Very similar to my love of the hunt for obscure media is my love of the hunt for Good Music. Wherever I go, probably the most exciting prospect about being somewhere is the possibility of stumbling upon a wonderful new piece of music that’ll affect my life, and quite often, that ends up being the case! You just gotta open up your eyes, open up your ears– you know, Arthur style.
A very easy way to both expand your appreciation for a song you already love AND find good new music at the same Time is to look up every single rendition of the song in question. I tend to do this with songs that I assume will have a more limited scope. (I listed a few of the major ones I’ve done this to in a pastpost.) The fact that the songs I’ve chosen do not have a completely insurmountable amount of covers isn’t by design– I just tend to fall in love with songs that only a particular group of passionate people are likely to want to cover.
This particular journey seems worthy of a write-up, though. The music in general is one that, while maybe not EVERYONE is familiar with the material, if they know it, they love it, and I’m sure many people would WANT to be able to play it, but many would be too intimidated to even BEGIN to conceptualize how to work their way around the merest, most bare-bones rendition. I’m talking about the music of Studio Ghibli.
The works of Studio Ghibli are, needless to say, the pinnacle of excellence in all departments, and, perhaps due to the whole Image Album culture of the company (meaning that much of the building blocks of the score are written before the film is complete and affect the final product), every song in a Ghibli film feels like it was born within the world it inhabits. It’s an indescribable joy to experience something so perfectly paired. There’s a reason that, when asked if I wanted a laptop case, I wanted a Totoro case! What could be better?
So it was that when I was looking for new Ernest and Celestine stuff (did you know there’s an ongoing animated series, AS WELL as a feature-length sequel coming out this December?!), I knew I had to investigate further when I saw one of these Ernest and Celestine uploaders had made a playlist of good music… and the thumbnail was of Totoro– a watercolour sketch of the same scene that’s on my old laptop case!
[Fun fact– this particular scene isn’t even in the movie! Far as I can tell, this was in a series of exclusive cels that were printed as puzzles. Kiki’s Delivery Service also has some amazing new scenes on their puzzles depicting life after the movie!]
The tracks near the top are all just renditions of the very same song, the primary musical theme throughout My Neighbor Totoro — known in English as [The] Path of the Wind, and in Japanese as 風のとおり道, romanized as Kaze no Toorimichi. (Sometimes, the song is also incorrectly spelled as Kaze no Torimichi / 風の通り道– so for this project, I’ve searched up both in every possible configuration.) My winding road through this one song full of limitless potential had begun.
MY STARTING POINT
In the past, the best Ghibli musical covers I’d been able to find were from the officially sponsored All that Jazz volumes (which covered Path of the Wind twice– once in volume 1 & once in volume 2 (More or less the same, but without the powerhouse vocals. The tune demands this kind of attention!), as well as the enigmatic Cafe Music BGM channel (which covered Path of the Wind… who knows how many times? How can one group of musicians constantly create THIS much quality jazz, lo-fi, & bossa nova? Their compilations BARELY repeat!!). And since it seemed like, more often than not, I was disappointed by people’s attempts to recapture the magic in their own versions, I really hadn’t bothered to delve much deeper. I honestly set my expectations really low when I opened up the first rendition of the song in this playlist.
COVER #1
The video even started with about 5 seconds of silence, which added a kind of tension I hadn’t anticipated. I wondered in that moment, “Maybe whatever was here was so close to the original that it got copyright-muted?” Studio Ghibli has been ruthless when it comes to that sort of stuff. I’ve learned not to use anything related to Studio Ghibli in my videos– it’s the reason my channel nearly was terminated forever, after all, coupled with the equally merciless Shogakukan Co.
Then, abruptly, the recording started, and from first tinkly celesta note, it was all I’d ever dreamed of in a full orchestral version of the piece. I NEEDED to know where it came from, since it very obviously hadn’t originated from this user. I tried to Shazam the piece, but it told me it was by someone named Shannon Coates, and it linked back SPECIFICALLY to this upload. In spite of that image of her on the page, I can’t find any information on a musician by that name. I personally believe she doesn’t exist, and I’m unsure of how this misattribution occurred– on multiple Ghibli songs. Plus, as we’ll find out, it’s absolutely not her recording. (Also, teehee, it thinks it’s called the PAT of Wind. Let’s not go down that patty path again.)
