Kenji Kawai (å·äº• 憲次, Kawai Kenji, born April 23, 1957 in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese music composer, for motion pictures, anime movies, video games and televised programs. He has contributed to the musical scores for numerous films from Japan and other countries in Asia, working in film genres as diverse as anime, horror, sci-fi and historical epic. Among his credits are Tsui Hark's Seven Swords and Wilson Yip's Ip Man; Mamoru Oshii's films The Red Spectacles, StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops, Ghost in the Shell, Mobile Police Patlabor and Avalon; the anime adaptations of Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ and Maison Ikkoku; the live-action adaptation of Gantz; and Hideo Nakata's films Ring, Ring 2, Chaos, Dark Water and Kaidan.
Career
After dropping out of a nuclear engineering program at Tokai University, Kenji Kawai began studying music at Shobi Music Academy. However, he dropped out after half a year. With a few friends, he created the band Muse, playing fusion rock and participating in music competitions. Through competing in such contests, the band members became technically competent to enter the music industry and decided to part ways.
After leaving Muse, Kenji Kawai began composing music for commercials in his home studio. While recording music for radio actor and voice actor Yūji Mitsuya, he met music director Naoko Asari, who advised him to compose anime soundtracks. Some of his work for anime soundtracks can be found in Ranma ½, Ghost in the Shell and in the well-known recent (live action) film Death Note.
Following his success as an anime movies music composer, he became involved in live action movies. He contributed music to horror films: Ring, Ring 2, Dark Water, Japanese-Polish science-fiction film Avalon and the Hong Kong film Seven Swords.
He has worked on several projects with director Mamoru Oshii (both Headgear members) and has written scores for all of the Hideo Nakata's films. The most recent film featuring his music is 2009's Assault Girls by director Oshii. Kenji Kawai's music has received the Annie Award and Hong Kong Film Award. In 2005, for Innocence: Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence) he was nominated for an Annie Award.
For the music found in Seven Swords and A Battle of Wits he was nominated for Best Original Film Score Awards at both the 25th and 26th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2006 and 2007.
Description of selected albums
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
The original soundtrack for Ghost in the Shell used Japanese choir singing parts of the Min'yÅ prayer toho kami emi tame and taiko drums. Other tracks are mostly instrumental, peaceful, with the dominance of drums. The CD also included pop song "See You Everyday", sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing.
Avalon
The OST for Avalon featured songs sung only in Polish, telling the story of the mystical land Avalon. Works were performed by the Polish National Philharmonic Orkiestre, Choir of Philharmonic Orkiestre, and solo parts by opera singer Elżbieta Towarnicka (Elizabeth Towarnicka). There are a few songs of joyful mood, "Log in" or "Voyage to Avalon" for example, but also traditional instrumental songs with drums and electronic music.
Ghost in the Shell â€" Innocence
Following on from Ghost in the Shell, the score again makes use of female vocals and percussion, though featuring a different melody. Two songs performed by jazz singer Kimiko Itoh ("Follow me", "River of Crystals") also featured.
Vampire Princess Miyu â€" TV OST
This CD includes 34 tracks. The opening for TV series Shinma no Kodou uses flutes, a feminine chorus and piano. Solo parts are sung by Hiroko Kasahara ("Aitai"), Miki Nagasawa ("Manmaru Temari Uta" â€" sings with children) and Saeko Suzuki (ending Miyu Yachiyo with flute and piano). There are many fight scene themes which use fiddles, piano and sometimes drums.
List of works
Years 1985â€"1990
Years 1991â€"2000
Years 2001 â€" current
See also
- Hideo Nakata
- Mamoru Oshii
- Japanese horror
- Anime
- Cinema of Japan
External links
- Official site of Kenji Kawai (Japanese)
- Kenji Kawai at the Internet Movie Database
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