By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
There will be a concert that zealots of Japanimations and video games would love to attend.
Kanno Yoko, Japanese composer, arranger and musician, will hold her first concert in Korea on June 20 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.
The 43-year-old artist is best known for her work on the sound tracks from such animation films as ``Cowboy Bebop'' (1998, 2001), ``Ghost in the Shell'' (2002, 2004, 2006), ``Macross Plus'' (1994), ``Vision of Escaflowne'' (1996) and ``Wolf's Rain'' (2003).
Her works have also been frequently featured in video games, TV series, live-action movies and TV commercials. Kanno became a more familiar name for Koreans when she composed numbers for director Han Jae-rim's Korean flick ``The Show Must Go On'' (2006, starring Song Kang-ho) and soundtracks of the recently released massive multiplayer online role-playing game ``Ragnarok Online 2'' (2007) of Korea.
Although Kanno has never been enrolled in a music institute nor received formal music education, her musical spectrum of compositions is wide, ranging from classical and Jazz to rock and techno, and her numbers clearly demonstrate her thorough knowledge of each genre. Kanno claimed that she learned music herself since her parents bought her a piano at the age of 3.
In the upcoming concert, special guest singers from Japan will join. Famed J-pop singers Sakamoto Maaya and Yamane Mai, whose voices are featured in soundtracks of ``Escaflowne'' and ``Cowboy Bebop'' respectively, will make guest appearances. Origa, famous for her vocals in ``Ghost in the Shell,'' will perform as well.
``I hope that the concert will be a chance for the audience to savor the atmosphere of freedom, adventure and fantasy,'' said Kanno in a showcase in early May in Seoul to promote her June concert. ``I will provide a program with a variety of songs so as to return my love to Korean fans.''
Kanno's beloved songs will be fully revived in the show with such instruments as guitar, cello, percussion, bass and keyboards to fill the concert hall with rich, resonant sounds.
Tickets cost from 30,000 won to 100,000 won. For more information, call (02) 318-4302 or 1577-5266.