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The best part of it all is that instead of taking her turn in the limelight to then concentrate on raising a family and nurturing her private life, her marriage and child-bearing has but strengthen her will to make music. Twelve years after her official debut and countless years after the beginning of her musical journey, Chara's passion for music has never dimmed and her fans return the favour by never getting over how amazing this artist is.
There is nothing quite like Chara's voice: Soft as a child's but so sincere, no one could ever believe she is pretending to be someone else and that its cuteness is staged. The love and compassion emitted by that said voice can make you hope, dream, cry... but after the final word has been uttered, there's always this "feel good" emotion present. Chara sings like an angel and also dances like a one. Her songs being the essence of her life, she can get very emotional singing them. Also, as distinctive as her voice may be, she sees herself as a musician first and foremost. It is very hard to separately evaluate the music and vocals in her songs because of how they harmoniously converge into a whole. Among her credited instruments are the piano, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, tambourine and all sorts of little personal touches to add depth to her songs. It is those little details, blatant effort and sweet emotions that put Chara in a league of her own.
A major turning point in her career was the movie Swallowtail Butterfly produced in 1996 by internationally acclaimed director Iwai Shunji, in which she starred as an optimistic prostitute in a shanty-town. Singing her message of hope in this grim setting gave a shot of positive energy to an entire generation. The world of cinema also gave Chara the love of her live. She married the king of underground movies, actor Tadanobu Asano, in 1994, whom she met during the filming of PiCNiC, another movie she participated in. They now have two children, Sumire and Himi, and live a relatively private life together. I was about to write that Chara had more-or-less disappeared since her last album Yoake Mae, having only appeared in various compilations and remixes. But lo and behold Chara has a new single scheduled for January 07. Fantasy will be the title song and will also feature a cover of an Ofcourse hit Yes-No.
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Strange Fruits
With songs like 70% -- Yuugure no Uta and Hikari to Watashi, you cannot go wrong with Strange Fruits. Another sure shot is Junior Sweet and Madrigal, in which participated Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha. Not to forget her latest album, Yoake Mae. Come to think of it, they're all superb works. Draw a name out of a hat. |
Why 70% -- Yuugure no Uta?
It sounds a bit weird at first, but the chorus is Chara at her best. Her vocals in this song communicate a powerful nostalgic feeling I just can't get over. Even if it was not made in conjunction with her movie Swallowtail Butterfly, I can definitely picture her singing this song in a junkyard, longing for better days yet hanging on to her joie de vivre.
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Official Site: http://www.digi-chara.com Chara+Yuki's Official Site: http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/music/info/charayuki
(Tip: use AltaVista's Babel Fish translator) |
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Before the
A
first glance, Chara may appear odd-looking and odd-sounding but the
incredible charisma this artist exudes on camera, in her music and most
likely in person, slowly shifts the oddness into beauty the more you see
and hear her perform her emotional pieces. As always, genres fail to help
in the description of this artist's music because of the diversity
involved. She doesn't usually go from one extreme to the other in minutes,
normally sticking to comforting and heartening music, but always
experiments with new sounds and approaches. 
Chara
started to show interest for music at age four, begging her parents to
take piano lessons. At elementary school, she had already composed two
songs and was an excellent pianist. At fourteen years old, she formed
her own band and, after going solo realizing she could do most of
the work herself, scored a record deal with Sony music in the year 1990.
