"You have got
to hear this shit. It's like she's hitting you over the head with a sock full of Jonny Quest!"—Alternate John Williams, John and Yoko
Yoko Kanno is a famous Japanese composer and musician, known primarily for her work on anime soundtracks. Her name being attached to a project has caused much rejoicing moments for many fans.
Born in Japan in 1964 and having began her career doing video game soundtracks in the late 1980s, she has written or otherwise contributed to the soundtracks of a large number of anime, including (but not limited to):
Besides soundtrack work for movies, TV, anime and video games, Kanno has occasionally ventured into pop music; she has released two solo albums, and has served as producer for several albums from other musicians (including several collaborations with
Maaya Sakamoto). She sometimes sings under the pseudonym of "Gabriella Robin", which for many years was sort of her
Secret Identity. She finally revealed it in 2009 when she began performing live as Gabriella.
Kanno can write in any genre known to mankind - and even a few that haven't been invented yet. She is the master of the
Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly. Surprisingly enough, she isn't a One Woman Band, something that would make her even more awesome. She is a keyboardist and frontwoman of The Seatbelts.
Alternate Universe John Williams has
a shrine dedicated to her
.
A slightly more in-depth biography can be found
here, and a slightly more in-depth discography can be found
here.
Not to be confused with
Yoko Ono. Or
Yoko Oh No: this one is more like "Yoko Hell Yeah".
Tropes associated with Yoko Kanno:
- Gratuitous English: Her titles sometimes slip into Word Salad Title territory.
- Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly
- Production Posse
- Secret Identity: Gabriela Robin. This was pretty much an Open Secret for years, though Kanno did not confirm or deny until 2007, when she performed Moon, from Turn A Gundam, live (a song credited to Robin). She still hasn't explicitly confirmed or denied her Secret Identity, however.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: She's quite well-known for making these - the Macross Frontier soundtrack, for instance, borrows from everything between Deep Purple and Star Wars.
- There are several YouTube videos claiming that Yoko has plagiarized from several composers.
- Some fans have defended her against these claims.
YouTube Comment: I have 657 tracks composed or "arranged" by yoko kanno in my possesion currently. there are 3, count em, 3 videos of her plagiarism, each with about 5 songs in them. That's 15 plagiarized songs found. that is a 2.2% plagiarism rate. I would like to see any composer/arranger with half the workload kanno get's do even half as well as she does.
Fans of Yoko shouldn't fret, granted, she should cite her "inspirations" better for the tracks she remixes essentially, but she is still a goddess.
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