Together translation

Hi! I just got done translating a song, it's still not perfect, but I think it's okay...

So, this song is called "Together" and it's really gorgeous, it was the first song alan composed and was on her debut album Voice of EARTH as a first press bonus (I think?).
I was listening to the song and I noticed I could pick out pieces of the song and understand them (much like her song Sakura Modern)... Soooo I looked up the lyrics and decided I'd try to translate the entire song and here it is:

Together - alan

Lyrics: Miki Matsui

Composition: alan

Arrangement: Yuta Nakano

To live with you, to sleep with you,
Everything that's here, I wrap it all up,
Love and dreams overflow and lead my way.

Of course, I've realized:
There has to be something important here.

We don't need such words,
When I only want to protect you,
Because, the past, the present and tomorrow,
Are certainly glowing in my breast.

The waves, the wind, the sky and even now...

This blessed rain is falling,
On the dry earth,

With you... 

Kanji:

君と生きる　君と眠る
ここにある　全てを包み込んで
愛と夢　溢れ導いて

大事なもの　あるはず
そう気づいた

言葉などいらない
君を守りたいだけさ
そう　過去も今も明日も　この胸で
輝くから

波よ風よ　空よ今も

乾いてく大地に
恵みの雨を降らして

君と…

If you notice all the errors, correct me! ;) 

錯乱 (Confusion)

When I titled this blog entry "錯乱" or "Confusion", it was purely due to it being the song currently playing, but it ties in quite well with this post.

Ringo Shiina. Alan. Ai Otsuka. Chihiro Onitsuka. Gackt. Shakira. Hikaru Utada. Regina Spektor.

What do all of these artist have in common? Other than them being singers, they're all also songwriters. I listen to so much music which is created by this type of person and it struck me as odd. I'm attracted to artists who create their own songs and play instruments, yet I'm currently not playing myself? So odd.

I've been wanting to blog for quite some time, but I've had nothing to talk about until now.

Well, my topic for today is music and instruments! Until a few years ago, I used to play guitar, but due to lack of interest and lack of willpower I stopped, but listening to the music I do made me think. I can't sing, my lyrics aren't good and I can't compose. So, before you start thinking that I want to be a songwriter, that's not an option!

You could say I've been "inspired" finally. Sometime this week I'm going to resume the guitar and aim for proficiency. So, wish me luck!

This leads me to another subject. Currently I'm half-heartedly searching for a job, but this week is going to be my last week of laziness! I'm going to start job-searching in earnest.

I'm going to end it there with these lyrics:

If you only look,

It will never be in reach,

If you only look,

It will never be yours

-Catcher In The Light, Ayumi Hamasaki

alan's first concert -voice of you-

alan is relatively new to the Japanese music scene, debuting in 2007 with the powerful ballad 明日への賛歌 (Ashita e no Sanka/A Hymn for Tomorrow) and recently had a three night concert tour. She's known for her traditional Tibetan wailing and her vocals are some of the best Japan has had in a long time.

I just watched the TV version of her concert, which aired on WOWOW yesterday an it was fantastic!

01 天女～interlude～ (Goddess～Interlude～)

02 群青の谷 (Ultramarine Valley)

03 Swear

04 BALLAD ～名もなき恋のうた～ (BALLAD ～Nameless Love Song～)

05 明日への賛歌 (A Hymn for Tomorrow)

06 幸せの鐘 (Bells of Happiness)

07 久遠の河 (River of Eternity)

08 心・戦 ～RED CLIFF～ (Heart-War ～RED CLIFF～)

09 絆 [ehru] (Bonds)

10 恵みの雨 (Blessed Rain)

11 Together 

12 Diamond

(DVD track listing is much longer)

The first part of the concert is just a video which introduces her singles which in order are:

明日への賛歌 (A Hymn for Tomorrow)

ひとつ (One)

懐かしい未来 ～longing future～ (Longing Future)

空唄 (Sky Song)

風の手紙 (The Wind's Letter)

RED CLIFF ～心・線～ (Heart-War)

恵みの雨 (Blessed Rain)

群青の谷 (Ultramarine Valley)

久遠の河 (River of Eternity)

BALLAD ～名もなき恋のうた～ (Nameless Love Song)

Swear

Diamond 

The first song, tennyo opens with alan singing Tibetan behind a curtain which has stuff projected onto it, her singing is great and tennyo, being the first song on her debut album, is the ideal song to start off the concert. When the screen lifts we can see that she's wearing a white frilly dress (I would include pictures, but I'm incredibly lazy). :\

After tennyo she sings the fan favourite Gunjou. In the middle of the song, she throws off the white dress coat (which is quite awkward, but oh well) to reveal a sparkly outfit. Reminds me of a rock star. ;)

In this she also sings Swear and BALLAD. She nailed BALLAD and Swear is a perfect crowd warmer.

The next outfit is a traditional Tibetan outfit and is gorgeous. Her vocals for Ashita are flawless (to me at least) and her wailing is strong! Shiawase was great and for once didn't bore me, in fact it sent shivers down my spine. XD

When the lights come back up, we hear the epic sounds of the orchestra playing Kuon, which is in fact her best selling song in Japan. She sung it well and the outfit was a fuschia dress with a pink flower in her hair. XD

Her next song was the Chinese version of RED CLIFF. Her wail in the middle was quite good actually. :D

She sat for the next song as it was her playing her ehru. I love to see alan play the ehru. :)

Megumi is next and alan actually comes close to crying, which in turn made me come close to crying! Her voice is so gorgeous even when crying. DX

The encore songs are next and she performs in a white outfit with fluffy boots and a beanie hat. XD

She sung her self-composed masterpiece "Together" and her most recent song Diamond. Diamond was great live, far better than the TV performances. :D

That was...my speedy review! XD

Hopefully I'll be able to get the DVD soon! :D

PROMiSE translation!

