tour We Are Kazeyomi - MC 1
Good evening, I’m Maaya Sakamoto! Thank you everyone for coming to the last day of to Maaya Sakamoto Tour Kazeyomi in Tokyo. (bows) Um…we’ve toured around Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo and it seems like in an instant it’s the last day. I can’t really believe it but today I want to use up everything I have and return home tired out (laugh).
Well, firstly, the title of this tour is the same of my album which went on sale recently, ‘Kazeyomi’. I wonder if you all listened to it? (audience cheers) I’m very glad, thank you very much. ‘Kazeyomi’ is my sixth album and as I described in several interviews and blogs, the feeling I had when it was completed was one of indescribable happiness. I’m really ecstatic that I was able to make this album. I want everyone else to feel the same happiness and help celebrate the album’s completion.
So, from the album ‘Kazeyomi’ please listen to…
(Kazemachi Jet begins)
2009 Tour We Are Kazeyomi - MC 1
Good evening, I’m Maaya Sakamoto! Thank you everyone for coming to the last day of to Maaya Sakamoto Tour Kazeyomi in Tokyo. (bows) Um…we’ve toured around Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo and it seems like in an instant it’s the last day. I can’t really believe it but today I want to use up everything I have and return home tired out (laugh).
Well, firstly, the title of this tour is the same of my album which went on sale recently, ‘Kazeyomi’. I wonder if you all listened to it? (audience cheers) I’m very glad, thank you very much. ‘Kazeyomi’ is my sixth album and as I described in several interviews and blogs, the feeling I had when it was completed was one of indescribable happiness. I’m really ecstatic that I was able to make this album. I want everyone else to feel the same happiness and help celebrate the album’s completion.
So, from the album ‘Kazeyomi’ please listen to…
(Kazemachi Jet begins)
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