my beloved maaya

This time i wanna talk about someone that influenced me a lot.. The name of the person,no no.. the name of the angel, is maaya sakamoto.. She's the main reason behind why i fell in love with japanese music.. Well, actually not just maaya,.. the person beyond her, yoko kanno is also "responsible" for my "turn around event", and also the lyricist for many maaya songs, yuuho iwasato... i would like to thank to all of them with all my heart..

but now let's just narrow the point. It's all about Maaya. Maaya all the time.. :D
Im just so glad that i met her.. First encounter was when i heard the song "Yubiwa" from my friend's cassete. It was waaay back when i was still in high school. It was an instant, "hey, who's the singer??" kinda response. From there, i was urged to find more of her songs...

And then i found "Tomodachi" while visiting my friend's house. The guitar intro, the one that has been repeated endlessly for weeks after that, was the thing that really make me "hooked" to maaya. I still remember the time i walked along that long road in that afternoon, being unable to erase that song from my head >.

"Tomodachi" is like a gem of feeling.. It's as beautiful as the meaning itself, which is "friend". Not long until i completely fell for "Yubiwa" too, that although being the first song i heard from maaya, actually need more time to get inside me, unlike "Tomodachi" which was an instant hit.

"Tomodachi" and "Yubiwa" was a complete domination until i heard the song.. "Hikari no naka e",.. i first found it on the net while i was searching for "Tomodachi" mp3.. I was disappointed at the first time. But it ain't long until i was amazed by the new found..

"Hikari no naka e" was my greatest musical finding.. In fact this song remains on the top of my love list.. It's just too beautiful to describe, that even with my greatest effort of describing the song, it may not reach, not even 25% of it. It's simply the amazing substance of the composition, the vocal and instrument, blends perfectly.. the arrangement is somewhat "magical" and the nuance is hard to describe.. The song definitely showcase maaya ability to transform emotion at the utmost depth.

After that, i could not tell how i manage to collect maaya's albums.. Many albums i gathered from friends but some albums i collect by buying the audio cds.. And i'm really glad that i decide to went all out for this "angel" of me.. There have been too many songs that made me crazy to be mention one by one. I'll just go with some samples...

"Dive", for example, is like the prove of living from one entity in this huge universe. An entity named maaya.. In this song, she went with metaphor, by making an analogy between living and diving through the depth of ocean.. to struggle to the surface or just give up and let the body drowned to the depth of ocean.. "Surely a beautiful sight awaits", this line ended the first part of the song, which is actually not to describe the view at the surface of the ocean, but what in her mind when she fell to the deep of ocean.. But along with the song progress, maaya become stronger,... and slowly she manage to overcome the feeling of "giving up" , and then the line, "no matter what, i wanna be loved" appear.. The song ended beautifully..

"Gravity" is a song with a deep intense emotion... It also has that loneliness aura, along with the grand orchestra, creates the nuance of epicness.. It tells about the long journey that has to be taken to reach home.. The feeling of uncertainty, of whether the home is still there? or are we going to the right way... The line "Zero gravity, what's it like" is like, what would it feel to have this life disappeared,... when the tiring journey has washed away all the desire to live..

While "Kaze ga fuku hi" takes us to a world with sky and open grass. It certainly is... The use of instrument is unique and awesome.. Maaya brought the song with splendid control of tone through the magnificent ride of vocal melody.. The song is about the freedom of feeling,.. of how you should think for your life.. that positive aura "the song i haven't heard, the morning i haven't seen, the person i haven't met, maybe someday i will able to meet after all"

Another excellent feat is "Uchuu Hikoushi no Uta" and "Okitegami".. I picked these two songs to picture how maaya would be a great mom and a great big sister... Her singing style could be so light at one time of a song and passionate at another time.. increasing the weight bit by bit,.. like in "Okitegami" where she told story of the time when she left home for the first time, to travel to big city of Tokyo... Of how she felt for the ones she left, her sisters and family,.... or in "Uchuu Hikoushi no Uta" which simply just bringing kids in a voyage of through stars, space sheep and other magical items...

"Afternoon Repose" is another english song maaya performed, beside "Gravity", that has been explained above.... This song's lyric is full of artistic phrases... It only speaks about the fantastic surrounding that could be formed by afternoon's sunshine, afternoon's wind... "Like unending, summer eclipse, sweet sun pours in from the windows"... the lines as if the listener is brought to this world where the world is so quiet, and that the calmness is the key to happiness.. The song's arrangement is also the one that made the atmosphere comes to life... Yoko Kanno is known for her wide use of instruments and synth sounds.

Have you ever read a lyric that tells about love story? Of course you have... You can find it at any songs... But "Kinobori to Akai Skirt" and "Park Amsterdam" are sure to be one of those uncommon love story.. "Kinobori to Akai Skirt" tells the very beginning of a relationship between a little girl with the little fairy that is watching her.. How the little fairy fell in love with the little girl and how his sadness when the girl finally grow big and forget about him.. How he really want the girl to realize his presence again... This song is surely filled with a huge emotion. Also, in "Park Amsterdam", maaya, kanno and yuuho once again collaborate in a feat of "somewhat looked like a classic tale". About a bird that fell in love with a human,... and with the song we are taken in a journey to a world full of imagination, like alice in wonderland... but certainly a different story.. This song showcase the talent of Yoko Kanno as a composer and arranger of this really well made song... I mean at first hear i thought it was for queen's tribute, found out that im wrong... It was Yoko Kanno genuine work >.

There's a song when Yoko Kanno was not with Maaya anymore.. At least at that time they were separated. "Hello" is not some song that you can find anywhere,... While the main reason is for the perfect lyric, maaya also made a really splendid job to sing this song with such a "opposite reflection" with the song's lyric, in a good way... The lyric itself, is devastating, in the meaning of how much the lyric could effect to the listeners after knowing it.. but not the content of the lyric itself.. The lyric of "Hello" could be described as a lyric from someone that has passed away to the one that he/she left in this world.. That's why even that the lyric is full of motivation and beautiful things it still bring so much sadness thinking that it would come from someone that has already left the world, from the listeners point of view.. Actually, the song is made just after Maaya's grandma, who is, according to maaya, her number one fan, passed away.. That's why it's also bring me to tears hearing maaya in this song... T.

There are so many more songs to write actually... I could made the list of songs being longer and longer but i don't have the energy to write... Surely, Maaya is just too huge to be written in a single blog entry and that's why i am avoiding to write more... right now.. Just not possible. >.

you know... maybe i will edit this entry in the future.. XD