It's been a while, hasn't it!?! Oh my God.

So. I translated MiChi's song 「PROMiSE」 a while ago but never posted it...anywhere. :L

MiChi. She's really good. Her genre is very pop music. Very electronically influenced. From what I gather she's mainly a lyricist, but also a composer? Right? I dunno. She's bilingual too! So I guess this means there's little Engrish...except the PROMiSE part of the song sounds totally like "bromance".
I heard she was compared to Lily Allen, which isn't true at all. I don't think so either. I guess she's British? =D

Okay. Well. Enough of me, eh?!

(Italicised text was already in English! I've left it exactly as it appears in the original Japanese..unless it's horrendous I never correct their grammar.)

All I know is all this started back in 95
In the complete darkness I walked unsteadily my way
I'm searching for answers

Why do humans give up on their dreams?
You'll never know if today is your last,
So take a chance, yeah?
So, think and keep on going your way

GOD, TRUST life and our bodies,*
Trust in your perception
If you got questions, Go on
And keep on asking
LOVE keep giving it out,
Don't be scared of it
CHANCE will keep on coming
Look and grab it!
DANCE just loosen your bodies
Roll up your sleeves and have fun
Don't care what people think
Just keep on freaking with it
LAUGH like you really mean it
And give gratitude for today
Let's start with something, Hey! **

※Everyday is a new page
With this hand write a Story
The Feelings you felt that day,***
Remember them
Before they disappear.
When you feel like crying at night
I'll be with you through it
Don't forget:
Even at the end I'll be With you baby

All I know is someday you'll arrive at your goal****
Sometimes you feel it's impossible, but,
Always Believe in yourself

Every night you worry about tomorrow's problems,
But You know,
Thinking too much just causes anxiety, Hey yeah?
Look upwards and Keep on reaching higher

TRUST, GOD life and our bodies
Trust in your perception
If you got questions, Go on
Keep on asking
LOVE keep giving it out
Don't be scared of it
CHANCE will keep on coming,
Look and grab it!
DANCE just loosen your bodies
Roll up your sleeves and have fun
Don't care about what people think
Just keep on freaking with it
LAUGH like you really mean it
And give thanks for today
Let's begin immediately, Hey!




※ repeat

I won't give up on this PROMiSE
Until I see that smiling face,
I'll keep walking my way 
I won't stop
(I won't stop)
Before they disappear
When you feel like crying at night,
I'll be with you through it
Don't forget
The answer is In you baby

※ repeat

----
Translator's notes:
* When it says "GOD, TRUST --" I'm not sure whether she means God in the list or just as an expletive. I guess with next chorus she means God as in the list? Maybe? Answers on a postcard, huh?
** I translated this really appallingly so I quickly changed it, I don't know who did that part of my translation, but credit goes to JPopAsia.
*** Yes I know it's weird to capitalise feelings in the middle of a sentence but the original Japanese is "あの日のFeelings" and I wanted to keep it as true as possible.
**** I know I said I didn't correct grammar unless it was terrible...but the original English said "to your dream" which makes sense when the rest of that line is in Japanese.

----
Hopefully next week I can translate some more. I've had a week from Hell, but today has been excellent! I'm well happy. ^^

I'll probably post more tomorrow but I won't swear on it! Actually I've wrote this and I feel like writing more. So I'm gonna.

Recently I've been into Chihiro Onitsuka a lot, she's really talented. She composes and writes the lyrics for her entire discography with only a few being re-composed with her past producer. She seems like she's been through a lot and she has a penchant for beautiful and moving lyrics.
My favourite song of hers would be infection and 蛍 (firefly). So pretty!
Most of her songs are ballads with a rock tinge. Very easy on the ears. Her voice is low and deep but has the characteristic nasally quality that Japanese singers have (particularly Yumi Matsutoya interestingly enough).

She's really good. Seriously. Her latest album DOROTHY is fantastic. Go listen. =D

Also! alan's sophomore album came out the other day...well leaked the other day and I managed to listen to it! It's a really good album with lots of electronic pop music on it. There's some REALLY unexpected stuff on there. A lot of people are complaining it sounds generic..but..I disagree! =D

I'll do a proper review this week.

Okay. That's all I have to say! So bye~! :)

Let's Start Over.

Yooooo~!

So, I've not blogged in absolutely AGES. Mainly cuz no one reads this! (ToT)
But that's not important. So, anyway, regardless of who reads this (or not). I'm gonna blog more regularly.

So. Hi. ^_^

So, today is the second day of autumn~! Yay for autumn!! I've grown really bored of summer now. >_< I hope everyone has a good time at college, school, university, etc. I enrol at my new college on Thurs. this week and then I start on the Monday. >_< 怖いだね？
頑張って皆！^_^

So...news, news, news. Nothing really new, mainly 'cause I'm the most boring person ever. y_y
Oh! I now have to wear glasses. -(^)_(^)-
Just for reading though, my optician said that my eyes were like: x_^
My right eye is weaker than my left~. Unlucky. Oh well. :P

So...I'm gonna try and post >_at least_< once a week! But other than that, I have nothing new to report. P.S. I really like alan lately, she's a good singer. sifow is also pretty good!
P.P.S. I'm ill! *cough* y_y I have an ear infection, I guess. I'm off to the doctor's on Friday to see~. I'll probably post then let everyone (no one) know what's going on. ^_~