I followed my gut on this, and started on the assumption that this was DEFINITELY an officially produced Ghibli recording of some kind, most probably by Joe Hisaishi himself. And thankfully, that hunch turned out to be true– an official Joe Hisaishi arrangement, conducted by Joe Hisaishi, performed by his beloved New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in an album called Orchestra Stories – My Neighbor Totoro. The album comes with two versions of every song, one with a condensed version of the movie acted out over it in a kind of radio play/storybook format, and the one I’d heard, without any narration or dialogue over it. As I left a comment on the video to help other curious folk like me (as I knew for a fact that the source had never been pointed out in the 10 years and 6-million+ views it’s amassed… I searched every comment first!!), I wondered if this was both the start and the end of my search for the best of Totoro.
COVER #2
Once again, from first chord (my favourite songs tend to be ones that blow me away in the first few seconds– that’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but it tends to be the case), I HAD to know who did this solo piano arrangement. Considering it had such an unusual new idea to begin the piece, I assumed that it, at the VERY least, had its inception in a Joe Hisaishi performance, and then was, perhaps, performed by someone else. In my search, I’d stumbled across quite a few amateur pianists who were VERY SPECIFICALLY playing this arrangement, so it only seemed proper. However, after going through every copy of the song that Joe had a hand in and NEVER hearing such a musical motion, I had to concede that it wasn’t Joe. It did, however, turn out to be an official Ghibli album: Piano Niyoru Anime Eiga Shudaika-shu / ピアノによる珠玉のアニメ映画主題歌集 by Tomohisa Okudo / 奥戸巴寿. The album name seems to translate to Gems (I assume meaning something similar to Gold or Best, as we often use in song collections) of Animated Movie Theme Songs Collection for Piano. The whole album can be listened to here.
Someone new had added something new to the song, and I REALLY liked it. The door was blown wide open– I knew now there was a chance for even more magic ahead. And I AM glad that it took me a while to come upon the arrangement’s true creator, because it DID end up helping me find something related to it on Nicovideo…
COVER #3
This is almost like a Cover 2.5 (to number things in a decimal format is such a Japanese media idea), since it’s actually just a vocal cover OVER Tomohisa Okudo’s solo piano. And, despite having been done by some amateur fan on Nicovideo… like most fan-created works on Nicovideo, it’s… really impressive. The performance is honestly professional– so much so that I could be convinced this was how the piece was originally released. Starting around the 2-minute mark, the singer expertly layers in her own multi-track vocal arrangement to back herself up, weaving through the complicated chords with a deft touch and plenty of its own melodic ingenuity. (Also, I assume she pitched herself down an octave for some of the lower notes– but my goodness, what a range! She reminds me of one of my favourite YouTube musicians, YuriCovers. Not deterred in the slightest by the boundaries of one’s own voice box.) Thanks to the whole chorus of voices she added in herself, it ends on this absolutely INSANE extended chord– from what I can tell, a Cm7/9/11, with the 11th being the last note at the top. For a fan vocal cover to be, in its own right, a legitimate way to listen to the recording, is a little unheard of. (Well, okay, my sister ends up accomplishing that every time, but that’s not a fair comparison.) This vocalist’s name is いよかん / Iyokan– and it feels like Nicovideo is hiding SO much similar talent.
Which I shall touch on! But, perhaps something else needs to be explained– this is a VOCAL rendition. But, this song doesn’t even have official lyrics, right? And yet, these exact same lyrics can also be heard on the first All That Jazz album! Where’d they come from?!
COVER #4
Here’s another gem hidden on Nicovideo from who-knows-what TV broadcast, but it makes it very clear that these are officially sanctioned official lyrics to Joe Hisaishi’s song– because Joe’s actually playing the piano here with this choir! And what a fabulous arrangement– to imbue such strength to the choir’s voice with that rich, warm brass under them. It’s like a musical representation of the majesty of the camphor tree and the children who explore it. (Whatever Joe does, it’s always a BOLD choice.) Also, the blending of genuine children’s voices with that very recognizable music-teacher-alto– love that sound, takes me right back to listening to my elementary school choir teacher’s practice tapes. You can hear an official recording from around the original release of the film, on the Image Album. A VERY worthy recording with a similar feel in its own electronic scope, although I feel like the choir obviously wants to be, like, 10BPM slower, which is fixed in this orchestral rendition.
