Biography
This page uses content from the Yoko Kanno biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Yoko Kanno (菅野 よう子 Kanno Yōko), born March 19, 1964 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, is a composer and performer of musical scores for Japanese film and television. She is best known for her work on the soundtracks for many seminal anime films and TV series, as well as a growing number of live-action movies. In addition to soundtracks Kanno occasionally composes music for JPop artists as well, the most notable being Maaya Sakamoto and Kyoko Koizumi. She is also a musician, most notably a skilled keyboardist, and is the primary composer and front man for the band The Seatbelts, which performs many of Kanno's compositions on the various original soundtracks for which she is responsible.
Biography
Some of her most famous soundtrack themes include "Voices" (Macross Plus), "Tank!" (Cowboy Bebop), "Yakusoku wa Iranai" (Escaflowne), "Gravity" (Wolf's Rain), "Inner Universe" (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and Stand Alone Complex O.S.T . She was the lead member of a band called The Seatbelts, which regrouped in the year of 2004 to compose the soundtrack of the Cowboy Bebop game, scheduled for a 2006 US release. It was also rumored that Yoko Kanno will be making the opening theme for the live-action series Kamen Rider Kabuto, with the song being titled "FIRE", but this rumor has been proven false, as the Kabuto opening is "NEXT LEVEL" by YU-KI; however, this rumor is not dead as indicated by past shows. Many of the Rider shows change their openings midway through the series, and since the series is almost midway through its season, there is a possibility that the show will change its opening.
She has composed for many Koei games released during the late 1980s to early 1990s and for a Dreamcast game. Due to her close involvement in the Cowboy Bebop anime, the game released by Bandai also features her work.
Apart from anime and games, Kanno also composes for live-action films and CMs (television advertisements or commercials) for all sorts of brands. Grand Funk Inc. is her recording studio of choice in producing for these two media. Contributions to films started in the 90s but only since 2002 has there been a trend towards the medium. Most of the latter were shown in international film festivals.
She is married to fellow composer Hajime Mizoguchi, with whom she collaborated on the soundtracks for Please Save My Earth and Escaflowne.
She has attended Otakon and Anime Expo in 1999, as well as Anime Expo New York in 2002.
On September 13, 2005, GameSpot reported Kanno has been hired by Gravity Corp. to do the scoring for their in-development MMORPG, Ragnarok Online 2. Yoko Kanno scoring Ragnarok Online 2 PC News at Gamestop by Hirohiko Niizumi September 13, 2005
The mystery about Gabriela Robin
On some of Kanno's albums, a singer-songwriter named "Gabriela Robin" is credited, and is often featured singing gibberish-like lyrics on a number of songs. There is wide speculation and belief that Robin is actually Kanno herself under a different name. Who is Gabriela Robin? by Mai Sibayan
Although Kanno has maintained that Robin is a different person than her, the booklet of the Macross Plus-soundtrack names Gabriela Robin as the composer of Santi-U, while Kanno claims this honor in a Newtype interview for herself.
Discography
Solo Studio Albums
| Date | Title | Notes |
| January 1, 1998 | Song to fly | Track 8 Performed and all songs composed, conducted by Yoko Kanno. (Tracks 1-7,9-11) Performed by Cosmic Voices From Bulgaria, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Chorus, Franco Sansalone, Krzysztof Ciupinsky, Steve Conte, Jadwiga Rappé & Gabriela Robin. |
Anime works
| Anime Name | Year | Kanno's Role(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Please Save My Earth | 1994 | Composer (with Hajime Mizoguchi) | |
| Macross Plus | 1994 | Composer | |
| Memories: Magnetic Rose | 1996 | Composer | |
| Vision of Escaflowne | 1996 | Composer (with Hajime Mizoguchi) | |
| Noiseman Sound Insect | 1997 | Composer | |
| Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight | 1998 | Composer (Opening theme) | |
| Cowboy Bebop | 1998 | Composer (with The Seatbelts) | |
| Cardcaptor Sakura | 1998 | Composer (TV opening theme) | |
| Brain Powerd | 1998 | Composer | |
| Turn-A Gundam | 1999 | Composer | |
| Dai-Guard | 1999 | Composer (Ending theme; "Rocking Horse Stars") | |
| Jin-Roh | 1999 | Pianist | |
| Escaflowne: The Movie | 2000 | Composer (with Inon Zur & Hajime Mizoguchi) | |
| Earth Girl Arjuna | 2001 | Composer | |
| Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door | 2001 | Composer (with The Seatbelts) | |
| RahXephon | 2002 | Composer (opening theme for TV & OVA) | |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex | 2002 | Composer | |
| Wolf's Rain | 2003 | Composer (TV & OVA) | |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG | 2004 | Composer | |
| Genesis of Aquarion | 2005 | Composer (Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus in collaboration with Hogari Hisaaki) | |
| Oban Star-Racers | 2006 | Composer (Opening and Ending theme songs; Opening not heard on U.S. broadcast) | |
| Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society | 2006 | Composer |
Video games
| Game Name | First Released | System Name(s) | Kanno's Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romance of the Three Kingdoms | 1986 | MSX, Amiga, DOS, J2ME, NES, SNES | Composer |
| Nobunaga's Ambition | 1988 | NES, Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, DOS, Mac OS, Amiga | Composer |
| Genghis Khan | 1989 | NES, Amiga, MSX, DOS | Composer |
| Uncharted Waters | 1990 | NES, Genesis, MSX, SNES, DOS | Composer |
| Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons | 1995 | SNES, Genesis, PlayStation, DOS | Composer |
| Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream | 2000 | Dreamcast | Composer |
| Cowboy Bebop | 2001 | Playstation | Composer |
| Ragnarok Online 2 | 2007 | Windows | Composer |
Film works
| Film Name | Year | Kanno's Role(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamato Takeru | 1994 | Composer | |
| Asalto | 1996 | Composer | |
| Boku wa benkyo ga dekinai (I Can't Study) | 1996 | Composer | |
| Natsu jikan no otonatachi | 1997 | Composer | |
| Tokyo.Sora | 2002 | Composer | |
| Mizu no onna | 2002 | Composer | |
| Shimotsuma monogatari (Kamikaze Girls) | 2004 | Composer | |
| Ashura-jô no hitomi (Blood Gets in Your Eyes) | 2005 | Composer | |
| Su-ki-da | 2005 | Composer |
Hired vocalists
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Notes and references
External links
- The Yoko Kanno Project
- Yoko Kanno Database
- Yoko Kanno Japanese site
- Voices: An EX.org Exclusive Interview with Yoko Kanno
- A Gabriela Robin Site
- Grand Funk Inc. Official Site
- Yōko Kanno at the Internet Movie Database
- Nippop Profile | Yoko Kanno
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
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