JOE HISAISHI

2010 WORLD TOUR

JOE

HIS

AIS

HI

was

bo

rn i

n N

akan

o,

Nag

ano

,

Jap

an a

s M

amo

ru F

ujis

awa.

Wh

en

he

sta

rte

d

to t

ake

vio

lin l

ess

on

s at

ag

e f

ive

, H

isai

shi

dis

cove

red

his

pas

sio

n f

or

mu

sic.

Re

aliz

ing

his

lo

ve,

he

att

en

de

d t

he

Ku

nit

ach

i C

olle

ge

of

Mu

sic

in 1

969

to m

ajo

r in

mu

sic

com

po

si-

tio

n.

His

aish

i co

llab

ora

ted

wit

h m

inim

alis

t

arti

sts

as a

typ

ese

tte

r, f

urt

he

rin

g h

is e

xpe

ri-

en

ce i

n t

he

mu

sica

l w

orl

d.H

e e

njo

yed

his

firs

t su

cce

ss o

f th

e b

usi

ne

ss i

n 1

974

wh

en

he

com

po

sed

mu

sic

for

a sm

all

anim

atio

n c

alle

d

Gya

toru

zu.

Th

is a

nd

oth

er

ear

ly w

ork

s w

ere

cre

ate

d u

nd

er

his

giv

en

nam

e.

Du

rin

g t

his

pe

rio

d,

he

co

mp

ose

d f

or

Sas

ug

a n

o S

aru

tob

i

(Aca

de

my

of

Nin

ja)

and

Fu

tari

Tak

a (A

Fu

ll

Th

rott

le).

In t

he

197

0s,

Jap

ane

se p

op

ula

r

mu

sic,

ele

ctro

nic

mu

sic,

an

d n

ew

-ag

e m

usi

c

flo

uri

she

d;

tho

se g

en

res,

as

we

ll as

th

e Y

el-

low

Mag

ic O

rch

est

ra (

a Ja

pan

ese

ele

ctro

nic

ban

d i

n 1

978

1983

), i

nfl

ue

nce

d H

isai

shis

com

po

siti

on

s. H

e d

eve

lop

ed

his

mu

sic

fro

m

min

imal

ist

ide

as a

nd

exp

and

ed

to

war

d

orc

he

stra

l w

ork

. A

rou

nd

197

5, H

isai

shi

pre

-

sen

ted

his

fir

st p

ub

lic p

erf

orm

ance

, sp

read

-

ing

his

nam

e a

rou

nd

his

co

mm

un

ity.

His

fir

st

alb

um

, M

KW

AJU

, w

as r

ele

ase

d i

n 1

981,

wit

h

Info

rmat

ion

be

ing

re

leas

ed

a y

ear

lat

er.

As

his

wo

rks

we

re b

eco

min

g w

ell

kno

wn

, H

isai

shi

form

ula

ted

an

alia

s in

spir

ed

by

Qu

incy

Jo

ne

s,

an A

fric

an-A

me

rica

n m

usi

cian

an

d p

rod

uce

r.

Re

tran

scri

be

d i

n J

apan

ese

, Q

uin

cy J

on

es

be

cam

e

Joe

His

aish

i.A

s m

ore

exp

osu

re

was

giv

en

to

His

aish

i an

d t

he

an

ime

in

du

stry

,

his

car

ee

r g

rew

. H

e i

nit

iate

d a

so

lo c

are

er,

be

gan

to

pro

du

ce m

usi

c, a

nd

cre

ate

d h

is

ow

n l

abe

l A

ye

ar l

ate

r, t

he

lab

el

rele

ase

d i

ts

firs

t al

bu

m,

Pre

ten

de

r, i

n N

ew

Yo

rk.

BIOGRAPHY

01 | 02

Team

Gh

iblin

k w

ish

es

to

ext

en

d i

ts

sin

cere

th

anks

to

Bu

en

a V

ista

Ho

me

En

tert

ain

-

me

nt

for

the

op

po

rtu

nit

y to

be

th

e f

irst

to

mak

e t

his

in

-

terv

iew

ava

ilab

le t

o t

he

fan

s

and

ad

mir

ers

of

Joe

His

aish

i

and

his

mu

sic.

CASTLE IN THE SKY - JOE HISAISHI INTERVIEWInterviewed byBuena Vista Home Entertainment

The original is about 60 minutes long in total. This time it will be more

than 90 minutes. The amount of music increased dramatically, which means

there was a lot of new material I had to write. But my musical style 13 years

ago was totally different from what it is today. And in some cases, the way

that I write music has changed. If I just added new material in places that

needed additional music, balance-wise it would turn out terrible. So there

was nothing I could do but rewrite the entire piece. That was the hardest

part. Another thing is that the original melodies are very well known in

Japan. So it was really hard writing a new version while still maintaining the

originals integrity.