The lyrical transcription that’s easiest to find attributes three different people for the vocal version that… I honestly haven’t been able to confirm at all. And the page they originally got the information from (which was probably up all the way back in 1999) doesn’t credit ANY of those people, so I feel that all of it is likely wrong. Some other pages like Smule even credit HAYAO MIYAZAKI himself for the lyrics, but– I don’t think he’s ever written lyrics for anything before, so it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing he’d occupy his precious time imagining. My current theory is it might’ve been a mistranslation, and instead of the lyrics being written by Keiko Kitagawa (the famous actress), they were actually written by the person who wrote all the other lyrics for My Neighbor Totoro’s soundtrack, Rieko Nakagawa. Obviously, I don’t know much Japanese, so I don’t know the nuances of what would be most likely when misinterpreting kanji, but to me, this seems like the most feasible answer given all I know. After all, it’s confirmed that she’s written the lyrics for quite a few of the other instrumental pieces in My Neighbor Totoro that aren’t always sung– like Neko Basu / ねこバス (Catbus’ Theme) or Okaasan / おかあさん (Mother’s Theme — you know, the “la-la-la” song!).
As a final note, I really think this practice of making official lyrical versions of instrumental songs with strong melodies is just a blast. You can’t help but commit Joe’s strong melodies to memory, anyway, so it’d be such a waste not to try. Here’s a great one I found of Umi no Mieru Machi / 海の見える街 (A Town With An Ocean View) from Kiki’s Delivery Service, as sung by Azumi Inoue, who sang all the other vocal pieces in My Neighbor Totoro. I love how much the orchestration sounds like a proto-Orinoco Flow!
…
— OH HOLY DELICIOUS HOT SCHMOTORO, all my ravenous Googling paid off; I just found the back of the LP album cover for the Image Album… which VERY clearly attributes both となりのトトロ & 風のとおり道 to HAYAO MIYAZAKI HIMSELF:
… Both Hayao Miyazaki & Rieko Nakagawa’s credits highlighted for clarity.
Looking further, it seems he also wrote the lyrics for 小さな写真, Wow, that makes me wonder if the lyrics to these songs were, in-fact, presented to Joe essentially as poems, and Joe WROTE these perfect melodies TO them. That really changes my perception. My perception of SOUND.
COVER #5
Before we get too far away from the idea of the burgeoning amateur talent on Nicovideo, here’s another very similar situation– someone who goes by either the name Odamaki or OTO– their version of 風のとおり道 is e-tsch-pe-tsch-ially special because it seems like Odamaki’s also the arranger and the pianist. (Linked from YouTube, because this version is much higher quality.) I wasn’t so sure, based on this description alone, but reading her other descriptions seem to confirm she’s involved in every aspect of the recording. Some of the most delicate, thoughtful, resonant playing here– bridging the impressionist and jazz qualities of the original piece with just as much ease. She throws in all of those really chromatic ideas that could be dangerous if not done right– and they’re done right AND with SUCH relish. I LOVE that she’s given thought to ensure both the piano and voice have their moment– and both halves have the right amount of flexible interpretation, ALONG with sticking to meter enough. I don’t think any of the other performances I’ve listened to has DONE the very cool rhythmic thing Odamaki DOES in the verses. Honestly, Odamaki’s performance here feels VERY similar to the performance given by Kaho Nakamura in Belle, but in a slightly higher register. Someone hire Odamaki and make the next big animated musical, is what I’m saying.
Not to get too far off-topic, but her vocal cover of Inochi no Namae / いのちの名前 (The Name of Life) from Spirited Away is, I think, definitive.
COVER #6
Continuing to prove the instrumental excellence of Nicovideo, here’s an amazing arrangement all put together by (seemingly) one really rad dude who, like all the rest of these people, has long since abandoned his Nicovideo account. In Google Translating the description, it seems the instruments are recorder, marimba, vibraphone, djembe drum, sleigh bells, and cymbals. It’s, uh, REALLY hard for me to truly believe that’s what a recorder can sound like? It sounds like whatever instrument is being used in the US version of the Laputa score, when Sheeta speaks of her home in Gondoa. C-could that really be a RECORDER? I’d always assumed it was a sweet, youthful ocarina! But… I mean, I suppose what says youth more than a recorder? I mean, I firmly believe all recorders should be removed from the elementary school music classes in favour of ʻukuleles, but hey– it IS one of those shared experiences we all have.
In spite of being fully acoustic, the way that Tuku plays and extends chords on the vibraphone (and perhaps also the reverb placed on it) makes it sound UNCANNILY like the beautiful electronic synths found all throughout Joe Hisaishi’s original soundtrack. You know the type– the kind that feel organic, like you’re just awash in the cradle of life. Synths that feel like nature– it’s such an interesting analogy, but it’s an association that seems to be just about as old as synths themselves– see Plantasia. (Shout-out to Emie for introducing me to Plantasia!) There’s also something so… plaintive about the use of the percussive instruments here– percussive instruments, in general, remind me of the harsh attack and decay of synthesized video game music– something along the lines of the feeling of walking in lantern’s light while listening to Hope Isolation Pray from Seiken Densetsu 3 / Trials of Mana.
