Sunlight on the ripened grain
February 26th, 2009
Ah, so my search finally ends.
I gave up after searching it for weeks a few months ago. But a few days ago, I found it after just knowing she was releasing another album.
I don’t exactly follow this artist religiously, nor should her place of birth influence my following of her but hearing a New Zealander sing Amazing Grace in Japanese is well…pretty awesome.
To put it ignorantly, I don’t listen to classical/opera/that kind of music and probably the closest thing I listen to which is close to that genre is S.E.N.S. and that’s not even a close relationship. And to be utterly honest, I don’t really care about Hayley Westenra’s other releases and the only reason I’m so interested in this is because a European is singing English translated lyrics of Japanese pop classics.
I’ve always wanted to hear a Japanese song translated and sung well in English. Might I elaborate on the “well” part… when I just starting out to really like Japanese music, I came across a fan recording of “Fukai Mori” by Do As Infinity. “Fukai Mori” is arguably their most famous song mainly because of its feature on Inuyasha. This fan recording was well, quite horrendous. The song was aimlessly butchered from all sides with no remorse and I never wanted to hear a fan translated recording again.
But Hayley has tastefully succeeded her rendition of famous Japanese pop songs. No doubt, the originals will forever be classics but the Irish blood that is injected within the song is just like crossbreeds for dogs. While it may be unorthodox to have let’s say a golden retriever and a pug crossbreed, the lovely characteristics of the “final product” may outweigh how bizarre and unconventional it is, and this album is exactly what I mean. The sight/sound of a white chick from New Zealand with Irish heritage singing translated Japanese songs AND a full Japanese song is anything but conventional but she does it with elegance. And apart from the obvious, the arrangements for the songs either follow the original song like “Yuki no Hana” or they somewhat derive from the original like “I Believe” which is quite a pity since I thought since she was doing her own rendition of these songs that she would make sure that all the songs sounded dissimilar from the original but keep the original melody.
The songs are sung beautifully with lovely elongation of words especially at the end of sentences. While there is really nothing spectacular or groundbreaking about the vocals when compared to the musical breakthrough that Hayley has achieved, the vocals are executed beautifully and with great flair. It’s like a whiff of fresh bread in the morning, the smell of the sea breeze, and the crunch of falling leaves in autumn…it’s fresh and new to hear something native sung from a foreigner. And to be fair, the translated lyrics would not fit like lock and key like how it was originally made for in Japanese so Hayley made it her own by extending and shortening certain words which slowly work the music to a level which is comfortable for her to sing.
This album is heart-warming but while the music Hayley sings requires a certain style which makes to some extent, the emotional quality of the songs feel static. It feels static because Hayley uses the same tone to sing with no change which loses the emotional substance side of the song after a few listens. A fantastic album however; the translated lyrics, arrangement, voice dynamic are only the peaks of this album.
Hayley Westerna is due to release her new album entitled “Hayley Sings Japanese Songs 2” on the 11th of March 2009.
Hayley Sings Japanese Songs 2 (Special Edition) [CD+DVD][SHM-CD] / Hayley Westenra
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Tags: Hayley Westenra
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