My music has gotten much better. And technique. I have really developed

technically. Thats why when I looked at these old scores, I thought to

myself, this is terrible! and I wanted to rewrite them. But when I tried,

the balance of the music just kept getting worse and worse. What I mean

is, when you look at the scores from 13 years ago, they were very fresh in

their own right and its important to preserve the freshness of that time.

The expressions and ideas are truly good. But my orchestration technique

has come a long way since then and I found myself in a constant battle of

old versus new.

This time I focused on bringing out the rhythm a little more. So now there

is more of an overall pop feel. Its easier to relate to. To give it this

feel, I brought the rhythm out much more. I used synthesizers to how can

I put this drive it. In the synthesizer recordings, especially consider-

ing the rhythm section, I had to make the sound of the orchestra and the

rhythm section bond together at a higher level. That is a big difference

from the last time.

Before I even get into emotions and theme... The Hollywood style of using

music to introduce characters and explain whats on screen is a method that

I dont normally use in Japan. However, Im a fan of Hollywood movies and

I watch a lot of them. So I changed my usual approach to make the music

more listener-friendly. I guess you can say that was the foundation of the

entire production and everything was done accordingly.

I dont know if it was enjoyable, but the biggest thing for me is to take the

directors message; the number one message of the movie, and apply music to

it in a spiritual sense. That is more or less my personal style. This particu-

lar piece is an action/adventure movie so the action and movement of the

characters is prominent and unmistakable. Thats an aspect I really took into

consideration. But you work on it for months and months, and within all that

you try to bring out your own style. For instance, in the climax scene, up

until that point the sound of the orchestra is violently pounding. But at the

point of true climax, when everything is crumbling away, that powerful music

suddenly changes to nothing but a chorus. I wanted to be sure to bring out

the sadness which was being conveyed. I believe that scene turned out really

well, and I think that sort of thing will become my style.

All the basic themes come from the original. So the main theme would

be the friendship between the main characters Sheeta and Pazu. Another

would be, of course, the castle in the sky because the movie is Castle

in the Sky Another one would be Grandma Dora, a very brave old lady.

There are, of course, many other themes; like emphasizing trombones when

the soldiers and the military appear. I wanted to separate the events of

the movie using different musical characteristics. That was an area that I

wanted to thoroughly cover this time.

03 | 04

CASTLE IN THE SKY

ano

ch

ihe

ise

n k

agay

aku

no

wa

do

ko k

a n

i ki

mi

o k

aku

shit

e i

ru k

ara

taku

-san

no

hi

ga

nat

suka

shii

no

wa

ano

do

re k

a h

ito

tsu

ni

kim

i g

a ir

u k

ara

saa

de

kake

yo

u

hit

oki

re n

o P

AN

NA

IFU

, R

AN

PU

kab

an n

i ts

um

e k

on

de

do

-san

ga

no

kosh

ita

atsu

i o

mo

i

ka-s

an g

a ku

reta

an

o m

anaz

ash

i

chik

yuu

wa

maw

aru

kim

i o

kak

ush

ite

kag

ayak

u h

ito

mi

kira

me

ku t

om

osh

ibi

chik

yuu

wa

maw

aru

kim

i o

no

sete

itsu

ka k

itto

de

au

bo

kura

o n

ose

te

do

-san

ga

no

kosh

ita

atsu

i o

mo

i

ka-s

an g

a ku

reta

an

o m

anaz

ash

i

chik

yuu

wa

maw

aru

kim

i o

kak

ush

ite

kag

ayak

u h

ito

mi

kira

me

ku t

om

osh

ibi

chik

yuu

wa

maw

aru

kim

i o

no

sete

itsu

ka k

itto

de

au

bo

kura

o n

ose

te

05 | 06

TOUR

2010

07 | 08

TOKYO

, March 13th, 2010

SHANGHAI, M

arch 24th, 2010

BEIJING, April 7th, 2010

HON

GKON

G, April 15th, 2010

TAIPEI, April, 28th, 2010

OSAKA, M

ay 15th, 2010

SYDNEY, M

ay 30th, 2010

SAN FRAN

CISCO, Jun 18th, 2010

LOS AN

GELES, July 7th, 2010

LAS VEGAS, July 20th, 2010

HOUSTO

N, Augest 7th, 2010

NEW

YORK CITY, Augest 21st, 2010

I just happened to start out as a modern composer who was immersed in severe dissonant sounds for the longest time.

DISCOGRAPHY

I also happened to be allowed to compose some melodic pieces as well. I believe Mr. Kitano and Mr. Miyazaki just pulled it out of me.

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09 | 10

11 | 12

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