COVER #7
I’ve already talked about the wonderful big-band vocal cover All That Jazz produced a few times, but here’s another Nicovideo special that only makes the song sweeter. This dude, whoever he is, is definitely a kindred spirit with me. It’s either early morning or, like, RIGHT before sunset (or it could just be overcast, that’s also an option), and the dude just plops down his camera and a speaker system, and he’s wearing this puffy fluorescent-green Marty McFly jacket and these bright shoes that make him look like he’s DIPPY DAWG. Then, he walks out into the middle of the road, waits for the music to pick up… and then WHOOP-AH, does this big clap and starts into some high-energy freestyle choreography.
Cars skirt around him, as the man continues to focus all his attention on his jazz squares. He even ends by waving to a man walking his dog– it’s just a riveting, unedited slice of someone’s day where they decided out of nowhere, “… Time to dance!”. I don’t know about anyone else who has ever tried dancing in public (am I the only one?), but boy, the sheer ACT of dancing makes it feel like you’ve manifested a spotlight on you. I’m not saying that everyone looks at someone who’s dancing by themselves (although that would probably be true [although that’s not the point– dance for yourself])… what I AM saying is that someone shines when they dance. It’s like a proclamation of LIVING. Of BEING. And this dancer is shining, as he literally pounds the pavement, dropping and spinning as his heart dictates. I hope that I can track down this そうぽん character and have him dance in one of my videos. We gotta dance together somehow; our moves would be unstoppable together!!
COVER #8
Now here’s possibly the most exciting of all my finds, given how unexpected the answers surrounding it were. It’s just this very unassuming upload— the only information present in the title and description just mentions the name of the song, the movie it’s from, and the fact that this is a jazz version. I had no clue what I was in for– out of all the versions I’ve found, this is the most break-neck white-knuckle rollercoaster rendition– NEVER would I expect ANY of the surprises this particular stereo ride had in store… including where it came from. See, turns out this is from an album called “chameleon Jazz with GHIBLI Flavor”, which was a one-time musical project headed by one of my absolute favourite musicians (and one who I had ASSUMED I owned everything of), Keiko Osaki. She’s the mastermind behind the greatest group to ever have strings as a primary instrument, Vanilla Mood.
To fully confirm that this is really THE Keiko from THE Vanilla Mood, and also for the full Jazz Experience, I’m so relieved to be able to say that there’s a professionally edited video of a series of live performances of this rendition of 風のとおり道. There’s even a widdle unedited bit of it by some fan, and it’s JUST as perfect as the edited video! If you’re in something with a member of Vanilla Mood, nothing short of perfection is allowed. And MAN, no one involved is ever going on autopilot during any of these live performances (please do yourself a favour and check out the other videos on that ChameleonJazz channel) — so much exploration of the material, and SO MUCH ROCKIN’. It could not possibly land with more force than this. Unless you’ve heard it, it’d be hard to imagine that this song could suddenly sound like the most intense boss battle music you’ve ever heard, but truly, here it is! I mean, would you want to get on Totoro’s bad side? The guy’s an immortal tree spirit; if he’s gotta fight, he’s gonna win.
COVER #9
To complete the search in that initial good-music playlist where all of this started, the third version was just some pretty-faithful synth version– and then the fourth & final performance of 風のとおり道 in the playlist really got me goin’. In spite of me being wrong last time, I knew for sure that this time, not only was this a Joe Hisaishi arrangement, it was UNQUESTIONABLY Joe on the piano again. There’s a very specific touch of someone playing their own material, a certain familial quality between the player and the piece that’s hard to express. Once again, this copy’s origin was really hard to track down. As professional as the recording was, it seemed to not have actually been from an audio release. And that turned out to be true– this audio was ripped straight from Joe Hisaishi’s 2003 concert, “a Wish to the Moon ETUDE&ENCORE PIANO STORIES”.
… I have specifically started the timecode in the concert during the silence directly before the performance so you can enjoy all the charming, hilarious and interesting non-verbal stuff throughout that. The whole debacle with Joe’s fingers lightly slipping off the keys over and over again before the song starts– master-at-work there.
