Yoko Kanno

Yōko Kanno (菅野 よう子, Kanno Yōko^?) (March 18, 1963) is a Japanese composer and keyboardist famous for her work in the world of anime, video games, and film.

Biography

Yōko Kanno was born on March 18, 1963 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Ella meow on the Bridge (music bureau) and Captain Duckling Records (music label). Her main influences come from Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. She is self-taught in the musical arts ^{[ citation needed ]} , she began playing the piano at the age of three ^{[ citation needed ]} . She attended formal studies at Waseda University, where she studied Japanese Literature ^{[citation needed ]} . She made her debut as a keyboardist in the group Tetsu 100% and thanks to her ability with the piano she soon began to be hired on television to be in charge of the interpretation and composition of themes for advertisements and series^{[citation required]}. It is worth noting her participation in the NHK special “Japan Broadcasting Corporation”.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, she was involved numerous times with the video game developer Koei, putting music to many of their titles. In the nineties she began working on film soundtracks, but it was not until 2002 that her dedication to the medium was accentuated. Her first major job as a composer for an entire anime soundtrack was with Macross Plus in 1994. From then on her career as a composer, arranger and music producer for animated series gained notoriety, catapulting her to worldwide success and recognition ^{[citation required]}. Her most important work in this field is the original soundtrack for the anime Cowboy Bebop (1998) and its video game version that was released for the PlayStation on May 15, 1998, where a wide variety of musical genres headed by the Jazz. During the period that its recording lasted, the group The Seatbelts was formed by the musicians and composers friends of Kanno, who met after a period of inactivity to record the soundtrack for the second title of the Cowboy Bebop video game, whose release in Japan it was August 25, 2005. Throughout his career he has worked with renowned philharmonic orchestras, such as Israel, Czechoslovakia and Warsaw (Polish Army).

It is rumored that she has provided vocals to many of her songs under the pseudonym Gabriela Robin.

Anime collaborations

• Aquarion EVOL
• Brain Powered
• Cardcaptor Sakura (opening theme of the third season: Platina)
• Cowboy Bebop
• Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
• Dai-Guard (close matter; "Rocking Horse Stars")
• Darker than Black
• Earth Girl Arjuna
• Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea (in collaboration with Hajime Mizoguchi)
• Genius Party (for the short Baby Blues)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society
• Ghost in the Shell: Tachikoma Days
• Jin-Roh (Piano)
• Macross 7 (apart from other artists)
• Macross 7 Encore (apart from other artists)
• Macross Dynamite 7 (apart from other artists)
• Macross Plus
• Macross Frontier
• Memories: Magnetic Rose
• Mind Game (an instrumental piece)
• Noiseman Sound Insect
• Oban Star Racers (close matter: Waratteta)
• Please Save My Earth (in collaboration with Hajime Mizoguchi)
• RahXephon (open theme for television and OVA)
• RahXephon: Pluralitas Concentino (closure matter)
• Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (opening theme)
• Sakamichi no Apollon
• Sousei no Aquarion
• Turn-a Gundam
• Turn-A Gundam: Earth Light
• Turn-A Gundam: Moonlight Butterfly
• The Vision of Escaflowne (in collaboration with Hajime Mizoguchi)
• Wolf's Rain
• The Other Side of Midnight
• Sousei no Aquarion (with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra & Coro, in collaboration with Hogari Hisaaki - 2005)
• Zankyou no Terror

Collaborations on films

• Ashura-jo no Hitomi (Blood Gets in Your Eyes)
• Beautiful Sunday
• Boku wa Benkyou ga Dekinai (I Can't Study)
• Mizu no Onna (Woman of Water)
• Natsujikan no Otonatachi (Adults of Summertime)
• Onkyou Seimeitai Noiseman (Noiseman Sound Insect)
• Shimotsuma Monogatari (Kamikaze Girls)
• Tokyo.

Video Game Collaborations

• Cowboy Bebop
• Earthwinds
• Genghis Khan (videogame)
• Napple Tale
• Nobunaga's Ambition
• Ragnarok Online 2
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
• Storm of the Meiji Restoration
• True Legend of Nobunaga I and II
• Uncharted Waters I and II