So, uh, having listened to as many versions of the song as I have now, I’d be hard-pressed to find a more flawless rendition of the song, as it was originally intended to be played. There’s this unbelievable amount of emotional trust– this connection between Joe & his cellist– they’re both giving-and-taking just as much, laying their souls bare. Japanese audiences are famously well-mannered, but I would hope that, no matter where this particular performance took place, that the audience would realize that this was too sacred a performance to interrupt with any noise of any kind. And, like, I’ve heard some REALLY mechanical versions of that piano opening as played by well-meaning amateurs– but WOW, the minutia of the dynamics in this, the COMPLETE FULL-BODY INHABITING of each movement of the music– I LOVE a musician who feels the need to move as they perform, and boy-oh, is Joe one of those kinds of musicians. You can tell he’s relishing every moment of this duet– it’s good for the soul.
Oh– and yes, you’re seeing that right– this concert is comprised of Joe as pianist and conductor and NINE CELLO PLAYERS and that’s it. See? Bold choices.
COVER #10
On my way to try to find where #9 came from (Number 9 will put you on the spot, as they say.), I came across this solo piano version by Joe and NEARLY thought that this was what I was looking for, based solely on that same impossibly light, ephemeral touch on the keys. But no, Joe’s just very consistent in his quality of performance, I guess. This is actually from about 15 years earlier, in-fact, from the year that My Neighbor Totoro released. This performance was part of the most important ongoing series of albums Joe Hisaishi has put out, Piano Stories. So far, there have been five Piano Stories, plus a Best Of collection that came with a companion book of sheet music. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that any solo piano cover of this song started right here. Considering the original piece is entirely electronic, I have a feeling this wouldn’t be a song associated with piano if not for Joe immediately putting out this incredibly beloved and influential album.
Absolutely everything you need is here– there’s nothing quite like when a piano takes over the responsibilities of an entire orchestra. And you can really tell the recording engineers put so much care into capturing the whole gamut of piano expression, so every strike was crisp and the rumble would be like having a front-row seat to the storm. Forever grateful for what Joe’s music has done for the piano. I know that both Nova & I would be without a primary component of our musical vocabulary without that as one of our anchors.
COVER #11
Well, I had initially conceived of this as a single post, but this happens to be the halfway point, and I feel good about splitting it right here. Right here on a similar note to #8– a musician who happens to be a favourite of mine, but I had no clue they’d done a cover of this song. This also happens to be the last time in the list that someone sings the lyrics, so that feels like its own type of closure!
Here to send us off in this first act, let’s give a warm Webloomsage wec’lome to Laura Shigihara/supershigi! Out of all the vocal covers, this is the only one that attempts such close-knit harmonies right out of the gate. It’s so weird to realize, after having listened to it, that these particular harmonic lines aren’t even PRESENT in any other version of the song– they seem too perfect! That’s a recurring theme in Laura’s music. My introduction to Laura was through her covers of Chrono Trigger music with lyrics she wrote herself– and despite these being homespun projects, everything she’d conceived was so unbelievably perfect that she was called upon by the composer of Chrono Trigger to recreate these pieces professionally for the official 20th Anniversary Album. And it’s because her ideas are just that solid– once you hear them, the song seems to demand her accompaniment.
Another reason that someone might want to commission her to recreate the magic she’s already done is that she has a habit of releasing tiny versions of the songs in question? Like… this version of the song has just about everything you could ever want from a version of the song, except that you realize once it’s done that you ree-lee want it to be much longer. Hahaha, I know, that’s not a fair complaint– of course everyone wants good music to last longer. But MAN, when a piece is this good and is less than 3 minutes? How can it be?! Laura dips and dives around each recording of her voice with such adroitness– I love when vocal harmony is supey-dupey close and yet, somehow, still has room for all kinds of flourishes that add emotion and life and individuality to each of the vocal lines. If you have the right voice for that kind of work (and not many do), that complex wiring creates a real next-level blend.
… And it’s interesting because I assume at this point that Laura’s not even thinking past the vocal line she’s currently laying down. I wouldn’t have thought that at the beginning, but I’ve watched some of her amazing looping livestreams, and it becomes very clear she just has a knack for this, and can work her way to finding that next corresponding line. That’s such an empowering way to arrange, because it tends to produce lines that have so much more melodic intrigue and inner movement than simply trying to find the next note in a chord to stack. Really puts you in a state of play. I also think Laura’s the only arranger of the piece to repeat the opening piano motif at the end, which really colours those notes differently. I suppose that’s a worthy sonic metaphor to lead us out of Part 1 of this blogpost and into the next. Catch us next time, when the song begins anew once more, but with the added context of all that we’ve discussed! Songsequences will never the same!
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